I need a little advice on what the best way to back up things would be.I have 1 hard drive on my FS system, it's a 250 gig Cav. I presently burn a CD about every 6 months with critical data on it. I also have a flash drive I put things on occasionally.That's no good, I know. I should be backing up weekly at least considering the FS design I do.I also have an old Iomega 100 meg ZIP drive.Should I buy a 2nd hard drive, like a 320 gig Seagate, and buy Acronis TrueImage?Or should I buy an external hd, hook it up every once in a while, and back up that way?RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

Hello,I have choosen the external (usb) HDD and Sync Toy from Microsoft, it makes "static" backups.BUT this does NOT work for your OS (XP) , if you want an "image" of your XP and have the possibility to "restore", Acronis seams to be very good.

Definitely get a 2nd external HDD. External, because chances are better, if you get a surge from the power supply that the external drive survives.You don't really need to buy a lot of software, although TrueImage is surely the best backup product out there. I previously used a freeware tool called SyncBack and loved it.All my files are backed up on a seperate Linux server that I built using spare parts. The server has 2x160GB drives in a RAID-1 array. I redirected my "My Documents" folder to that server, so that all important data are already backed up automatically. Additionally, my data gets backed up at night automatically to an external drive that is attached to the server.Good luck!Pat

I've done some testing with both Acronis and Norton, and decided they weren't for me. Both have too many hooks into the OS. Norton actually killed my network browser, until I found a registry fix after much searching online.I prefer a straight file backup to a disk image. Right now I'm using backupmypc. I don't think it is the best but it's good enough.scott s..

> Additionally, my data gets backed up at night>automatically to an external drive that is attached to the>server.>Is that rough on an external drive, to be "on" all the time?Are they designed for that?What external drive do you recommend? The only ones I've looked at are these Western Digital "Book" Drives or whatever they call them.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

>>I prefer a straight file backup to a disk image. Right now>I'm using backupmypc. I don't think it is the best but it's>good enough.>Is this what you are talking about here?http://www.stompsoft.com/pc-backup/pc-back...urceID=BUMP_301Thanks for the infoRhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

I swear by Seagate drives. I have exclusively used them for the past 5 years and never had any problems. Fast, quiet, reliable.The external drive is just like an internal drive. If not used for x amount of time, they will turn off. You can set the time in the Power Management applet in the Control Panel.My 2 drives in the server are always up and have been constantly "on" for 2+ years. Never had any problems at all.Good luck!Pat

Instead of doing a master backup or image, I am thinking more along the lines of backing up critical FS files, such as scenery I am working on, or add-ons that I really like, and so forth.For that, I think 60 or 80 gb would be more than adequate.I also like the utility of **no external power block**, which I see some of the lower rpm drives are just bus-powered. Do you recommend bus-powered, or are those not as good as the ones with a dedicated power block or 2nd usb power connector?RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

>>>>I prefer a straight file backup to a disk image. Right now>>I'm using backupmypc. I don't think it is the best but it's>>good enough.>>>>Is this what you are talking about here?>>http://www.stompsoft.com/pc-backup/pc-back...urceID=BUMP_301>>Thanks for the info>No it's this:http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/backupmy...d/overview.htmlbut it came with the roxio media suite 7.5 so I didn't have to buy a separate product. I don't think I would pay more than about US$30 for back up software.scott s..

Ah a roxio product. Thanks for the info there. I guess I don't really *need* backup software as I could straight copy things over anyway.I suppose I could use ntbackup, heck we use it at work to back up very critical data, and it works well enough for us.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

>Definitely get a 2nd external HDD. External, because chances>are better, if you get a surge from the power supply that the>external drive survives.Pat, does having a SCSI drive in an external (powered) enclosure offer any further protection?

I have the USB on a seperate circuit/fuse and don't use bus-powered. I guess I am just too paranoid about power supply surges, but better safe than sorry. ;)Pat

Sure, I think an external SCSI enclosure would be optimal, because those enclosures have additionally a set of instructions for power management, cooling, etc. I have never used them personally. Still, if you have a surge in your power line, chances are always that the HDD gets fried regardless of the protection. It pretty unlikely though, if you have a good surge protector. I have never had one - knock on wood.Pat

What does that mean, exactly? Do drives like yours have TWO usb connectors, one that simply handles power, and the other data?RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

The USB is only for the data - the power comes from an external plug that goes into a regular outlet.Pat