Backing up data.

[kinboshi]

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.

Like the look of that, might give it a go myself on top of my current backup system (storing files to the cloud, AWS to be precise).

[bobAlike]

Tom, my advice would be that only back up the things that you want to keep for what ever reason be it sentimental or work. The OS and applications can be rebuilt whenever you want from installation media. I would how ever keep a back up of any downloaded applications.

I have a couple of batch files set up on my pc which I click on once a week which then backs up all the new files on my pc. This is relativley easy to set up using tools already on your PC.
If you buy an external storage device I wouldn't mind guiding you through it. It would only take 5 mins to set up.

Sometimes you don't need a hammer to crack a nut.

[RED-DOG]

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.).

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.

But this could be on the same drive right?



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.).


It wouldn't really matter unless it happened at exactly the same time that my computer went awol / tits up.

[RED-DOG]

Tom, my advice would be that only back up the things that you want to keep for what ever reason be it sentimental or work. The OS and applications can be rebuilt whenever you want from installation media. I would how ever keep a back up of any downloaded applications.

I have a couple of batch files set up on my pc which I click on once a week which then backs up all the new files on my pc. This is relativley easy to set up using tools already on your PC.
If you buy an external storage device I wouldn't mind guiding you through it. It would only take 5 mins to set up.

Sometimes you don't need a hammer to crack a nut.

I will be buying an external storage device.

I may take you up on your kind offer. How patient are you?

[bobAlike]

Tom, my advice would be that only back up the things that you want to keep for what ever reason be it sentimental or work. The OS and applications can be rebuilt whenever you want from installation media. I would how ever keep a back up of any downloaded applications.

I have a couple of batch files set up on my pc which I click on once a week which then backs up all the new files on my pc. This is relativley easy to set up using tools already on your PC.
If you buy an external storage device I wouldn't mind guiding you through it. It would only take 5 mins to set up.

Sometimes you don't need a hammer to crack a nut.

I will be buying an external storage device.

I may take you up on your kind offer. How patient are you?

Very patient in the right company...

[RED-DOG]

Tom, my advice would be that only back up the things that you want to keep for what ever reason be it sentimental or work. The OS and applications can be rebuilt whenever you want from installation media. I would how ever keep a back up of any downloaded applications.

I have a couple of batch files set up on my pc which I click on once a week which then backs up all the new files on my pc. This is relativley easy to set up using tools already on your PC.
If you buy an external storage device I wouldn't mind guiding you through it. It would only take 5 mins to set up.

Sometimes you don't need a hammer to crack a nut.

I will be buying an external storage device.

I may take you up on your kind offer. How patient are you?

Very patient in the right company...

Good.

When it comes to technology, I can turn  into 

[bobAlike]

Tom, my advice would be that only back up the things that you want to keep for what ever reason be it sentimental or work. The OS and applications can be rebuilt whenever you want from installation media. I would how ever keep a back up of any downloaded applications.

I have a couple of batch files set up on my pc which I click on once a week which then backs up all the new files on my pc. This is relativley easy to set up using tools already on your PC.
If you buy an external storage device I wouldn't mind guiding you through it. It would only take 5 mins to set up.

Sometimes you don't need a hammer to crack a nut.

I will be buying an external storage device.

I may take you up on your kind offer. How patient are you?

Very patient in the right company...

Good.

When it comes to technology, I can turn  into 

No probs, just let me know if and when you need me.

[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.

Like the look of that, might give it a go myself on top of my current backup system (storing files to the cloud, AWS to be precise).

Hmmm, interesting. http://aws.amazon.com/s3/#pricing
I guess you have a really nice connection, and it comes to about £7 month?

[ManuelsMum]

I guess Windows Restore disks and synched backup would work ok for some.

For myself, I've left data in a few places sync wouldn't have covered, plus I have all the updates for poker sites, for antivirus, for windows, all my custom software configurations. These would all be lost forever without a full disk backup, and the updates would need to be redownloaded. For this reason, I'll make an iso clone snapshot of the whole disk image once a fortnight, and run sync backups every night at 3 am.

[kinboshi]

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.

Like the look of that, might give it a go myself on top of my current backup system (storing files to the cloud, AWS to be precise).

Hmmm, interesting. http://aws.amazon.com/s3/#pricing
I guess you have a really nice connection, and it comes to about £7 month?

It's using hosting I've already got with them. My connection isn't bad.

[Simon Galloway]

I've been using dropbox for quite a while now and it is superb.

• free (assuming you aren't trying to backup absolutely EVERYTHING)
• Doesn't require you to remember to do anything
• Synchronises your PC/laptop/Smartphone instantly (i.e. update a spreadsheet on PC, grab phone, walk out door, latest update is already on your phone)
• Oh, it backs things up too

Very simple and a nice bit of kit.

[Tractor]

I've been using dropbox for quite a while now and it is superb.

• free (assuming you aren't trying to backup absolutely EVERYTHING)
• Doesn't require you to remember to do anything
• Synchronises your PC/laptop/Smartphone instantly (i.e. update a spreadsheet on PC, grab phone, walk out door, latest update is already on your phone)
• Oh, it backs things up too

Very simple and a nice bit of kit.

Yeah, I like this too