How do you handle your data?

[UniTyler]

Random thread? Yes. Interesting topic? Maybe.

How do you handle the data on your computer? Do you back it up, or take the risk of losing it in the event of hard drive failure? If so, what are your backup methods?

Also, how much data do you have? Do you like to have a huge hard drive and keep everything, or do you like to keep things simple and clean?

As for me, I have a somewhat monstrous hard drive, at 500 gigs, but I use it mostly for dual/triple/quad booting Windows + some Linux distributions. I also keep a moderate amount of photos, documents, videos, and music. I occasionally back up to a DVD or two, but I sometimes feel that a nice hard drive wipe every once and awhile can be refreshing, granted I keep have my most important photos, documents, and music.

Discuss.

[Borgschulze]

320gb Seagate 7200.10 SATA

Pretty much full... no back ups. Unless you count my MP3 player having the same music library as my HDD.

[ntappin]

I had 140 Gig internal and a 500 GB external. Then one day right after I reformatted the external from Fat 32 to NTSF the 120 inside died. I lost everything except what was on my mp3 player (which had also been recently reformatted) now I have 100 in my computer, and most stuff is backed up either onto DVDs or on the external.

[Jerrick]

Im not worried about my hardrive dying and me losing anything.

[john_childs]

I backup to an external hard drive and then periodically save some of those backups to DVD.

I use disk imaging for backups. Disk images are easy to restore from. Just make sure you use a disk imaging program that allows you to extract individual files from the image otherwise you'll find it very inconvenient to recover a file that has been accidentally deleted.

I only worry about backing up Windows. I don't worry about any Linux partitions I may have cause Linux is just for fun and I don't keep any data there. I make a disk image of the Linux partition after I get it set up, but that's it.

I've been experimenting with the backup utilities and features in Vista Ultimate. The Ultimate version includes a disk imaging backup feature and shadow copy. It also has the backup features that are in the regular versions of Vista. So right now it's been Vista features experimentation time. Just to be safe I'm also using my old disk imaging technique.

I'm not as good about backups though as I should be. I could do better.

Most of the data that is on my Windows system drive is the My Documents stuff, email, browser stuff, and documents and projects. I have a data partition where I keep data files that are in an archive type of state and not regularly changing. That includes my MP3 collection, videos I'm saving, digital camera pictures, downloaded programs archives, and things like that. I try to keep the Windows system drive from getting too bloated with data files that don't regularly change. That way the system drive is easier (and smaller) to backup. The data partition gets backed up less often than the system partition.

A backup to a partition on the same hard drive is not a reliable disaster recovery backup. It is a very good idea to make sure you have a recent backup saved on an external hard drive and/or DVDs. I've had hard drives crash and lose all data on the drive. If you use computers for more than a decade it is going to happen to you, almost guaranteed. Best to be prepared for when it happens.

[john_childs]

Originally Posted by Jerrick

Im not worried about my hardrive dying and me losing anything.

Everything you've written of import has been archived in the MR thread.
No need to backup.

[john_childs]

Originally Posted by Borgschulze

320gb Seagate 7200.10 SATA

That's the drive I have for my external backup drive.
I named it BIG VAULT

[kington99]

I run a 160 and 320 gb HD, the later was an add-on mainly for storing movies and stuff I record off the tv (those 800mb simpsons episodes really add up). When I go home i back it all upon my dad's seagate external. Vital work stuff I also stash on my univeristy account, which has got some prety heavy backup and archiving going on .

[CoreTechs]

I use my Zen Vision: M (mp3 player) as an external hard drive. If I really need something backed up I put it on.

[schoesno1]

i dont backup my stuff but i know my dad is so paranoid about how computers are the devil that he backs his whole computer up to a massive external drive quite regularly

[jamessd]

Originally Posted by UniTyler

Random thread? Yes. Interesting topic? Maybe.

How do you handle the data on your computer? Do you back it up, or take the risk of losing it in the event of hard drive failure? If so, what are your backup methods?

Also, how much data do you have? Do you like to have a huge hard drive and keep everything, or do you like to keep things simple and clean?

As for me, I have a somewhat monstrous hard drive, at 500 gigs, but I use it mostly for dual/triple/quad booting Windows + some Linux distributions. I also keep a moderate amount of photos, documents, videos, and music. I occasionally back up to a DVD or two, but I sometimes feel that a nice hard drive wipe every once and awhile can be refreshing, granted I keep have my most important photos, documents, and music.

Discuss.

Well, I like to keep it clean, but maybe not simple. I have about 12gbs of pictures, and 6 gbs of music. I think there's 5gb of videos too. And then 44.5 gb of err... Downloads!!

So, everything amounts to 126gb... and is growing rapidly with all the photography i'm doing atm!

I love to have everything sorted into it's separate folder, renamed & dated, the lot - then I feel really good when someone asks me to show them the original uni crew that I taught (most of which have now... given up?) on one of our little newbie outings, and can go straight to the folder and tell em the date etc., or just a random picture or something. I like to know where everything is.


I would back up my hard drive I don't have an external drive yet. I think i'm getting one for xmas tho, as If I lost my data, I don't know what I'd do...!

[Brian O.]

Originally Posted by jamessd

44.5 gb of err... Downloads!!

Currently I don't have my data backed up but I have around 15 gigs worth of my photography and 35 gigs worth of music and movies I'd desperately like to back up. I'll be getting an external harddrive hopefully for Christmas so lets just pray my laptop won't die until then.

[UniTyler]

This thread did turn out pretty interesting... I like it! It also shows how many people could be devastated by a simple power surge, virus, or other HDD failure. At least I am free from contending with the virus threat.

Sounds like you've got a pretty slick backup routine going on, JC. Now, just remove the "just for fun" label from Linux and you're set.

[john_childs]

Originally Posted by UniTyler

Sounds like you've got a pretty slick backup routine going on, JC. Now, just remove the "just for fun" label from Linux and you're set.

I don't the backup and disk imaging utilities in Linux. I'd have to learn how to do backups all over again.

[Borgschulze]

Originally Posted by john_childs

That's the drive I have for my external backup drive.
I named it BIG VAULT

I split mine into 2 partitions.

60gb C: named Pandora's Box.
238gb D: named Storage.