Harddrive backup needed?

[SouthKona]

Re: Harddrive backup needed?

Do you know much space in megabytes (or Mbytes or MB) your stuff takes up?

Hey, I think I found it ....
Total size 37.2 GB
Free space 29.2 GB

[Fondoo2]

Re: Harddrive backup needed?

SouthKona from the sound of your posts you need a PC 101 telephone consult from our local friend http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=6542 not that helen isn't doing well but I fear you may give up trying to learn thru posts.On the phone with a good user you are able to follow instructions and give feedback to your friendly geek live and you will have your backup and lesson in no time.You can IM me for my # too and I will help.Since Doc is looking to build his reputation and business he would be the best first choice and has offered his # to anyone in need.

[helen]

Re: Harddrive backup needed?

Hey, I think I found it ....
Total size 37.2 GB
Free space 29.2 GB

I take you got the 20% figure from the graph when you check on the C: drive. Which includes everything on the drive. What you need to know is how much space is taken up by the My Documents folder. To find this out is to right click on the My Documents folder, select "Properties". Once the My Documents Properties window appears click on the General tab and it will tell you how much space this folder takes up.

[SouthKona]

Re: Harddrive backup needed?

Heck, I'm temporarily able to use this "online course on backup suggestions" towards my "learn something new every day" quota.

As for Doc, he sure might be able to help most but his website says "and my main mode of transportation is TheBus, unless you want to pick me up in Waipahu or something". But me, I'm on the Big Island....

Anyway, thanks Helen for hanging in there with me. It's 467 MB.

[helen]

Re: Harddrive backup needed?

467 Mbytes, as it stands now all this will fit on one CD-R since it ranges from 680 to 700 Mbytes. If you have a blank CD-R you can do this:

1) Place a blank CD-R into the drive.
2) If Windows XP gives you a window asking which application to choose, just cancel it.
3) Right click on the My Documents folder and choose "Copy".
4) Double click on the My Computer icon
5) Find the CD-R Drive icon and double click on that.
6) On that window, click on "Edit" and then "Paste".
7) After the paste procedure is done, click on the "File" and then "Write these files to CD".
8) You can change the name of CD and then click on the "Next >" button.
9) When done you can click on the "Finish" button.

Hope this works. If you want to try a smaller folder within My Documents to get the hang of it you can do that instead.

[tutusue]

Re: Harddrive backup needed?

I'm a low end computer user so my solution certainly won't work for the majority of you. And, like SouthKona, I'm not well versed in computer technology. Upgrading is my nemesis! I use Macs and would still be in OS 6 if Apple would allow it!

I have a 40gb, small in size, portable, external hard drive. I use one computer at home and one in the office. So...all of my work is done on the external drive and backed up on the 2 computers. IOW, I work bass ackwards! The only exception to this is my Eudora mail folder and my iTunes music folder. They're on the internal drives and get backed up to the external. I also use iMovie for work and that's done on the internal drive. It doesn't need backing up 'cuz what I do is very easy to recreate and each casting tape introductory title is trashed at the end of the project.

A couple of times a year I burn the most important files to a CD. I'm sure the Mac users group would faint over my cavalier back-up method but I managed to get thru over 45 years of life without a computer so I probably don't place as much importance on backing up as I should.

I've had a couple of internal hard drive failures in my computer lifetime so using the external as the primary drive has worked well for me. I have the original CDs and DVDs containing all my applications...and there really aren't all that many...so reinstalling isn't a major undertaking.

HTH...FWIW...YMMV...

[SouthKona]

Re: Harddrive backup needed?

Helen, your my kind of teacher! Actually, what you've explained is what I occasionally do, I just copy my "My Doc" file onto a CD. But that's all I ever do. So, based upon your answer, it seems I am on the right track. "My files" is all I care about.
Guess I am safe with just doing that? I seem to recall something about needing a ..... start up disk? Or is that left over from my 286 days? (Yes, I've been at this from years and still don't know more than I have to.)

[helen]

Re: Harddrive backup needed?

Without knowning what you got on your computer I can't really say. As it stands this only back ups the contents of "My Documents" for your account on that computer. It does not back up the contents of the "Program Files" folder, the "Windows" folder or any other "My Documents" folder for other accounts on your computer. And I don't know if your computer is setup to handle other accounts.

What this back up will do is protect you against files located in "My Documents" that are lost by various means, either by deletions, or modications not intended to be saved.

If by some chance your hard drives fails entirely and you replace it, this back up will not restore Windows or your applications. So you need to that first, put back the Windows operating system, install your applications and when all that is done, then you can restore your files that was located in the "My Documents" folder from the back up CD you generated.

However if you backed up your "My Documents" folder today and only today and your hard drive fails 6 months from all, any changes to the "My Documents" folder between the last backup and the disk failure will be lost. So you will need backup your "My Documents" folder at some interval to meet your needs.