How Do You Back Up Your Files?

[Cyber Burn]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, if not, hopefully a Mod will move this to the correct spot.

Basically, I've had the same HP Vista Desktop Computer since 2007 (?), and now it's gone. So I'm needing a new Desktop (Tower only I think). I'm not really a Tech Head, so I really don't know what I'm looking for. I'm basically looking for something that I can still do  / stuff on, mainly skoping, and something that I can use for my college classes. Finances are really tight, but I really need a PC for my classes.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where to start looking, or even what to look for?

Thank you in advance for any advice you guys can throw my way.

[spydermann93]

Well, this is the laptop that I recently bought:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/aspire-e-series-15-6-laptop-4gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-black/1308704591.p?id=mp1308704591&skuId=1308704591&st=categoryid

It will be more than sufficient for what you need and it really wasn't all that expensive.

It will run anything FF or school related with no issue, and it can run Civ 5 at moderate settings (might not be a selling point for you, but it was for me! )

You could also probably find the same laptop model on Amazon.com for cheaper.

[Cyber Burn]

Thank you for the recommend Spyder, that gives me something to go on. Basically, I'm looking for a Desktop Tower since I already have my desk set up for it. it will also keep me from taking it wherever I go (I would never get any work done). I would also like to have a CD/DVD Burner to back up files.

It's been a while since I've bought a Computer, does Microsoft Word still come as a Trial/Limited version? So to get Excel, PowerPoint, etc., I would need to buy a new version of Microsoft Office/Student/Whatever?

Also, does anyone use a trackball mouse? I use one at work and am wondering how well it would work with FF and Skoping, Skinning, etc.?

Again, thank you in advance for any advice/Information you guys can send my way.

[spydermann93]

Thank you for the recommend Spyder, that gives me something to go on. Basically, I'm looking for a Desktop Tower since I already have my desk set up for it. it will also keep me from taking it wherever I go (I would never get any work done). I would also like to have a CD/DVD Burner to back up files.

It's been a while since I've bought a Computer, does Microsoft Word still come as a Trial/Limited version? So to get Excel, PowerPoint, etc., I would need to buy a new version of Microsoft Office/Student/Whatever?

Also, does anyone use a trackball mouse? I use one at work and am wondering how well it would work with FF and Skoping, Skinning, etc.?

Again, thank you in advance for any advice/Information you guys can send my way.

Most computers nowadays come with Microsoft Office already, so you should hopefully be fine (just be sure to make extra sure when purchasing a computer).  And same with burning software; some computers come with it already.  If not, I'm sure that there are free programs to download that will work sufficiently.  Oh, and if a computer does not have a Microsoft Office license, you can use the trial version for 10 days, I think.  I can't quite remember.

As for a mouse, I use a wireless, sensor mouse.  I haven't used a trackball mouse in a loooong time, but it should be fine.  Mice are cheap, so if you don't like it, you could always get another type.

[Cyber Burn]

Thank you for the input Spyder, I very much appreciate it.

New topic: How Do You Back Up Your Files?

So as the topic says, how do you back up your files? My Computer went down, my External HD died, my Disk Drive on my PC had stopped working causing me to lose access to the files I had saved to Disks, Flash Drives and Memory Cards are small and easily get misplaced.

While planning to get a new PC (At least a Tower anyway), I've come to the conclusion that I need to find a more reliable way to store and back up my files. My wife tends to take a lot of pictures, but we lost a lot of irreplaceable pictures when my PC crashed a couple of years ago. That's not including all of my old School files (Which always helped with formatting new papers), my custom FF stuff, documents that I had scanned, and a lot of other stuff.

My wife recently lost her camera, but fortunately she had most of the pics backed up on her IPad, on my Computer, and on Facebook.

But this brings me back to my original point, how do you reliably back up your files? What is the best method that you guys have found to safely store your files? What do you recommend?

As always, I appreciate any advice/input/recommendations that anyone is willing to share.

[spydermann93]

Thank you for the input Spyder, I very much appreciate it.

New topic: How Do You Back Up Your Files?

So as the topic says, how do you back up your files? My Computer went down, my External HD died, my Disk Drive on my PC had stopped working causing me to lose access to the files I had saved to Disks, Flash Drives and Memory Cards are small and easily get misplaced.

