Dont beat yourself up over this backup business. A second hard disk (£30 will do) + a (freeware) file sycronization programme is really all you need.

I've read the posts above but am still not sure about the backup thing. My HDD is >2 yrs, with FS9 and many addons. I run it in XP. I have an external HDD with plenty of space. Can I use a file synch program to 'synch' my entire FS9 folder on to this external HDD? That part is probably not too difficult. More difficult I suspect would be reinstalling from that external drive on to a new drive in a new PC running W7. To my mind there is no point backing up just so as you can reinstall on an existing drive, or even an existing PC. Perhaps the easiest way out is to forget about backups and when your HDD fails, as it inevitably will, do a clean install and start again. John

Dont beat yourself up over this backup business. A second hard disk (£30 will do) + a (freeware) file sycronization programme is really all you need. Remember though, whatever media you backup to, it is liable to failure just the same as your main HDD. If an HDD starts making strange noises, goes into scandisk for no apparent reason on bootup, reads and writes start taking longer or throw errors, programme or system load times increase - all signs a disk is on its way out. DONT wait until the glaringly obvious warnings come up before you think about a new HDD. They're very cheap and only really reliable for 2-3 years anyway. Even the event of an accidental complete reformat is easily recovered from (for FS anyway), if noticed quickly enough.Above all, remember computing, especially gaming, is very transient. Brilliant though FS2004 is(and FSX), its well past its 2-3 year design life. There's still vast scope for improvements to graphics, ATC response, AI handling etc. When the next properly thought out and marketed flight sim comes along, you'll want to play it for sure, and dont think the stuff you have now will be even remotely compatible - it wont. (It mightn't even be written by MS!)For now save your time and effort for flying, enjoyment is what its supposed to be about.Dave

Very true Dave. External HDD are so cheap. From this topic (the replies) it is so easy to do a backup. When I sleep I can backup, when I ain't flying.

What is the best way to back up FS9? I have a huge install and it would take weeks for me to go reconfiguring my installation, plus if I build a new PC I want to transfer the (especially payware scenery and aircraft as well as lots of freeware scenery) whole lot across. Is there a 'procedure for this?Would love to know. I made a Ghost (Norton) back up of my PC with FS2004 fresh install on it with this PC but I don't think a Ghost image would work on any other PC, even with the same Motherboard. I have the same Motherboard in storage (just need to build a 2nd PC) but activation won't work I think.Any ideas and suggestions, tips and of course procedures WELCOME!

I have a 2pc setup and could not face the idea of a HDD crash in either drive so I took the easy no skill required (important in my case!!) albeit more expensive option of buying 2 spare Hard drives and a Hard drive duplicator device £45 approx.Incredibly simple to copy the whole drives to the new drives.I have no idea if there are any pitfalls in going down this route but I have tested the new drives and all is running perfectly.The drives are now stored awaiting the inevitable crash.Obviously if I make any major changes to my installations in the future I will need to re copy the entire drives again but it only takes me approx 45 mins per drive.regards Jim