Best idea

14 Nov 2008 4:53 PM

desgnr

I am buying a new Desktop PC
Should i put a 2nd Hard Drive in for backup or should i use a USB stick or
SD card for backing up my files ?

The Hard drive i have is only 10 gh.
I can buy a USB stick that is bigger for very little cost.

14 Nov 2008 5:01 PM

Big_Al

desgnr wrote:

> I am buying a new Desktop PC
> Should i put a 2nd Hard Drive in for backup or should i use a USB stick or
> SD card for backing up my files ?
>
> The Hard drive i have is only 10 gh.
> I can buy a USB stick that is bigger for very little cost.
>
>

10gh if you mean 10ghz is a measurement of speed, not size. You
probably mean 10gig.   Which by these days standards is slightly larger
than a good thumb drive of 8gig.

Bang for the buck, a hard drive per gig of storage is still cheaper.
If you like having a stick or SD or thumb drive, then go buy one, they
are easy to backup to but are limited in space.

I'd buy a USB external Hard drive and enclosure (either separate and put
them together or a preassembled one).   External can be turned off and
isolated from the PC for both virus attack and security.   Internal can't.

14 Nov 2008 5:29 PM

Leonard Grey

A computer old enough to have a 10GB hard drive likely has other
components (principally CPU and RAM) that would be poor choices to use
as a main computer.

Whenever you buy a used computer, the first thing you do is erase the
hard disk and reinstall the software. It's the only sure way to know
that the computer is free of malware and configuration errors.

There are plenty of good uses for an old computer. Here are a few:
1- Use it to learn Linux.
2- Run old-school games that don't run well (or at all) on newer
versions of Windows.
3- Use it as a print server.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare Humanum Est

desgnr wrote:
Show quoteHide quote

> I am buying a new Desktop PC
> Should i put a 2nd Hard Drive in for backup or should i use a USB stick or
> SD card for backing up my files ?
>
> The Hard drive i have is only 10 gh.
> I can buy a USB stick that is bigger for very little cost.
>
>

14 Nov 2008 5:46 PM

Ken Blake

"desgnr" <des***@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Ob2dVmnRJHA.1164@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

>I am buying a new Desktop PC
> Should i put a 2nd Hard Drive in for backup

Absolutely not, as far as I'm concerned. Backup should never be to an
internal drive, since it exposes you to simultaneous loss of the original
and backup to things like power glitches, nearby lightning strikes, virus
attacks, and theft of the computer.

> or should i use a USB stick or SD card for backing up my files ?

Those are essentially external drives (electronic rather than mechanical),
and like other external drive choices, are a good medium for backups

> The Hard drive i have is only 10 gh.

Gh? Gigahertz? That deals with speed rather than size.

If yours were a 10GB drive it would be absolutely tiny these days.

> I can buy a USB stick that is bigger for very little cost.

For backup, you should use an external device that is big enough for what
you need to put on it. Whether it's a disk drive or a thumb drive doesn't
really matter.

16 Nov 2008 11:15 PM

JCO

I would use a second harddrive that is installed in a tray which allows you
to pop it in and out at will. Also, there is no power to the second HD
until you want to do your backups. The removable trays have a key lock that
is used to turn power on or off. My backup drive sits with no wear or tear.
When I want to do a backup, I turn the drive on and use Acronis to do an
image of the entire system (including OS).

You will need something bigger than 10GB for this. Smallest drive around
these days will be around 200GB. This allows you to keep all your backup
Images on the HD (in folders that indicate the date).

Works for me. I don't automate my backups with a system...just manually
create my images on a harddrive when I fell it needs to be done.

Show quoteHide quote

"desgnr" <des***@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Ob2dVmnRJHA.1164@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> I am buying a new Desktop PC
> Should i put a 2nd Hard Drive in for backup or should i use a USB stick or
> SD card for backing up my files ?
>
> The Hard drive i have is only 10 gh.
> I can buy a USB stick that is bigger for very little cost.
>

18 Nov 2008 7:12 PM

Tony Luxton

I'd use the USB device. Backups should be kept off site, or at least as far
away from the machine as practicable for your own circumstances.

HTH Tony.

Show quoteHide quote

"JCO" <some***@somewhere.com> wrote in message
news:%23GVGKFESJHA.4764@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>I would use a second harddrive that is installed in a tray which allows you
>to pop it in and out at will. Also, there is no power to the second HD
>until you want to do your backups. The removable trays have a key lock
>that is used to turn power on or off. My backup drive sits with no wear or
>tear. When I want to do a backup, I turn the drive on and use Acronis to do
>an image of the entire system (including OS).
>
> You will need something bigger than 10GB for this. Smallest drive around
> these days will be around 200GB. This allows you to keep all your backup
> Images on the HD (in folders that indicate the date).
>
> Works for me. I don't automate my backups with a system...just manually
> create my images on a harddrive when I fell it needs to be done.
>
> "desgnr" <des***@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:Ob2dVmnRJHA.1164@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> I am buying a new Desktop PC
>> Should i put a 2nd Hard Drive in for backup or should i use a USB stick
>> or SD card for backing up my files ?
>>
>> The Hard drive i have is only 10 gh.
>> I can buy a USB stick that is bigger for very little cost.
>>