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Your plan sounds good stevejr. You can always install the hdd in an enclosure at a later time if you choose. Hard drives can always be found and most times, at cheap prices. Hard to beat $0.25-$0.35 per gig. And I think I read that Seagate will be honoring the Maxtor drives longer than one year; maybe 3 or perhaps 5 years.
Well...I have a slight problem. I was gonna do another complete hdd back up to a dvd so I opened Acronis...and immediately I get a dialogue box that says "Error: E000101F4: Acronis True Image has not found any hard disc drives."
Huh??
Now, I also have a back up utility in Nero which opened as soon as I clicked 'okay' to the error box...is there a conflict there??
Update...I un-installed and then re-installed Acronis...no more error boxes...good!!
Now I have to find out why I wasn't able to use dvd's, even though I was using the dvd drive....the program kept spitting the dvd back out of the drive...asking for a cd...hmmm...will keep after it...maybe something I didn't quite set up correctly ( most likely!!).
I went ahead and made a new, up to date back up of my hdd...but it took 9...yes..9 cd's..!!That's why I gotta find out how to use dvd's...will only take 2 of them.
A back up hdd is looking better & better...
Update to the update....:( It appears that I can't use Acronis to burn to dvd's....I wonder why Acronis doesn't have that ability?
Okay, Nero...here I come!!
Now I will have two complete back ups...9 cd's...:p :p ...and 2 dvd's...:D !!
Which version do you have?
I am assuming you are using Acronis version 10. That would be the version IF you downloaded from their site. Don't think you could download an earlier version.
Steve, I have version 9 build 3677 (there is a later build but I have it saved but not installed---can do that anytime I want to since I have it downloaded already. Would suggest you consider downloading and saving in a work folder of some type any recent build(s) of Acronis.) Yep, DVD media will store a bunch more info than the regular 650MB CDs. I also have a set of each BUT I have not used the DVD backup to restore and I can only guess that I could do that. But since I am now saving backups to my external hdd, and have proved to myself it works, I don't worry too much about burning ANY kind of CD.
As future versions of Acronis are available, they will remove those older builds and then you can't get to them. That is why I download/save later builds with the assumption that I can install one at my choice of time. A build is equal to the size of the software on their store bought CD and that is why I think I can install when I wanna.
I have version 9 ( build 2,323). I bought it thru Newegg...I like having the cd available....like earlier when I uninstalled & re-installed it...having the cd made it easy ( thankfully, I had the product key written down in my rollo-deck).
Nero worked just fine....my hdd has about 10Gb's of info so it took 3 dvd's to get everything....that's okay because that may be the last time that I need to use dvd's for hdd back up.
I need to check out Acronis's site...hadn't thought about getting the latest build that may be available because up 'til now I haven't been using Acronis..:o ...but that is changing...:)
You gotta go to the Acronis site and register your software and then you can access the builds and update what you have. I am using build 3677 and will stay with it until it stops working; if ever. Update to that build first and then download/save the next build and save it. If fact, you may choose to download/save build 3677 and then go back to the site and install the same build to your computer. Good luck to ya.
Half time-----GO GATORS :D
Limerick: Thanks for this outstanding post!
Train got me to using Ghost a few years ago. However, I'm in exactly the same postition as TPM; that is I do a Ghost backup regularly to a second hard drive; however, thankfully, I've never had to access my Ghost backup and have wondered exactly how to do it especially in the moment of panic that would surely follow a hard drive failure.
Your post #4 above where you explain how to access the Ghost backup is extremely reassuring. I have a 3-ring binder where I file information that I feel I may need to access in the future on computer processes. A copy of your post #4 above will be receive a prominent place in that file.
Thanks!!
I just thought I'd mention that Windows Vista now comes with the ability to natively create an image of the OS, and any other partitions that you choose. I've used it - it creates an image quickly and painlessly, my only criticism being that there is no compression, so you get a large image file. You can save images to DVDR, to another partition on the same PC or to an external drive.
The file backup utility is also a vast improvement over the Ntbackup utility in Win2000/XP as well.
Stevejr, and others interested:
I bought one of these several months ago at a $29 cost. The price of $45 is too much but with a rebate of $30, this is a darn good price. Am sure shipping will be a cost also, of course:
http://www.globalcomputer.com/applic...CCODE=GLOEM413
a TINY URL for you just in case:
http://tinyurl.com/y7wta Everything you need to use it comes with it except the hard drive :D
Buf...that's a cool looking enclosure...sure would look nice next to my case..:) I read some of the reviews and most of the people mentioned the fan being rather loud...a negative for me...I like quiet...but the fan could probably be replaced with a better, quieter fan. I have decided to start with an internal sata drive...but who knows...I might want to play around with external enclosures & drives later on. Thanks for the link!!
Speaking of links...the tiny url link didn't work...did I miss something?
Can't explain the bad URL link but you are welcome. I have not found the fan to be loud at all; and my hearing is good.
buf...yea, reading reviews need to be done with a large grain of salt.Some reviewers loved it...others didn't...go figure!! Thanks for your info about the fan.
About as good as it gets for hard drives: http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...ref=performics
UNLESS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...AFC-C8Junction