Need an external hard drive

[Guy Etchells]

Why o why do people use back up software?
Why not simply copy the files over to the external hard drive this is far more reliable and cuts out another source of failure.
Cheers
Guy

[rosijayne]

well, to be fair here, I'm not entirely sure if it has worked or not!   

I put it on auto backup, and now I have plugged it in to view the files, I am unsure where they are.  I am not at all computer savvy, I just wanted somewhere to put all of my precious documents/photos etc where I could access them in case of laptop failure, but I am having problems working out where I find everything on this drive! 

Oh well, maybe I should have stayed with memory sticks/c d's.

Gill

[rosijayne]

Just to add to that, I have just plugged drive in again and manually moved each one of my individual family history folders over, and it actually lists them clearly!  When I first plugged this drive in I asked it to backup the whole of my computer, and I think that's probably where I went wrong.  Seems to be easier just to move each one individually.

Gill

[falcybe]

and manually moved each one of my individual family history folders over

Hello, I hope you meant copy rather than move. In computer language, move means to displace a file or folder from one place to another, whereas copy means to leave the original where it is and make a second version elsewhere.

[rosijayne]

Yes, I did mean copy thanks,  I can now see a neat row of folders on new hard drive which is the same as on my laptop _ just the result I wanted!

 

[mumjo]

Why o why do people use back up software?
Why not simply copy the files over to the external hard drive this is far more reliable and cuts out another source of failure.
Cheers
Guy

We learn the hard way, Guy. Will never use back up again!
I do it manually now, only trouble is remembering to do it 

[km1971]

I do not agree that manual copying is best. If you change a file that has been copied most software packages will just replace the latest version. Doing things manually you usually end up copying the whole lot again. Once your backup drive is 50% full you need to delete the backup copy to give you room for the latest copies. This means you are at risk for a time having no backup.

With cheap disk space it is good practice to create a backup library/partition on your PC and then copy from this to a backup device.

Ken

[Guy Etchells]

I do not agree that manual copying is best. If you change a file that has been copied most software packages will just replace the latest version. Doing things manually you usually end up copying the whole lot again. Once your backup drive is 50% full you need to delete the backup copy to give you room for the latest copies. This means you are at risk for a time having no backup.

With cheap disk space it is good practice to create a backup library/partition on your PC and then copy from this to a backup device.

Ken

No if you have a good back up procedure you will have more than one copy of a file.
For example if you change your files daily at the start of the day you will have yesterdays file "in" the program and also a back up on an external hard drive a folder (folder 1).
When you have finished working on that program you save the files and make a copy of the saved file.
On the second day you work on the file you start the day with the previous day's file "in" the program but when you finish that day you save a back up of the file to second folder ( folder 2) on the external hard drive.

This means you have three copies of the file 2 current copies and one copy one day old.
At the end of the third day you replace the file in folder 1.

By making back ups like this you always have 2 current copies of the file and 1 copy one session old.
This means that even if the two current copies become corrupted you have the safety of a third copy only one session old.

If you allow automatic back-ups the system overwrites the back-up file meaning you could lose all your work.

Cheers
Guy

[mstomasik]

Yes, I agree with Ken.....I think there are plenty of situations when back up software is appropriate and even necessary.

If you use only one or two apps that have a single database then maybe manual backup is fine for you.  Apps like Family Tree Maker or Quicken are like this...These apps usually have some sort of internal utility for making back ups and that might be enough for you.

However, I work on quite a variety of apps, and generate multiple new files and modify existing files frequently.  If I had to keep track of what had changed, or as an alternative, just re back up the whole lot each day, or hour, or whatever, eventually, I would stop doing it.

Also, even in the home environment, people often have multiple users on the same computer and/or multiple users on different computers.  Having everyone responsible for their own manual backups is okay, but hardly efficient.

Although backup software is certainly an additional point of failure, for the most part, it is quite reliable.  I think it is more reliable than the average user who manually backs up.  People that manually back up don't usually keep multiple generations, something that back up software can do without additional effort on your part.

My scheme is to have a drive on my network for all critical files including documents, databases, email, and media.  Then I have a second drive that is the back up for that administered with back up software.  It backs up daily with only those files that have changed or been added.  Once a week it does the whole group of files.  As I mentioned in the earlier post, the main drive is a WD MyCloud, meaning I can access files from any location.  The drive stays at home.  Of course this only works when the backup computer is connected to the network...so the back up does net skipped sometimes.

I have also been experimenting with Microsoft's One Drive which I like quite a bit.  It creates a mirrored version of you files in their "cloud"  So those files are continuously backed up.  I . for the most critical files.  Not sure where this will lead me....am a bit leery about the expense and the reliability of a "cloud" only back up scheme.

At the risk of overselling, I think, except for the very, very casual user, the manual backup route is a dead end that will end in a mess.