While planning to get a new PC (At least a Tower anyway), I've come to the conclusion that I need to find a more reliable way to store and back up my files. My wife tends to take a lot of pictures, but we lost a lot of irreplaceable pictures when my PC crashed a couple of years ago. That's not including all of my old School files (Which always helped with formatting new papers), my custom FF stuff, documents that I had scanned, and a lot of other stuff.

My wife recently lost her camera, but fortunately she had most of the pics backed up on her IPad, on my Computer, and on Facebook.

But this brings me back to my original point, how do you reliably back up your files? What is the best method that you guys have found to safely store your files? What do you recommend?

As always, I appreciate any advice/input/recommendations that anyone is willing to share.

It really depends on how much stuff you have to back up.

One alternative is Dropbox.  Upload a file to there and you can access it so long as you remember your username and password.  I use it to back up some mods that I made a long time ago and it has not failed me yet.

Another way I backup my stuff is through various components, not just one.  I've placed my backups on 2, separate external hard drives, a few USB's, and on my dad's desktop, among other places.  Basically, I copy my stuff a few times and spread amongst various devices and such.  Multi-Backup

If misplacing items happens quite a bit to you, then online backup might be the best idea.

[laughing paradox]

For my Freedom Force things, I back them up online at a site called cubby.com

It's an online storage site that allows 5 GB  to be stored.. and when I got it, it was free. Not sure if it's still free now, but I still have some referral codes if anyone is interested.

I've also had an external HD that broke down, so I've found the best way to store things is through an online cloud.

[Cyber Burn]

Thanks guys, I kind of hesitate using online sources, I worry about who could gain access to them. Even though I do use Yahoo Groups for some stuff, I'm uncomfortable in using them for everything. But I do agree, multiple back-ups is probably the way to go.

What I really need to do is to back-up my old Windows 98. It does not have Internet access, it does not have a CD Burner, and it doesn't acknowledge USB Flash Drives. I've got about 6 and a half Gigs of info in the "My Documents" file that I would hate to lose.

Other than taking it into a shop and paying an arm and a leg, does anyone have any ideas?

[Outcast]

The only other option i can think of is getting another hard drive/ external hard drive which your pc can recognize. Well, that's how i backup mine. On drive D, E and so on. I don't think the hard drives will give out at the same time. At least i hope they won't.

[Randomdays]

If your 98 DOES have usb ports, it will not recognize anything over a 2 gig drive due to the tech at the time. Try a 2 gig or less and it should work. And a SD card to USB adapter will also let you use a higher limit - I'm able to see a 32 gig card that way, and the adapter is about 5 bucks or less.

Otherwise, I know you from what you've said before you may not have a lot of tech knowledge, but it wouldn't be that hard to do. When My Win98 computer died I was able to backup the HD in about a half hour. Maybe you have someone with a little knowledge that could help?

Open up the case, unplug the ribbon cable and power plug from the HD. Open up your other desktop when you get it. Most of the ribbon cables have two connections on them - one should be hooked to the HD already there, and the other one open.

There are jumpers on the back of the HD to set the drive as master or slave. The one installed should be set to master. move the jumper on your 98 HD to slave - the HD should be labeled with where to put the jumper (if there's an open slot on the motherboard, you can just put the 98 ribbon cable in the slot and not mess with jumpers)

Plug in the power to the 98 HD, close things up and when you turn on power, the 98 HD should be visible. You can backup to wherever you want then, or copy the files to the other HD. Shut down and reverse the project.

In the old days, I backed up to Iomega zip drives that were 100megs each or tape, which were 2 gigs, both with a parallel port connection. But I think that reverses the problem, that the new PCs probably don't have parallel ports.

[Cyber Burn]

Thank you guys.

I have a 2 Gig USB Flash Drive, but my PC won't acknowledge it. I think it has Drivers on it that can be installed (I think), so I'm thinking that once I'm able, I will burn those to a Disk and then install them to  the old PC, and see if that works.

As for taking the PC, and going that route, that just scares the heck out of me.

I have the Tech guys at work, maybe I'll see if one of them will work with me to do this.

Thanks again guys, I definitely appreciate the responses.