HD sounds like a lawnmower mowing sticks.

[daal]

Aaack! My hard disk is making horrible grinding noises! The ship is sinking! Women and children first!

[fwiffo]

Oooh, that reminds me... It's been a week or two since I've run a backup...

[tj86430]

Oooh, that reminds me... It's been a week or two since I've run a backup...

Backups should be taken automatically.

[fwiffo]

I backup to an external drive, which I don't want to leave on and plugged in all the time.

[CarlJung]

I backup to an external drive, which I don't want to leave on and plugged in all the time.

Same here. On Windows it can also assign different drive letters to the disc if the usual one is already taken, which makes any automated task difficult. Note to self: see if there are software that takes care of that somehow.

[freegame]

see if there are software that takes care of that somehow.

I have a whole bunch of external HD's. In Windows you can manually assign a letter to them.
If I then remove the HD, use it somewhere else, and plug it back in it uses the same letter I set manually.

You can do this in win 7 (work similar in Xp, and Vista) by going to the Control panel --> Administrative tools --> Computer management --> Storage --> Disc management(local)
There you get a list with all station and partitions. You can manually assign letters to them (right-click on the partition and thee will be "Change drive Letter".)

[Redbeard]

Backups should be taken automatically.

Where do you automatically backup? The Cloud?

Only wimps use tape backup: _real_ men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it.

[CarlJung]

see if there are software that takes care of that somehow.

I have a whole bunch of external HD's. In Windows you can manually assign a letter to them.
If I then remove the HD, use it somewhere else, and plug it back in it uses the same letter I set manually.

You can do this in win 7 (work similar in Xp, and Vista) by going to the Control panel --> Administrative tools --> Computer management --> Storage --> Disc management(local)
There you get a list with all station and partitions. You can manually assign letters to them (right-click on the partition and thee will be "Change drive Letter".)

Ah yes, that's probably the easiest way.

My problem comes from the fact that if I normally use H: for the external backup drive and that letter is already taken when I plug it in it gets the next letter i.e. I:. But I could just assign it a sufficient large letter like X: so that it won't be taken by other drives.

[tj86430]

Backups should be taken automatically.

Where do you automatically backup? The Cloud?

I store all data on a mirrored network disk. From that I take backups to a couple of external disks. In a perfect world at least one of a disks would be in a different physical location, but unfortunately that is not the case for me.

[CSamurai]

Backups should be taken automatically.

Where do you automatically backup? The Cloud?

I store all data on a mirrored network disk. From that I take backups to a couple of external disks. In a perfect world at least one of a disks would be in a different physical location, but unfortunately that is not the case for me.

You run your house on business best practices?

You sir, are dedicated.

Note to self: Buy media for backups. I've been a bad monkey.

[CarlJung]

You run your house on business best practices?

You sir, are dedicated.

Note to self: Buy media for backups. I've been a bad monkey.

Also, make sure your backup drives are not stored in your house in case of fire. That way, you'll still have your backup once you get a new computer (and house). Also use disc encryption in case someone breaks in and steals your computer. That way they only get your hardware, not your files. That goes for the backup disc too ofcourse in case it gets in the wrong hands.

To quote Helel, "It's not paranoia if they are really out to get you"

[Bantari]

You run your house on business best practices?

You sir, are dedicated.

Note to self: Buy media for backups. I've been a bad monkey.

Also, make sure your backup drives are not stored in your house in case of fire. That way, you'll still have your backup once you get a new computer (and house). Also use disc encryption in case someone breaks in and steals your computer. That way they only get your hardware, not your files. That goes for the backup disc too ofcourse in case it gets in the wrong hands.

To quote Helel, "It's not paranoia if they are really out to get you"

Lol.
What the heck are you guys storing on your drives?

[CarlJung]

You run your house on business best practices?

You sir, are dedicated.

Note to self: Buy media for backups. I've been a bad monkey.

Also, make sure your backup drives are not stored in your house in case of fire. That way, you'll still have your backup once you get a new computer (and house). Also use disc encryption in case someone breaks in and steals your computer. That way they only get your hardware, not your files. That goes for the backup disc too ofcourse in case it gets in the wrong hands.

To quote Helel, "It's not paranoia if they are really out to get you"

Lol.
What the heck are you guys storing on your drives?

If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret any more, would it?

No seriously, I just happen to like privacy for its own sake.

[tj86430]

You run your house on business best practices?

Well, there is my employers data and my wife's business' data stored as well, so I try to be careful, but no, it's not even close to real "business best practices".

In the past I've had a couple of disk/computer failures, and I have learned that having all data separate and well backed up saves a huge amount of time when that happens.

[daal]

I haven't yet figured out how to automate the backup process, so I tend to copy the "important" files to an external disk when the mood strikes me. It had been a few weeks since the last backup, but luckily, the failing disk was able to spit out a few files before grinding to a stubborn halt, so except for it ruining my day, not too much damage was done.