I am running xp-pro and would like to know the best way to back up all my files. I dont really want a ton of disks that I have to spend hours reloading on my computer. I have a spare internal hard drive I can install and put all on. But not sure if I remove it that it will retain everything if diconnected. I have done it before and ended up with a few bad files when reconnected.
Both good idea's but at present whatever I do has to be free. Have had some health problems and not working.
Cheapest method will be to simply copy your important files to the other internal HDD. No software to buy, you already have the second HDD and the copied files are immediately usable by the program that created them. Programs you obviously already have. Process may be a bit slow, but you did say cheap. Or you could use XP Pro's built-in backup; NTBackup I think it's named. It worked reasonably well for me and if you backup to your already installed second HDD, additional cost again will be zero.
Will try that. I have a program for creating backups. Seems like every time I do that and unplug the drive I end up with missing or corrupted files. Thanks for all the advice. Will plug in another drive and try it.
If you're unplugging the drive with the computer powered up, then yeah you're likely to corrupt data if the drive is not hot swappable. Even then, it's always best to either do a Safe Shutdown of the device or shut down (power off) the computer before you start pulling plugs. Generally, USB devices are capable of Safe Shutdown (and can be set up to be hot swappable), PATA HDDs are never hot swappable and SATA HDDs may be hot swappable if AHCI is enabled. Of course never say never since exceptions do occur but are unlikely. If powering down and pulling plugs is causing you to lose data on a de-energized drive, you have electrical problems you need to address before you do anything else. In all my years of building, upgrading and refurbishing computers I've pulled hundreds of all sorts of hard drives and never experienced any data loss simply from pulling the plugs on a drive with no power applied. I have however scrambled the data on a PATA drive when I dislodged a loosely attached cable. Of course, if you're body is carrying a static charge, you can cause all sorts of problems when you touch the computer's internals. You can get a static discharge bracelet to help eliminate that danger, or simply always touch the bare metal frame for a few seconds before grabbing at the internals. And on the HDD it's best not to touch the exposed electronic circuit board if there is one. "Hot swappable" here = can generally be thought of as safe to disconnected while energized.
I never unplug anything while the computer is on. Never thought of the static charge though. There have been a few times I have had that happen when I touch the case. I usually just unplug it and leave it in place and then plug in back in when finished.
If you're trashing data on a powered down computer, and you've noticed a static discharge, I'd say that's at least one of your problems; there may be others. While working on the internals, leave the power cord attached to the computer. Its third connector, the round one, is a ground that should help bleed of a static charge on the computer itself. But that assumes the house wiring is grounded. If your outlets don't have a bare wire back to the neutral bus in your breaker box, your system is ungrounded. You can buy a $5 tester to determine that status. Ungrounded systems can, and do, cause problems for sensitive electronics. But if I were you, I'd invest in a grounding bracelet before I do anything else. They Velcro around your wrist and have a length of wire with an alligator clip at the end usually. Clip that to the case chassis (inside the case) dead first. It might even be a good idea to scrape the clip point to get any paint or clear coating off. The clip has to come in contact with bare metal. Rats! I forget my manners. The electrical system comments apply to US only. Electricity is electricity, but I'm not certified on Non US systems. Please take those comments as merely generalizations concerning grounding.
The house is grounded. Also I normally do leave it pluged in. I also have not done a backup after I put in a new hard drive. The old one was bad and caused a lot of problems so I think maybe that could of been part of the problem. It may have been corrupted before I ever unpluged it and I had not noticed. Will be more carefull about the static and see if I cant find a wrist strap. Thanks.
Ok, I think you're on the right track. Static electricity can wreak havoc with stuff and hard drives do go bad. Anyway, hope it all works out.
Downloaded the macrium reflect and have added a third hard drive . done a backup on it and a rescue cd. So I feel now a bit more prepared for my next urge to change my OS or what ever. Been thinking of vista.
I guess I did not try hard enough. The Transcend Storejet 35U can take 2TB and more importantly esata is detected. That costs around $35 in India. I have two of them and so my requirement of a esata 2TB HDD has now been met. Had success with these: WD Caviar Black 2TB 2002FAEX Seagate Barracuda Green STL... 2TB WD Caviar Green 20EARS 2TB