Is an external hard drive the best option to backup the files on my computer?

1 Answer

Answer :

An external hard drive will almost undoubtedly be the best solution for you. Most models are plug and play, so the set up shouldn't be a hassle, and they are much more reliable than a CD or other media that can be easily scratched.

Related questions

Description : How come files get deleted from the iOmega backup hard drive when I only want them deleted from my Mac Mini?

Last Answer : Have you tried disconnecting the backup drive before deleting your files off the Mac mini? I suspect it has something to do with the way the iOmega drive is linked to the main hard drive while still plugged in. Do a test with a dummy file and see what happens.

Description : I've been using Backup on my Mac to back up my home folder. It has been putting these backups on my hard drive. Now I want to put all my backups on my Seagate external drive. Can I safely delete the backups that are on my hard drive since they're taking up 80 GB of space?

Last Answer : Plug the seagate in and it will ask you if you want to use the drive for time machine. Say yes, wait until it does a backup then delete the backups on your hard drive.

Description : Can I use the Western Digital 1TB My Book Essential Edition USB 2.0 External Hard Drive (WDH1U10000N) to backup multiple computers at the same time?

Last Answer : if you purchase special software this will be possible.

Description : What's the best way to back up my info? Do you back up your entire computer or just certain files, photos, and songs? Online backup versus backup hard drives, and all other options?

Last Answer : answer:I’d go with both online and hard drive. Hard drives don’t do any good if your house gets flooded and both your computer and your backup hard drive get destroyed. You don’t have to back up everything, just documents, music, pictures…

Description : How can I find SilverKeeper backup files on an external HD?

Last Answer : answer:I used SilverKeeper briefly all it does is physically copy files there's no proprietary database or construct that is used to store the backup files. So, if the files were actually ... able to visually confirm the files were actually getting copied correctly prior to the surge this morning?

Description : Lost external hard drive files due to "partition"?

Last Answer : Well, I'm sure you know, that reformatting' is what did you in. Don't do ANYTHING to it right now, and get professional help recovering the lost data. It may not be as expensive as you think. ... or it may be relatively easy for some but I'm sure its a common occurrence they've dealt with before

Description : How can I copy the files from my laptop's (XP) drive onto my external hard drive (see "Details")?

Last Answer : This is pretty much the same question you asked yesterday, so understand that my answer is pretty much the same, albeit more detailed. You have to create the files where your email addresses and ... went, I would advise using Portable Firefox, which will install Firefox on your portable hard drive.

Description : What is the secret of copying large files between the hard drive and an external drive on a Mac Notebook?

Last Answer : answer:It's probably the file system on your external. Try formatting it with another file system that supports large files. I know that fat32 has a pretty small max file size. If that doesn't work, you ... zip the file (or rar it or whatever) and let the computer segment it up in 2 gig chunks.

Description : ____ software creates a mirror image of the entire hard disk, including the operating system, applications, files and data. a) Operating system b) Backup software c) Utility programs d) Driver imaging e) None of these

Last Answer : b) Backup software

Description : Is there a way to backup my C drive onto an external drive in SAFE mode?

Last Answer : You could try using a product like ghost which enables you to boot from a cd and then create a “snapshot” or image, of your hard drive contents including all required system files.

Description : Why a Backup Hard Drive is Important?

Last Answer : A backup hard drive is like built in security for your computersystem. There are many things that can compromise your internalhard drive and make it impossible to retrieve the importantdocuments that are ... vital documents that are beingstored on modern computers make it even more vital that a b

Description : What is the best way to backup large computer files?

Last Answer : answer:It'll take you forever to back up 5 TB to just about anything. For long term backup of less than a GB, CDs are great. For backing up multiple GB, nothing beats thumbdrives. But if you haven't ... let your computer back up to them over a couple of nights. And then store them in a media safe.

Description : Can you backup the files while your computer is running? -Technology

Last Answer : Yes, we can safely backup open files and programs while they are running.

