Backing up data.

[ManuelsMum]

16GB for £8.25 delivered, not too shabby http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SANDISK-16GB-CRUZER-BLADE-USB-MEMORY-STICK-DRIVE-PEN-UK-/290668421602?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item43ad3021e2

[RED-DOG]

http://www.gfi.com/pages/backup-freeware.asp

[X] Free
[X] Backup
[X] Synchronization (watches for changes without you telling it, the thing you were talking about up there)
[X] Optional masks (so you can tell it what not to bother syncing)
[X] Scheduled (so you don't have to remember to do it)


There's also EaseUS Todo Freeware, has no free sync though, nice interface for system cloning.

That looks like just the ticket. Thank you.

One thing does worry me a little though... What's in it for them?

[ManuelsMum]

http://www.gfi.com/pages/backup-freeware.asp

[X] Free
[X] Backup
[X] Synchronization (watches for changes without you telling it, the thing you were talking about up there)
[X] Optional masks (so you can tell it what not to bother syncing)
[X] Scheduled (so you don't have to remember to do it)


There's also EaseUS Todo Freeware, has no free sync though, nice interface for system cloning.

That looks like just the ticket. Thank you.

One thing does worry me a little though... What's in it for them?

For them, very valuable traffic to their site for all the other software that they do charge for.

There's already quite a lot of other free backup software out there, is getting harder to charge for it.

[ManuelsMum]

This is the other one I have

http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm


Creates 'clones' of your hard drive and can back up the 'system'.

Chuck it all on a large capacity pen drive or small external hard drive http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40GB-60GB-100GB-120GB-160GB-250GB-500GB-External-Portable-Hard-Drive-/300644510647?pt=UK_WSJL_Wholesale_GL&var=&hash=item8bb4b2c565#ht_17148wt_1175

Resurrecting the system from a ghost image on a £25 drive >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>wasting 2 days (hopefully-) removing a nasty virus that got past your scanner.

[RED-DOG]

I love Skeptical hippo.

If I were an animal, I'd be him.

[tikay]

I love Skeptical hippo.

If I were an animal, I'd be him.

Nah, they never stop eating, farting, & shitting. Oh, wait.....

[RED-DOG]

This is the other one I have

http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm


Creates 'clones' of your hard drive and can back up the 'system'.

Chuck it all on a large capacity pen drive or small external hard drive http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40GB-60GB-100GB-120GB-160GB-250GB-500GB-External-Portable-Hard-Drive-/300644510647?pt=UK_WSJL_Wholesale_GL&var=&hash=item8bb4b2c565#ht_17148wt_1175

Resurrecting the system from a ghost image on a £25 drive >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>wasting 2 days (hopefully-) removing a nasty virus that got past your scanner.

I'm v interested in those icybox things but I can't work out the capacities, what they cost or which does what.

Too much info lumped together.

[RED-DOG]

I love Skeptical hippo.

If I were an animal, I'd be him.

Nah, they never stop eating, farting, & shitting. Oh, wait.....

Your in a good mood today. Any particular reason?

[tikay]

I love Skeptical hippo.

If I were an animal, I'd be him.

Nah, they never stop eating, farting, & shitting. Oh, wait.....

Your in a good mood today. Any particular reason?

I am ALWAYS in a good mood, except on my very occasional grumpy days.

[ManuelsMum]

Icybox looks quite nice, just pick a capacity and colour (black obv) from the dropdown box at the top. 60GB=£26 delivered. Or ubernits could go for a 60GB internal drive for peanuts. I wouldn't backup on to a partition on my original HDD in case the whole drive breaks.

Or....64Gb pen drive http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/64GB-USB-Black-Flash-Memory-Stick-Pen-Drive-UK-Seller-/320877982421?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ab5d172d5#ht_1139wt_932

[Rod Paradise]

16GB for £8.25 delivered, not too shabby http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SANDISK-16GB-CRUZER-BLADE-USB-MEMORY-STICK-DRIVE-PEN-UK-/290668421602?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item43ad3021e2

Watch out for the Cruzer Blade drives, I've got one & had a hell of a time getting my computer to recognise it - had to reformat it on an XP  to use it on a W7 machine. To be fair it works well after that - and has survived a machine wash or 2.

[RED-DOG]

Icybox looks quite nice, just pick a capacity and colour (black obv) from the dropdown box at the top. 60GB=£26 delivered. Or ubernits could go for a 60GB internal drive for peanuts. I wouldn't backup on to a partition on my original HDD in case the whole drive breaks.

Or....64Gb pen drive http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/64GB-USB-Black-Flash-Memory-Stick-Pen-Drive-UK-Seller-/320877982421?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ab5d172d5#ht_1139wt_932

Are you saying I can back up the whole enchilada, including os / programmes data etc?

[ManuelsMum]

Icybox looks quite nice, just pick a capacity and colour (black obv) from the dropdown box at the top. 60GB=£26 delivered. Or ubernits could go for a 60GB internal drive for peanuts. I wouldn't backup on to a partition on my original HDD in case the whole drive breaks.

Or....64Gb pen drive http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/64GB-USB-Black-Flash-Memory-Stick-Pen-Drive-UK-Seller-/320877982421?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ab5d172d5#ht_1139wt_932

Are you saying I can back up the whole enchilada, including os / programmes data etc?

Everything everything yes. It doesn't even really transfer file-by-file either, it just clones a copy of the drive as an image, and puts it as an image on to the new backup. If you get a horrible virus that can't really be removed (becoming more common), you just wipe the drive by formatting, and go to your backup ghost image and tell it to just shove the backup-image clone back where it was. Handy,

Of course you can choose alternatives, like just backing up a bunch of user files, or backing up just the (operating) system (in EasyTODO0 US).

[RED-DOG]

Icybox looks quite nice, just pick a capacity and colour (black obv) from the dropdown box at the top. 60GB=£26 delivered. Or ubernits could go for a 60GB internal drive for peanuts. I wouldn't backup on to a partition on my original HDD in case the whole drive breaks.

Or....64Gb pen drive http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/64GB-USB-Black-Flash-Memory-Stick-Pen-Drive-UK-Seller-/320877982421?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ab5d172d5#ht_1139wt_932

Are you saying I can back up the whole enchilada, including os / programmes data etc?

Everything everything yes. It doesn't even really transfer file-by-file either, it just clones a copy of the drive as an image, and puts it as an image on to the new backup. If you get a horrible virus that can't really be removed (becoming more common), you just wipe the drive by formatting, and go to your backup ghost image and tell it to just shove the backup-image clone back where it was. Handy,

Of course you can choose alternatives, like just backing up a bunch of user files, or backing up just the (operating) system (in EasyTODO0 US).

I'm really interested now.

Once I have copied the whole thing, could I update it by just adding the new stuff or would that go into a separate compartment on the same drive?

What capacity would I need for this option?

[kinboshi]

When it backs up your entire drive as an 'image' you can't add to that image incrementally.  You'd need to do a complete backup and create a new 'image' again.  This can be done once a week (for example) and you could have it run overnight whilst you sleep.  The size of the image would depend on the size of the stuff on your hard drive.  64GB would probably be plenty, unless you've got loads of videos and other stuff that uses a lot of drive space.

The other backing up you wanted to do, of specific files/folders would be something you can just keep adding to - on-the-fly so to speak.

Be careful backing up to a pen-drive though. They can corrupt (rarely), you can easily lose them (can happen), or you can physically damage them (run over them, sit on them, hit them with a hammer, etc.).