The Best way to back up a laptop/PC

Doublespresso

Hi

I have my "whole life" on my laptop and I really need to keep backing up my stuff.
Considering that my data is mostly kept on my desktop and not very tidy in general:
- Whats the best way of creating back-ups? (data, Programs, settings, drivers, etc)
- Is there an automated process?
- As I use OutlookExpress, emails are not easy to save or restore.. is there an easy way?
- Any free online storage service with generous space?

I have tried to use the XP back up utility (Programs>Accessories>System Tools) with a 40GB Venturer MP3 HDD (bought via tips on these forums) but it stops at 4,194GB saying that my "tape" if full, insret a new one although there is planty of space on the HDD. Then it gets stuck and I have to abort.

Thanks!

amcluesent

I had my laptop disk destroy itself with zero warning of problems a few weeks back. So I was glad I had -

a) Used Acronis TrueImage to create a full disk image to an external USB disk (which are cheap as chips these days for 250Gb). I do an incremental TrueImage backup once a month.
b) Signed up to Mozy (http://mozy.com/) for automatic online backups (2Gb is free) which I use to backup the "My Documents" tree so it catches the files I am working day to day.

After a installing a new disk, I was able to restore to the point the disk failed in about 2 hours by first loading the image backup, rebooting, then pulling down the remaining files from Mozy.

Doublespresso

albertross wrote:

Sounds like you hit a 4 GB limit with backup.. you could try this freebie

could you explain this a bit more pls? There is a lmit? I would have thought that my 40GB HDD would be fine.

From what I tried erarlier, I have about 16GB to store.

albertross_2

There have been many limitations in software over the years, you may have a hard disk which is 40GB, but if the software or file system can only handle a maximum file size of 4GB, then that could be your problem. What file system do you have on the external drive, and which version of backup are you using?

Ghost/driveimagexml etc can split a backup into multiple files, which works around these issues.

Chippy_Minton

Your external hard drive is probably formatted using FAT32 which has a maximum file size of 4GB.

Either reformat it using NTFS or create backups with smaller file sizes.

albertross_2

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q250651

Doublespresso

ok, I see that the 4GB limitation is imposed by the Fat32 file system, but how do I get the back up to continue on to a different loaction on the same HDD? (this is assuming I'm using the backup utility found in XP in accessories>system tools)
Shoudnt I be able to backup onto an external HDD ending with a number of files of 4GB + a bit?

Chippy_Minton

You can't tell the backup to continue in a different location. Instead of backing up an entire drive, backup selected folders to different backup files, making sure that each backup file is < 4GB.

If you can, it's simpler to reformat the drive as NTFS which doesn't have the 4GB limit.

Doublespresso

[quote=

If you can, it's simpler to reformat the drive as NTFS which doesn't have the 4GB limit.[/quote]

Sorry, but how? ...and will I still be bale to play MP3 files on it (it was sold as an MP3 player)

amcluesent

>I'm using the backup utility found in XP in accessories>system tools<

>will I still be bale to play MP3 files on it (it was sold as an MP3 player)<

You owe it to yourself to get the proper tools for the job. XP's backup s/w is years old and was written in the days when streaming tape backups were the norm.

I won't trust my backups to any device which, presumably, has got s/w running on it that could trash the files.

Chippy_Minton

Doublespresso wrote:

Sorry, but how? ...and will I still be bale to play MP3 files on it (it was sold as an MP3 player)

Right-click on the drive letter in My Computer and click Format. Warning - you'll lose all data on it, and possibly also the MP3 player application, though that may be stored in the firmware and not on the hard drive. Google the make and model and 'reformat' to see if anyone has done this.