Hard Drive backup, internal vs external

Dfran

To back up two hard drives with a third hard drive; Is it better to go with the external drive, is it safer? Or if I have the space can I just put it in the case?

Hellfire · Rated XXX Joined: 05 Aug 2003 Posts: 3473

Really you can do which ever you prefer.

Me personally, I like it as an external drive so I can just attach it when I need to perform the back-up.

Also, keep in mind that connecting via USB will be slower than connecting directly to the MB (installed in the case). Unless of course you have an eSATA enclosure...

BeerCheeze · Posted: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 11:38:51 Post Subject:

T-shirt · Posted: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 11:56:37 Post Subject:

It depends.
If you are using some kinds of backup software, the backups depend on a catalog,and can only be restored to the drive from which they came (useless in my book) In which case it doesn't matter, if you have total hardware failure, you're screwed.
Better software creates an standard ISO image of the drive (or a compressed version of it) in this case and external drive would allow you to easily restore the backup on another drive/computer should your computer suffer a severe problem (like bursting in to flame)
A networked backup to another computer, external drive or remote location would be the best backup, but potentially the least secure (depends where you send it and how secure your network is)

Dfran · Posted: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 13:19:26 Post Subject:

what what what? If I backup using, like I've been using Nero Backitup, and I have disk failure, I can't put that backup file onto a new disk?

T-shirt · Posted: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 20:23:13 Post Subject:

Nero is safe because
Perpetuation of original file structure
and selective restoration of files

BeerCheeze · Posted: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 21:32:46 Post Subject:

Actually the windows backup isn't bad either if you're just backing up to disk. The biggest problem with it is it doesn't back up to CD.

T-shirt · Posted: Sun, 11 Dec 2005 04:01:58 Post Subject:

Kilamon · Rated XXX Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 811

The windows backup doesn't do well on large file structures. It will choke and you'll get a 2byte file.

Uhm, given the price of hard drives and SATA controllers and etc, why not just go to a raid solution for immediate security and then you can use something like the software listed at http://www.backupcentral.com/free-backup-software6.html ?

BTW, if you have the cash, get a Veritas solution. It's a lot of power for any backup, though I suspect that for home use, it's too expensive Grin

.

Dfran · Posted: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:02:52 Post Subject:

How about backup software for Windows XP x64? I know Norton Ghost is not compatible. I have Nero Express, that seems to work, and ofcourse the Windows one is an option.