kuzushi said:

My computer only holds 300 GB, so as I accumulated files I had to move some over to a Seagate 2TB external hard drive.  Some files are on both my computer and the external hard drive, but some files are ONLY on the external hard drive.  This means that some files are not backed up.  What do I do?

 

I use Vista.

Kuzushi

You did not indicate if you have a desk top or a laptop.

If you have a desk top you could put another hard drive in your computer and then back up to both the new hard drive and the external.

If you put in another hard drive you could subscribe to one of the online back up services and have it back up both internal drives.  I use one of the online back up services and it will not back up an external drive, but will back up any internal hard drive you have installed.

I like the online backups because it is off site.  Any time you use an external hard drive to back up and it sits near the computer all the time you are subject to loosing all your data due to either theft or fire and both the computer and the hard drive can be gone.

The big question is how valuable is your data to you and what are you willing to spend to make sure it can be retrieved in case of disaster.  Disaster can be fire, theft, or hard drive failure.

If you have a laptop my only thoughts are to get a much larger hard drive and go with an online back up as well as the external hard drive.

If you are going to depend on an external hard drive the internal hard drive and the external hard drives should be the same size and the external hard drive should be stored away from the computer.

Kuzushi said:

Thank you for your answer.  I have a desktop computer.  What company do you use for the online back up, and what internal hard drives do you like?

 

I contacted Carbonite and they say you can back up an external drive, but the problem is you have to keep it plugged in or they will delete the files in 30 days. 

 

Here is a quote from their e-mail to me:

 

With Carbonite you can add files and folders located on your local external hard drive to your backup. For more details, please click the link below.

Backing up Files on External Hard Drives: http://carbonite.custhelp.com/…..tner/beta/

Kuzushi

I use Carbonite.  I am on my laptop not backed up with Carbonite (I do not keep important data on my laptop), so when I get home will have to check out backup of external drive on my desk top.  I may not have the correct plan with Carbonite to use that feature, or it may have been added since i looked into it.

I have no comment on brand of hard drive.

Kuzushi said:

Hello again.  Here is what I was told at the HP forum:

 

If you should decide to install a bigger hard drive then use a hard drive imaging product to image your hard drive to external storage (preferably a USB hard drive).  Then remove and replace your hard drive.  Then boot up the imaging products boot disk and image copy your original hard drive onto the new hard drive.  This is a safe procedure as it keeps your original hard drive and contents intact. 

There are many good imaging products available but these three are very popular: 

Acronis

Macrium

Paragon 

This is an article with videos on the above mentioned products posted by the board's top member. 

These HP "how-to" articles will give you some ideas on the installation and removal process.

 

I have never done anything like this, so I am wodering if these methods are complicated and safe.  Maybe I will just hold off till I have to get a new computer and get one with an opening for an extra HD.  What do you think?  Thank you.

Kuzushi

I have had computers open and added hard drives, CD roms, cards, etc.  The only time I replaced a C drive was when I had some other work done  on a computer and they did it in the shop.

Here is part of the reply I got back from Carbonite.

This link: http://carbonite.custhelp.com/…..tner/beta/
is for our Carbonite Premier product. This product is still in Beta Phase and
not available to the public at yet and we do not have a official release
date.

This is the link you found and posted in an earlier post.

I have no idea how old your computer is but with a 300 GB dirve it must not be too old.  If you get a new computer I would suggest that you get one that can hold more than one Hard Drive and has a power supply that is big enough to handle more than one hard drive.  I have a local Mom and Pop type computer store near me that does repare work as well and sell new and used computers.  They purchase used computers from business sources and get several just a like that they refurbish and sell very reasonable.  I have purchased a couple of these and when I purchased them I had an extra hard drive installed right from the start.

asivo said:

Instead of paying some company to BU your info for you, why not purchase an inexpensive USB device that allows you to plug an adapter in and use an external hard drive of your choice. As far as I know size is not limited. And I must say large hard drives are cheap to purchase right now.

If you have lare files, especially pictures, sound files, or data you want to save this is about the cheapest way you can do it at the moment. When you fill an external HD just pop it out and save it some place, like to another external hard drive to be safe. To be especially safe, save your HD's off-site, like in a bank vault.

However, be advised as operating systems and software becomes more sofisticated the stored items may not run on newer systems. That's why I have saved every major or minor computer I have ever used. I can still run tape drives on my Timex Sinclair computer and open simplistic progrms for some of my friends, or provide help for early Mac users.     

By no way is this an advertisement or suggestion of where to search or go. but you might want to check out Tiger or Egg. Some would suggest using USB sticks, however I would suggest not, as the longevatity of data storage on sticks is still questionable. I still use extra hard drives to store the most inportant data for me. 

Who knows? At some point you have to make your own decision.

J. R. 

 

 

J. R.

I can not argue with your thoughts when it comes to cost, but what is the real value of the data you are backing up and leaving next to your computer.  If you back up your data and leave it on a hard drive sitting next to your computer and you have a fire or a robbery your backup data very well may go with the computer.

With all good intentions to do regular backups and then move them off site people get in a hurry and say to them self it will not hurt just this one time and before you know it you are not doing it any more.

That is why I like something like carbonite which is automatic and stored off site. 

As a self employed person and the data connected with my business I can not under any circumstance trust my self (or take the time) to do the backups every time I enter data in to the computer. 

Other people have different financial circumstance and might not be able to afford the services of something like carbonite and that is their thing to determine.

But every one must determine what the data is worth to them that is on their computer and find a way to protect that data with some sort of back up system.  Then if it is not an automatic off site system they must be very diligent in order to keep their backup data safe.