Emrys Davies wrote:
> "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message
> news:hj7gq5l265rbeleffhlhg1snj1sgfer2u2@4ax.com...
>> On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:16:07 -0700, "Gene E. Bloch"
>> <not-me@other.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 20:436 -0400, Joel wrote:
>>>
>>>> "Emrys Davies" <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I have Win7 Home Premium 64 bit and WLM
>>>>>
>>>>> Recently I asked a question about backup to an external drive
>>>>> with 'Let Windows Choose'. Before I decide I am wondering what
>>>>> will happen in practice if I use a DVD-RW. Would I be able to
>>>>> use the same disk each week,
>>>>> while there is room, and sort of have it updated or overwritten.
>>>>> Having
>>>>> used floppy disks for ten years all of this is new to me and
>>>>> hopefully someone will explain the merits of a DVD or an external
>>>>> drive in such circumstances. Simply, I just need to know how
>>>>> they will perform from week
>>>>> to week. I don't want a pile of DVD's bearing suitably marked
>>>>> sticky labels. My backups will be quite small in content.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Using RWs for frequent backups is a pretty good plan - I would use
>>>> two or three (rotating through them each week, so that you will
>>>> always have the previous one or two backups when you make a new
>>>> one) CD- or DVD-RWs (depending how much space you need for the
>>>> backups). When the disks wear out, just replace them.
>>>
>>> In my experience, "the disks wear out" happens pretty often with
>>> RWs.
>>
>>
>> Not only that, but if they wear out after writing, but before you
>> want to restore from them, you're up the creek.
>>
>>
>>> With
>>> the prices of external drives these days, I'd say stick to them for
>>> backup...
>>
>>
>> I'm with you entirely!
>>
>> --
>> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
>> Please Reply to the Newsgroup
>
> What a forum. Where else would you get such good advice from experts
> in a language which is easily understood and makes real sense? An
> external drive it will be.
One other thing you might consider is using a USB "Toaster" drive system for
your backups rather than a single external USB drive. It gets it's name
from the way you plug your drive vertically into a slot of the base unit.
I use a Thermaltake BlacX drive that allows me to plug in either a standard
3.5 SATA or a small one from a laptop. A link to the system can be found
at:
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1268&ID=1642 It will give
you a better explanation of the system as well as show you what it looks
like.
I use three 500Gb drives on a rotating basis so that I can keep a backup
copy off site, just in case of a fire or other disaster at home. I could
use quite smaller drives but these were available at about the same price as
a smaller drive from one of TigerDirect's specials.
Having the toaster system really comes in handy when a friends system gets
trashed. I plug in their drive and usually can recover most of their data
for them since I don't need, or want, to boot from it.
What ever you decide to use don't put all your trust in just one backup copy
of your system.