Backup strategy advice required please ...

Hi,

I thought maybe it was about time I implemented some kind of backup strategy
for all my personal files at home.

I have a bundle of data cd's and was just wondering what methods other
people have adopted in order to insure against future data loss.

How would I go about creating an exact copy of each of the data cd's I have?
Someone recently suggested something about creating an ISO file and storing
this file on a spare hard drive or separate partition somewhere. If so is
there some free software out there that will allow me to do this and can
anyone make a recommendation? Is this the best method of data backup or
would another method be more beneficial?

TIA.

Rob.

How would I go about creating an exact copy of each of the data cd's I have?
Someone recently suggested something about creating an ISO file and storing
this file on a spare hard drive or separate partition somewhere.

This will drop audio tracks and copy protection.

If you're OK with this - then IIRC there were such open-source tools in UNIXen,
something in FreeBSD port collection (sorry, forgot the name).

--
Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
StorageCraft Corporation

http://www.storagecraft.com

Rob Keel wrote:
Hi,

I thought maybe it was about time I implemented some kind of backup
strategy for all my personal files at home.

I have a bundle of data cd's and was just wondering what methods other
people have adopted in order to insure against future data loss.

Nothing wrong with that as long as you realize that CDs have a finite
life. IOW, recopy them every couple of years.
_______________

How would I go about creating an exact copy of each of the data cd's
I have?

Use your burning program to copy.
______________

Someone recently suggested something about creating an ISO
file and storing this file on a spare hard drive or separate
partition somewhere. If so is there some free software out there that
will allow me to do this and can anyone make a recommendation? Is
this the best method of data backup or would another method be more
beneficial?

Guess what...hard drives fail too. If you do want to store a copy on a
HD, you don't need to futz around with an image (iso)...all you have to
do is copy from the CD to a folder on a drive.


--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

"Rob Keel" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I thought maybe it was about time I implemented some kind of backup
strategy
for all my personal files at home.

I have a bundle of data cd's and was just wondering what methods other
people have adopted in order to insure against future data loss.

How would I go about creating an exact copy of each of the data cd's I
have?
Someone recently suggested something about creating an ISO file and
storing
this file on a spare hard drive or separate partition somewhere. If so is
there some free software out there that will allow me to do this and can
anyone make a recommendation? Is this the best method of data backup or
would another method be more beneficial?

TIA.

Rob.

The only reliable backup is offsite. Store CD/DVD backups at someone elses
house, or verified copies of your own backups. The other way is to use
online storage. You may have some webspace with your ISP, you can use that
for smaller amounts of data, or you can pay to store files online.

Google is your friend.

**SS**

"Rob Keel" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I thought maybe it was about time I implemented some kind of backup
strategy
for all my personal files at home.

I have a bundle of data cd's and was just wondering what methods other
people have adopted in order to insure against future data loss.

How would I go about creating an exact copy of each of the data cd's I
have?
Someone recently suggested something about creating an ISO file and
storing
this file on a spare hard drive or separate partition somewhere. If so is
there some free software out there that will allow me to do this and can
anyone make a recommendation? Is this the best method of data backup or
would another method be more beneficial?
-----------

My husband Ghosted this PC using Norton Ghost. I back up all my files using
DVD/RWs. Those I plan to keep permanently like music CDs are burned to
CR-Rs as both Mp3s and data. Pictures are burnt to CR-Rs.

Marie

Considering price, I recommend to use external USB disks as backup media if
data is more than few gigs. If you need to take a backup daily, or even
weekly, you will be saving money on the long run.



If you have 4GB and more, use a backup program such as Relative Rev Backup
(http://www.datamills.com) that schedules the backup sessions, manages the
backup versions, saves backup space by working incremental forever, deletes
expires points in time, and much more.



Just consider this, if you are backing up full weeklies, you will be coping
your data 52 times over the period of a single year. Not if you use Relative
Rev Backup, where you will copy a full reference backup only once, then only
new and updated files will be copied.





Joe Rom King

DataMills


"dadiOH" wrote in message
newsgKRe.28153$FL1.6655@trnddc09...
Rob Keel wrote:
Hi,

I thought maybe it was about time I implemented some kind of backup
strategy for all my personal files at home.

I have a bundle of data cd's and was just wondering what methods other
people have adopted in order to insure against future data loss.

Nothing wrong with that as long as you realize that CDs have a finite
life. IOW, recopy them every couple of years.
_______________

How would I go about creating an exact copy of each of the data cd's
I have?

Use your burning program to copy.
______________

Someone recently suggested something about creating an ISO
file and storing this file on a spare hard drive or separate
partition somewhere. If so is there some free software out there that
will allow me to do this and can anyone make a recommendation? Is
this the best method of data backup or would another method be more
beneficial?

Guess what...hard drives fail too. If you do want to store a copy on a
HD, you don't need to futz around with an image (iso)...all you have to
do is copy from the CD to a folder on a drive.


