I have diligently backed up my photos, extensive music library( 40,000 + songs :)), and other pertinent data for years on various HD's . I have never been successful copying the boatload of programs I have to the externals though. Have I missed something when doing so or are your basic externals not setup to completly transfer all the data from my computers upon backing up ?
I am looking for a comprehensive user friendly solution that won't break the bank or someone to tell me what I haven't figured out how to do.
Thanks for any help.
Last edited by Mike Tracy; 08-14-2009 at 06:59 AM.
Hi Mike, You might try a program called Acronis. I use it to make a "clone" of my system at least once a month. It copies all data, programs OS, registry etc. It creates a bootable drive that is a complete copy of the source dive. This is a seemless method of getting back up after a disaster. I like it better than RAID as I only create a clone from my C drive knowing that there are no issues. RAID will instantaneously copy any errors and virus as well as the other stuff. So, if an issue occurs the issue is also copied with a RAID system.
I use a combination of hardware RAID 1 and software mirroring. The program I use is called Mirror Folder. Mirror folder can do real time mirroring and it can mirror system or program drives.
If you have setup your HDDs as RAID 1 in BIOS, (for this you need at least 2X identical external HDD with eSATA interface) your data will be mirrored automatically in both drives. However from what I understand you have only one external drive you want to mirror your data from internal drives, this can be done manually (just copy whatever you want) or by using any backup software. I use Seagate Disk Wizard, it's great and free. You can download from Seagate website.
RAID1 using BIOS is the real answer. MOST motherboards support it now. The way this works is before you build the system, you need to get the RAID BIOS installed and then create a RAID1 (mirror) to install programs on the workstation.
My setup is as follows:
RAID1 for programs and documents (Disk1 and Disk2 setup as RAID1)
RAID1 for photos, videos, music etc (Disk3 and Disk4 setup as RAID1)
All of this backed up onto a DROBO 1TB (which is essentially a managed RAID5).
If you go this route, make sure that you have a powerful SMPS supply (>500W) and the case has good thermal flow.
Also, the HDDs being soooo cheap, it should be criminal to not have RAID1 in workstations!