First most things provided by the O/S (Windows) will be quite basic. Anything serious requires you to buy something - but the costs are relatively inexpensive these days.
As per Raptech, one way to do things is to separate "DATA" from "BOOT" drives.
I am using XP so the directories may be slightly different.
In my case (I have mentioned this before roughly) I tend to have a BOOT DRIVE that consists mostly of:
a) Boot
b) Hibernate
c) Core applications (I store "my" apps under directory "u"); normal Windows apps go under My Programs etc etc. I prefer my method only because "c:\u" keeps the base path shorter (than c:\program files\).
d) Application data - I tend not to disrupt the normal path of where application data is placed.
I have moved MY DESKTOP to my second drive. There are two good reasons for this:
a) Upon recovery of C:, the desktop is as it was before a "crash" or recovery.
b) Less space is taken during C: backups
My Documents likewise has been moved to my second drive. Under VISTA they have a USERS. Let me be clear that on my XP machines typically I don't have multiple users - makes things a lot cleaner. I used TweakUI to move the DESKTOP and MY DOCUMENTS to the second drive.
For me, most recoveries deal solely with C: - so having MY DOCUMENTS/USERS on a second drive, again you could go back a month and still have all recent "data" (mind the fact that any "apps" you updated/installed may need to be redone).
My XP C: is only 32GB. My VISTA C: is about 70GB.
I use ACRONIS backup - a number of us do here and with that you can schedule - "weekly full" of C: only, then "daily incremental" of C:. Or whatever you desire. Some people on this board don't seem to care for incrementals where I do. My C: backups on MONDAYS and is about 14GB. Daily about 1GB. I'd rather do WEEKLY FULL + DAILY INCR than only rely on one FULL per week. You can always control the restore - ie recover only FULL or recover only up to "Thursday's incremental" with Acronis.
For your data drive - you can create a schedule to backup specific directories to your off line storage - on demand.
It is best to plan your things the way you want and not let Windows control it all. By controlling your music, video, pictures - you know what to backup and what not. I find a lot of programs want to create "Temp" data under My Documents.
This app helps you zoom into directories searching for wasted space - temp tables too big or report logs etc.
Knowing where your non-critical data is placed, you can still use Acronis to backup specific directorie - if even you don't or can't separate your BOOT from your DATA.
A few extra hints include:
a) Using an online Storage facility. Amazon (S3) has one and I think Google too. The costs are small.
b) Ultra critical data that is small enough to be emailed could be 'rar'ed or 'zip'ed and emailed.
c) I am a huge fan of machine to machine backups. Where I backup data from my local "D:" to another machine in house. It doesn't get the data off the machine but for accidental/system issues, I feel better knowing there are copies.
d) I bot a copy of a program called BEYOND COMPARE (you can google it). What is neat about that, is you can sync directories from one machine to another and have that done via script at a certain time.
e) If you do have multiple machines you could do backups during known up time hours - ie backups start at 1am and by 2am the machines power themselves off. Some BIOS's allow you to have a powerup ALARM (My ASUS P4 had this; my HP doesn't). I use to have the machine go off and then wake up at 7AM. I did some backups first thing and others at night.
I think your first step is to buy a product like Acronis (they may offer a trial license for 30d). Then you can control things and see how that works with the backups - this is a key piece in your strategy.
The Windows Defrag is crappy - it is fine for most but I prefer something like PerfectDisk. MSFT wants to package their O/S in a way to justify their high prices. They try to convince everyone that "we have backup software; defrag software; video creation software etc etc". But in the end, like anything, it is mostly crap. I got in my Hyundai CAR MATS where other manufacturers would charge for them. Didn't mean chit to me - I took them out and immediately put in my "Reversible Pant Saver Car mats".
My offline (stated before) is a 2x2TB mirrored system. I have months of C: backups and Vista notebook backups and junk that shouldn't be on it and still have at least 1TB free.
The key to backing up for me though is "knowing thy self". You need to know where everything is stored and what needs to be backed up. An easy answer is always to "connect an offline and press a button, go for a coffee, and come back and everything from drive 1 is now replicated to drive 2". For some that works. For me it is a waste and of zero interest to me. I have 1TB in TV shows - if I lost the drive tomorrow I would not be very happy but I am not going to lose sleep over it. There is no way I will waste time and money to back that stuff up.
But my investment programs I have slaved over for years - I have backups all over the place - on my offline, emailed to my webservice etc etc.
Finally - don't confuse a "shared" drive system where multiple machines can put and get data, with a "backup system". It is easy to say "well it isn't on my computer - it is on the shared drive - so I am fine if my computer crashes". Yes that is true, but your OFFLINE DRIVE can crash too. In my case they are mirrored - if one drive crashes, then the other is fine.
Have fun! |