--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico


"dadiOH" wrote in message
newsgKRe.28153$FL1.6655@trnddc09...
Rob Keel wrote:
Hi,

I thought maybe it was about time I implemented some kind of backup
strategy for all my personal files at home.

I have a bundle of data cd's and was just wondering what methods other
people have adopted in order to insure against future data loss.

Nothing wrong with that as long as you realize that CDs have a finite
life. IOW, recopy them every couple of years.
_______________

How would I go about creating an exact copy of each of the data cd's
I have?

Use your burning program to copy.
______________

Someone recently suggested something about creating an ISO
file and storing this file on a spare hard drive or separate
partition somewhere. If so is there some free software out there that
will allow me to do this and can anyone make a recommendation? Is
this the best method of data backup or would another method be more
beneficial?

Guess what...hard drives fail too. If you do want to store a copy on a
HD, you don't need to futz around with an image (iso)...all you have to
do is copy from the CD to a folder on a drive.


--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

"Marie Brown" wrote in message
...

"Rob Keel" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I thought maybe it was about time I implemented some kind of backup
strategy
for all my personal files at home.

I have a bundle of data cd's and was just wondering what methods
other
people have adopted in order to insure against future data loss.

How would I go about creating an exact copy of each of the data cd's
I
have?
Someone recently suggested something about creating an ISO file and
storing
this file on a spare hard drive or separate partition somewhere. If
so is
there some free software out there that will allow me to do this and
can
anyone make a recommendation? Is this the best method of data backup
or
would another method be more beneficial?
-----------

My husband Ghosted this PC using Norton Ghost. I back up all my files
using
DVD/RWs. Those I plan to keep permanently like music CDs are burned
to
CR-Rs as both Mp3s and data. Pictures are burnt to CR-Rs.

Marie

How do you cope with .dbx files, the contents of which change from day
to day? Are you able to overwrite those backups?

Thanks,
Emrys Davies.

Hi,

A while ago I used to work for a company called Connected Corp, who was
recently acquired by Iron Mountain. For $14 a month you install an
agent on your computer and can schedule backups to thier offsite
location. If you need to recover a file it is very simple, they give
you a browser type view and you just grab your old file. If you mess
up your system due to driver issues or what not, they have a function
called "heal" that allows you to get your system state back to where it
was on the last good backup. It keeps 10 copies or 30 days worth of
system states and data at any time.

I also have worked w/ the Maxtor OneTouch product that is really good.
The backup software is the Dantz product. You install the software and
then plug in via usb the hard drive. When you want to do a backup you
hit the button and walk away.

Steve

Emrys Davies wrote:
"Marie Brown" wrote in message
...

"Rob Keel" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I thought maybe it was about time I implemented some kind of backup
strategy
for all my personal files at home.

I have a bundle of data cd's and was just wondering what methods
other
people have adopted in order to insure against future data loss.

How would I go about creating an exact copy of each of the data cd's
I
have?
Someone recently suggested something about creating an ISO file and
storing
this file on a spare hard drive or separate partition somewhere. If
so is
there some free software out there that will allow me to do this and
can
anyone make a recommendation? Is this the best method of data backup
or
would another method be more beneficial?
-----------

My husband Ghosted this PC using Norton Ghost. I back up all my files
using
DVD/RWs. Those I plan to keep permanently like music CDs are burned
to
CR-Rs as both Mp3s and data. Pictures are burnt to CR-Rs.

Marie

How do you cope with .dbx files, the contents of which change from day
to day? Are you able to overwrite those backups?

Thanks,
Emrys Davies.

Hi Rob,

The way I do it is to keep all personal data (documents, favorites,
email, etc)
together in "c:\docs" (which I set to be the "my documents" folder with

TweakUI).

I then keep this backed up to a second computer using the freeware
tool
Back2zip. I actually run Back2zip on the second computer and have it
set to work in the evening. Back2zip simply keeps a daily ZIP archive
of my data.

Here's a link to Back2zip:

http://free-backup.info/back2zip.html

And some other freeware backup tools which you might find useful:

http://free-backup.info/backup-software.htm

You might consider a sort of different option for these and other
backups you'd like to make. A company named Remote Backup Systems
offers a client/server online backup software package that is useful
for not only backing up your own data, but in offering online backup
services to others.

Check out their products and other information he
http://remote-backup.com

They even have a twenty day evaluation version for download and trial.

ddb

Rob Keel wrote:
Hi,

I thought maybe it was about time I implemented some kind of backup strategy
for all my personal files at home.

I have a bundle of data cd's and was just wondering what methods other
people have adopted in order to insure against future data loss.

How would I go about creating an exact copy of each of the data cd's I have?
Someone recently suggested something about creating an ISO file and storing
this file on a spare hard drive or separate partition somewhere. If so is
there some free software out there that will allow me to do this and can
anyone make a recommendation? Is this the best method of data backup or
would another method be more beneficial?

TIA.

Rob.