The easiest way to back up stuff is...Inside -- The HarmyBoard HarmDrive

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 17:03:50 07/13/07 Fri
Author: JAG Junkie (Ronda)
Subject: The easiest way to back up stuff is...Inside
In reply to: ED 's message, "Backing up information" on 13:36:06 07/13/07 Fri

Buy a flash drive. If you don't know what that is, it is basically a portable hard drive that plugs into a USB port. They are usually about 2 inches long and just under an inch wide. Lots of people put them on their keychains. Make sure to get one big enough to hold everything.

Once you have one and are ready to start backing up, go to "My Computer" and locate the place you have all your Harm/DJE stuff (hopefully you have it all organized so it's easy to find) and "select" all those files (click on them all while holding down "shift"), then right click somewhere on top of the highlighted files. If you have it all in one folder, it's even easier, just right click on that one folder. A menu box should pop up. Choose copy. Then, open up "My Computer" again and find your flash drive--it will probably show up as "Removable Disk". Double click on it to "open" it, then right click anywhere in the empty window, and choose paste. All your files will be copied onto your flash drive. You will then be able to take Harm with you wherever you go. lol

If you have a HUGE amount of stuff and can't fit it onto a flash drive, you can buy an external hard drive. You can copy stuff there the same way. And if your computer dies and you have to get a new one, just plug the external HD into your new one and you still have all your stuff just like before.

I'm the Queen of Backups! LOL I save everything on two physically separate hard drives within the computer, and an external hard drive. And for smaller non-video files, I also backup to a flash drive. And if that isn't enough, once a month I email my non-video files to a remote email account that stays out in cyberspace and doesn't get downloaded to my PC. So my house could burn down and I could still get to my files! LOL

I know that's probably overkill, but I have personal stuff I don't want to have to recreate!

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> [> I actually understood what you explained, I think (and that's saying something for this non computer saavy person). -- ED, 18:17:04 07/13/07 Fri [1]

When you say make sure it's big enough, any suggestions of "size" I should look for - how can I tell what is big enough?

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]

[> [> [> The rest of my post was inside, but then how would know that since I didn't say "inside". To repeat my question: When you say make sure it's big enough, any suggestions of "size" (how is size indicated) I should look for - how can I tell what is big enough? (That's a loaded question!) Many thanks for your first response -I'm a bit brain dead with just 4 hours of sleep and forgot my manners. Thank you again. -- ED, 19:08:54 07/13/07 Fri [1]

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]

[> [> [> [> Actually, I could tell you posted inside, because there was no (NT) at the end of your post. NT means no text, meaning there is no text inside. Going inside... -- JJ (Ronda), 20:09:12 07/13/07 Fri [1]

Assuming you have all your Harm/DJE sutff in one folder, sometimes when you are in "My Computer" and you "hover" over a folder (or file), a yellow box will pop up that tells you stats about that folder (or file). It should tell you the size, probably in megabytes (MB). If you can't find out the size that way, right click on the folder (or file) and choose "properties" from the menu box, and it will tell you the size (among other things).

A general rule of thumb is appoximately 1000 megabytes in a gigabyte. Most inexpensive flash drives are 1 to 2 gigabytes (gigs) and cost anywhere from $12.00 to $40.00 depending on size and whether or not you catch a good sale. You can buy flash drives up to 4 gigs, but they cost more.

What you need really depends on what you are trying to save. If you have a lot of big files, i.e. video files, you may not be able to fit them all onto an inexpensive flash drive. Just to give you an idea: My JAG/Harm/DJE video folder has 370 files of varying sizes; some are short episode scenes, some are 4-5 minute music videos, and some are long TV interviews. The whole thing is 3.54 gigs. I could buy an expensive 4 gig flash drive, but it wouldn't leave me a whole lot of room for additions, so I personally think I'm better off with an external hard drive for that sort of thing because of space considerations.

If you want something you can put on a key chain and take with you to use on any computer anywhere, a flash drive is the way to go. However, external hard drives are really a better value for your money if size is more important to you than portability. Just to give you an idea, here are this week's prices from my local ads:

1 GB flash drive on sale for $13, regularly $25
2 GB flash drive on sale for $20, regularly $40
4 GB flash drive on sale for $40, regularly $80
250 GB hard drive on sale for $80, regularly $100
500 GB hard drive on sale for $140, regularly $200

Prices for flash drives don't vary much. Hard drives, however, vary a lot depending on brand, speed, size of the "box" (some can fit in your purse, others are too big for a normal size purse), how portable they truly are, how they connect (USB, SATA, etc). You should probably talk to a techie salesperson before you make your purchase if you decide to go the external hard drive route.

Sorry if that was too much info. I just got excited when I realized how much prices have really bottomed out recently. My first flash drive was 256 MB and cost me almost $40! Now is a much better time to be buying stuff like this!

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]

[> [> [> [> [> I just learned something else- what the NT means :) - not too much information at all. It gives me an idea of what I should look for and the cost. I'm not too concerned with portability, but having the files saved. So I think I'll look for a hard drive. Thank you so much for all the information. Visiting this board will hopefully make me less clueless. Thank you again. -- ED, 05:23:10 07/14/07 Sat [1]

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]