Backing up the computer

[emmie]

i need to do a back up of the computer, haven't done one for some time, and worried if i don't soon could end up losing the data.
i am not sure which disks to get. Can anyone advise please, what type specifically, the best ones, worse ones, any help would be great.

[albaqwerty]

have had a quick look at one of ours. It has Verbatim 4.7GB written/printed on it. However, I don't know if it is good or not, but have not complained about the things.

[bibblebub]

Have you considered a portable hard-drive? So much less hassle than faffing around with discs.

[sunny-dave]

Do you mean back up your own data files by burning to CD and/or DVD disk, or are you intending to buy an external hard drive to produce a full backup image of your PC including all the windows and application software as well as your own data ?

[emmie]

bibble, no, and not really that good with computers as such. I need to do something that is straightforward. So not sure about buying another piece of kit, is it expensive? how do you use it and so on.

[emmie]

presumably to cd, someone helped me out the last time, and can't remember what type of disks. So i don't lose the pictures, data on the computer.

[alavahalf]

You say "have,nt done it for some time'' ... how did you do it before ?

[sunny-dave]

Just buy 'branded' CD-Rs from a reputable shop/manufacturer. TDK, Maxell, Verbatim, Sony all OK - have a look on amazon ... target price about 25p per CD or less if you buy at least 25 ...

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[emmie]

as above.

[bibblebub]

You can buy a portable drive typically for £50-60 for 500G capacity e.g. http://www.pcworld.co...-asc/xx-criteria.html and you just plug it in and use it just like any other drive (your main drive is usually C:, your optical drive is D: or E:, and the external drive will simply be assigned another letter).

[emmie]

presumably to cd, someone helped me out the last time

[emmie]

i am not a technophobe, but neither am i very proficient with technology. I have a laptop, does the drive work the same.

[sunny-dave]

Or buy a usb data stick - 8GB holds the equivalent of about 12 CDs and is much quicker/easier to use - simply plug the stick into a USB socket on your PC and drag/drop your files.

I use these

http://www.7dayshop.c..._6&products_id=108129

[emmie]

thank you, more options that i thought.

[sunny-dave]

Yes - external hard drives and usb sticks work with any windows laptop - they are 'plug and play' with most Windows installations (certainly with Windows 7).

[jno]

I use an exgternal hard drive - two of them in fact, so I'm backed up twice. In essence they're the same as CDs - you just plug them in and they function as a separate drive - but with vastly more capacity.

I used to use CDs until I had about 40 of them, and figured that was too many.

[bazwillrun]

If it fits on optical media CD or DVD then burn it at a slow speed, far less chance of errors.
and as disks are so cheap, do a couple of copies in case one gets damaged etc

Of course one other thing you can do as well as disks is to put everything online using one of the free storage sites, like Microsofts Windows Skydrive.

Personally I'd use more than one backup method in case for whatever reason one method goes pear shaped

How much data in Gigabytes are we talking about here ?

[Old_Geezer]

I don't believe you are obliged to use any particular type of storage medium, use whatever you feel suits you and is likely to be reliable.

CDs/DVDs are fine, or you could simply buy a back up hard drive and copy to that.

Be aware of how important you believe this back up to be. If very important you may wish to keep the back up at a different address in case of fire, flood, or whatever