Full System Backup

[Wheelbrace]

A full system back-up of my Laptop takes 9 discs and a very long time.

I read that an external hard drive would seem to be much faster and more manageable - probably 500Gb

As a laptop user with no portable requirement could someone please advise me :-
(1) Is this the best form of full system back up?
(2)Are all external hard drives suitable for a laptop?
(3)Do I need software to operate it?

Help much appreciated

[{Dakota}]

Hi :0)

I got an external hard drive because I have so much music that my laptop memory just wasn't large enough to store it. It's much better than juggling discs and labelling them all up properly.

I can't answer question 1 for you, I'm sure some more technical minded people would disagree that it's the best way to back up but it's the best way for me anyway.

When I was searching for an external hard drive, there was nothing stipulating that it was only good for desktops or laptops, so I guess so.

No software was needed for my EHD, just the USB that came with it. It's just like using your hard drive - but with loads more memory.

[Wheelbrace]

Thank you Dakota - that was very helpful. Most of my content is photos so it sounds to be the way forward.

[Gromit]

This will not be an helpful answer, but this is how I back-up

http://www.apple.com/uk/macosx/features/timema chine.html

http://www.apple.com/uk/timecapsule/backup.htm l

[{Dakota}]

You're welcome. It certainly sounds like the best thing for you. Can I just say this though - just in case something does go wrong with the EHD further down the line (viruses happen, eh?), you should think about backing everything up to DVD (it should fit on one disc) and storing it away just in case.

I got a virus on my laptop (my own stupid fault) and I lost over 10,000 tunes - thankfully for me I had given a mate a copy not long before so I got most of it back, but it was a hard lesson for me to learn LOL.

[markysngc]

(1) it's a perfectly ok way of doing it, just do it reguarly.
(2) as you say you have no portable needs then yes all usb external drives will be fine
(3) no

May want to check you have USB2 ports and not USB1 else will be very slow, most modern laptops will

[ACtheTROLL]

wheel
for a start ... why keep everything on your hard disc ???

back up your photos (and any other data) to CD/DVD ... and keep them somewhere safe. (given the price of discs it's a very cost effective way to work)

do it twice and you have a backup set to be proud of .... then clear your hdd .... sorted ....
create a folder ... every time it gets full (650/700Mb - 4.7 Gb)
do the same again ....

that way you keep your Hdisc free and by spreading your backups ... you are minimising the chance of loosing everything .... you could even mark one set for use ... that way the other set can't be scratched - and a cd/dvd can't be infected (not that jpgs can anyhow)

to answer your questions

1 ... no - see above
2 ... yes - but some extHDDs are bigger than a laptop!
3 ... yes and no... software helps but isn't essential ... and some discs come with a bundled backup prog

[Wheelbrace]

Thanks again everyone (more latterly markysngc and ACthe TROLL).
Most helpful