Has anyone ever backuped data to their CD drive

[smeegle]

I've tried more than one backup program and none of them will allow me to back up to my CD drive. One wants me to put a backup on my system. Another wants me to use a floppy in my A drive. The main reason I want the thing is in case my computer crashes. Then I will have stored everything that I have downloaded. I have Windows ME so I have the basic restore discs but I don't want to lose the other stuff that I have accumulated. I'm even willing to buy a program if it works

 

[Rockn]

You need a CD burner first off and secondly you need backup software that supports backing up to CD. The utility that comes with Windoze does not support this functionality. There is a good program called NTI Backup that does a pretty good job. It also has scheduled backups.

 

[smeegle]

The thing that bugs me is that I have a CD burner but none of the programs seem to acknowledge it. Also, some of these programs claim that you do not need any additional software to make them work. I'll take a look at NTI Backup and let you know how I fare with it.

 

[Rockn]

What programs are you referring to that are not recognizing your burner?? Not every burner is supported in all software either.

 

[smeegle]

These are some of the ones that I tried, Simply Safe Backup, Bushido Backup, and Handy Backup. They say that they are easy to use but when you try to use them its a different thing. I even printed out the user manual for Simply Safe Backup.

 

[iq454]

I've tried more than one backup program and none of them will allow me to back up to my CD drive. One wants me to put a backup on my system. Another wants me to use a floppy in my A drive. The main reason I want the thing is in case my computer crashes. Then I will have stored everything that I have downloaded. I have Windows ME so I have the basic restore discs but I don't want to lose the other stuff that I have accumulated. I'm even willing to buy a program if it works

Hi,

Most programs automatically find your burner at installation, maybe you can select it manually as you say "another one wants me to use a floppy in my drive a" this maybe because that's what's selected in the program. Try finding where you can select your drive, then select your burner. Just a thought.

 

[smeegle]

It's worth a try. Thanks, iq454. What backup program do you use?

 

[iq454]

I don't mate, I use to sell HDD for a living, and have about 10 120GIG MDT's left, I backup to an empty or not full one take it out once I copied everything to it so they wont get infected, and also saves lifespan. I also have a backup of a perfect configuration with everything loaded, incase the one in use goes out. I'll simply through it away, grab that good one, and then grab another HDD and re-copy to have another backup incase that one goes one day.

But, I have used nero burning rom, and cdrwin a few years ago.

 

[smeegle]

I guess when it comes down to it that's the safest way.

 

[johnni]

I use WinME and do an automatic data only backup every 24 hours to a CD-RW using the free program EZBack-it-up from http://www.rdcomp.net/ezbackitup/index.php
However there is no way you can get a program to initiate a CD burning program and then go through all the settings leading to the actual burn. So, you need to backup to a floppy (too small) or another hard disk (if you have one), or do as I do and format a CD-RW with Nero InCD (or EasyCD); any of which you can then instruct the program to copy your data files to.
You begin by opening the program and telling it what files and/or folders to back up and where to and when. I chose a time when my PC is always switched on, otherwise no backup! It begins by backing up everything you instructed it to (takes a minute or three) but thereafter quickly backs up only anything new or changed, and you can set it that if you delete a file the backed up copy can either be retained or automatically removed.
You can also do a manual backup anytime just by right-clicking the program icon in the sys tray and clicking a green arrow. If you forget to insert your formatted disk you will get a reminder to insert it at the appropriate time - actually I use a small reminder program/clock to warn me five minutes in advance.
I have never had any problems with EZBack-it-up, and it can even show you a log file any time showing what files/folders it compared and what it backed up last time.

johnni

 

[Bob Cerelli]

As with many things regarding computers, there is typically no best answer. It all depends on your situation or requirements.

For backup, CD or Hard drive, it depends on both these.

If you have a large amount of data, then using a hard drive is likely a better choice. For example, I have way too much data for backing up to CD's. It would take way too many and too much time. But if you only have what will fit on a single CD, then that might be a good way to do. Typically you also don't just copy the files there but use a CD Burning program itself.

Also, if data if changed regularly, then backing up to CD's each time this happens is likely to get old fast and not done as often as it should.

If you have files you want to archive that you know you won't be using any longer, then CD's likely are the better choice. For example, many customers have lots of images from digital cameras sorted by year. Each year they just burn everything to a CD (making several copies as well), and then delete them from the hard drive. If you are reasonably careful with CD's they should last quite a while. The jury is still out on exactly how long that would be. If you really want it to last for decades, there are slightly more expensive CD's that can be purchased.

 

[smeegle]

Thanks for the update. You have a point, Bob Cerelli, backing up to cd's would require a lot of cd's. The first computer that I ever owned died on me overnight. I turned it on the next day and there was no reponse. The main reason that I need a backup is to keep all of the downloaded information (and games) that I have accumulated. If I backup to my hard drive and the computer croaks or does not respond to the Windows ME restore disks then my data would be lost. Maybe using an external hard drive may be a better choice than all those cd's. Johnni, I'm gonna check out the link that you provided. Thanks again.

 

[Bob Cerelli]

External USB drives are getting less expensive (but still not as much as straight IDE drives) and USB 2.0 is reasonably fast. Have a few customers using them as a backup device for the easy of swapping them out.

Rather than backup software, I usually just XCOPY what needs to be backed up to the drive. This way if you need to restore any data files, you just copy it back again. You don't need a 3rd party program for this.

Most times I create a simple batch file to XCOPY the necessary directories. Using the /s /h /c /y /d switches makes this pretty easy.

/s - Copies subdirectories
/h - Copies hidden files
/c - Keeps going if there is an error. This is handy if there would normally be problem copying open files
/y - Answers yes to an overwrite
/d - This will only copy new or changed files.

So the first time it is run, everything specified in the batch file will be copied. After that, only new or changed files will be copied.

The better organized your programs and data files are, the simpler the batch file can be.

 

[smeegle]

XCOPY. That's a term I was not aware of. I looked it up on google and now I understand your answer a lot better.

 

[iq454]

So did you try what I said? was it set to look at the floppy or your burner?