Description : The purpose of backup is: a) To restore a computer to an operational state following a disaster b) To restore small numbers of files after they have been accidentally deleted c) To restore one among many version of the same file for multiple backup environment d) All of the mentioned

Last Answer : All of the mentioned

Description : 1. The purpose of backup is: a) To restore a computer to an operational state following a disaster b) To restore small numbers of files after they have been accidentally deleted c) To restore one among many version of the same file for multiple backup environment d) All of the mentioned

Last Answer : All of the mentioned

Description : How to move computer files to my passport portable hard drive?

Last Answer : Plug the micro-USB end of the cable into the external hard drive; then plug the larger end of the USB cable into an open port on the PC.

Description : Do you know a music in player for a Mac that doesn't copy the mp3 files from your external harddrive to the local drive?

Last Answer : iTunes—> Preferences—> Advanced Change the settings in there. It should be fairly obvious.

Description : Why can my external hard drive open on my laptop and not my computer?

Last Answer : Hard to answer when you don't mention which operating system you are using. If you're using Windows it's probably a network problem. Everything that is external to your computer needs to be ... settings in Control Panel. Click the diagnose problems link, it may be enough to solve your problem.

Description : External hard drive is supposed to pick up connection to computer wirelessly. what am I doing wrong?

Last Answer : answer:Huh? Why is the hard drive plugged into the modem? You might plug a HD into a router, but never into a modem. THe modem doesn’t have the disk management software. You need to be more informative here. WHAT hard drive, and what modem/router/computer do you have?

Description : Why is it better to render video data from my computer into an external hard drive?

Last Answer : Do you mean if you rip a video from a dvd? The only reason I know of is to save space on your internal hard drive. I keep a separate external hd for movies because if you keep the quality of the video, they are huge files and take up too much space.

Description : Why won't my computer let me eject my external hard drive?

Last Answer : Are you getting a prompt asking you if you’ve finished transferring files, or if you have any more to transfer, before you try to eject the external drive?

Description : Why doesn't my computer recognize my WD External Hard Drive, and how can I get it to?

Last Answer : Can you go to the control panel and under hardware, select add new device. Let the computer try to search for the external hard drive.

Description : My Computer Randomly Stopped Recognizing My External Hard Drive, HELP!

Last Answer : I don’t know anything about your specific hard drive, but if it won’t start back up contact a computer repair store in your area. They can recover all of the data from your hard drive for a fee.

Description : How do I get my computer to recognize my external hard drive ?

Last Answer : if it’s the USB-only model then it might be a bad interface on the drive. Probably an obvious question to ask but have you tried connecting the drive with a different cable?

Description : In what ways can I use an external hard drive to extend the life of my computer?

Last Answer : answer:I wouldn't say extending the life of the computer is really possible through the use of an external hard drive. But in terms of performance what I do is as follows. Store all of my ... not lose anything important. Overall i don't see much performance gain possible with just an external drive.

Description : How do I get my computer to recognize my external usb hard drive?

Last Answer : If you are using a Microsoft computer, click on start in the lower left corner and then click on devices and printers. You should be able to access your USB drive from there.

Description : How should I backup my files to transfer from my old laptop to my new one?

Last Answer : Buy an external hard drive. You can get one with the space you need probably for under 50 dollars. It can serve as a backup drive, too.

Description : Erasing Old Backup Files?

Last Answer : What are you backing up to?

Description : Which files do I want to backup from a Windows PC?

Last Answer : I'd back up any of the personal files, if you plan to re-image it, the rest doesn't matter. Usually My Documents, My Pictures, My videos, and any other file that you've ever downloaded ... up all the personal files, and download any necessary drivers for Video, Lan, etc from the manufacturers site.

Description : ……… is not covered under file management. (a) Secure files (b) Easy access to files (c) Schedule processes (d) Keep backup of files -Technology

Last Answer : (c) Because schedule processes comes under processor management.

Description : How to backup smartphone files ?

Last Answer : For this Nokia PC Suite software must be installed on the computer. You must register or log in to view the link. The software can be downloaded for free. Now the mobile phone has to be connected ... phone in the same way. For this you have to press the restore button instead of the backup button.

Description : restore backup files from Windows7 to WindowsXP after changing the OS

Last Answer : Did you save the files to an external hard drive or cd?

Description : Backup Files For Transportation?

Last Answer : The nice thing about using Saas cloud computing is that you do not need to transport your files in a physical form. You can just access the cloud from a new computer and download the files that way ... the internet. The limitation of the cloud system is that the Internet is required for it to work.

Description : You have just had to restore from backup and do not have any control files. How would you go about bringing up this database?

Last Answer : I would create a text based backup control file, stipulating where on disk all the data files where and then issue the recover command with the using backup control file clause.

Description : Does Oracle write to data files in begin/hot backup mode? (for DBA

Last Answer : Oracle will stop updating file headers, but will continue to write data to the database files even if a tablespace is in backup mode.In backup mode, Oracle will write out complete changed blocks ... ). Because of this, one should notice increased log activity and archiving during on-line backups.

Description : How does one backup archived log files? (for DBA

Last Answer : One can backup archived log files using RMAN or any operating system backup utility. Remember to delete files after backing them up to prevent the archive log directory from filling up. If the ... oracle/arch_backup/log_t%t_s%s_p%p' 5> (archivelog all delete input); 6> release channel dev1; 7> }

Description : Other than disk, what is another media used for backup files?

Last Answer : Magnetic tape.

Description : If a hard drive is not working, can I still get my movies and files out of it ?

Last Answer : answer:Because you plugged it into your TV, I am guessing this is an external drive that connects with a USB cable, is that correct? If so, you can take it apart and try the bare drive without the case ... . In that case, yes, there are places that could do the work and yes, it is very expensive.

Description : If you purchased a new hard drive for your laptop, what is the best current way to transfer your old drive, OS, files, etc. to the new drive?

Last Answer : If you’re tech savvy then I would recommend Clonezilla http://clonezilla.org/

Description : What is the quickest way to get rid of duplicate music files on my hard drive?

Last Answer : If you put them all into itunes then it has a remove duplicates option, there is also plenty of software available just by googling “remove duplicate music files”, it’s up to you to find one you like though, some only let you remove so many for free, others do all.

Description : Hard drive says its full but I've deleted most files?

Last Answer : answer:Have you emptied the recycle bin after you deleted the files? Deleting often only moves files to the recycle bin rather than removing them. You could also try deleting old system restore points as they ... page file as that is well hidden and can take up tons of space if your not careful.

Description : How can I view old emails that are in pst files on my hard drive?

Last Answer : Well pst (personal storage table) filename extension is used by Microsoft products…so therefore Thunderbird will not work. You need Outlook/Outlook Express. Have you tried one of those?

Description : How do i get rid of files from bittorrent form hard drive?

Last Answer : You delete it like any other file…

Description : Does formatting a hard drive make deleted files permanently irretrievable?

Last Answer : It makes them more difficult to retrieve, but unless you write new data over the data (sometimes called ‘zeroing’) it’s still retrievable. And people who have highly sensitive equipment and a lot of money and time to spend can still have a chance at recovering the data even then.

Description : Is there a way to get files off a hard drive that is seen as being unreadable?

Last Answer : One trick would be to hook it up to a Mac. I did that once with a drive of my neighbors that died in that way. It spun up, and I was able to see everything. The reason is the Mac doesn't care about ... on the pc side. It looks at it as new info. Then you can copy it to another pc drive that works.

Description : recover files from a crashed hard drive

Last Answer : Instructions can be found here > http://www.thetechmentor.com/posts/how-to-recover-data-from-a-crashed-hard-drive/

Description : What is first step to Handle Retrieving Data from an Encrypted Hard Drive? A. Formatting disk B. Storing data C. Finding configuration files. D. Deleting files.

Last Answer : C. Finding configuration files. 

Description : Can I use the same external hard drive for my iPad and laptop?

Last Answer : I don’t know of any external hard drives that you can attach to an ipad. You’ll have to use a regular computer as a data shuttle. Other than that there is not really anything to know. They’ll work like a big ass thumb drive.

Description : How do I format an external hard drive for resale?

Last Answer : Of course it’s true. I don’t re-sale my hard drives for that reason. I think I remember a member (Jerv) on here explaining how the software works on recovery of these things, there should be a program that also infinitely reformats the hard drive as well. It’s been a couple years.

Description : Can I set external hard drive as default for music downloads?

Last Answer : what browser do you use to download? How are you downloading? I’m pretty sure it’s possible, but I need to know that first