Hi folks,

I am hoping somebody here can help me get to grips with how to back up data... I really should learn how this is done!! I know this is probably a ridiculously simple and obvious task that 99% of the PC using world knows how to do, but could somebody get me started? (Baby, and I mean baby) steps are needed! I have a lot of music (CD rip etc) on my computer and that's the main thing I would like not to lose. Somebody told me this can be done with Nero (I have Nero Express and Nero 7 Essentials on my computer, but could not find the relevant place for backing up data). I do not have an external hard drive, just a stack of double-sided (dual layered??) data discs, and a CD/DVD burner. Thanks very much in advance!

RobbieBoy, you will be surprised to learn that far less than 99% of PC users know how to make backups and a depressingly lower percentage than that actually have current backups. If more people kept good backups, this forum would have a lot less traffic.

So, good for you taking this step to secure your data! Do it right and you won't be coming here someday saying, "Help!, my hard drive caught on fire and burned to ashes. How do I get the data back?"

Nero 7 Essentials is a stripped down, or Lite beer, version of the full product. It's the kind that comes pre-installed, or maybe comes free with a DVD burner. The full Nero suite has a program called Nero BackItUp which is decent and can be used for backups, but you probably don't have that in Essentials.

Hit Start > type BACK > click on "Backup and Restore Center" above > click "Change Settings" > "Change backup settings" > follow the Wizard from there - real easy.
However, I would recommend to buy an external disk because you may want to do this more often.
Edit: Just saw ScottW posted a similar course of action.

Re Simple: Actually, it's not a real simple thing to do that everyone knows.
Many backup programs are either hard to use or don't do everything one needs.
Windows Vista's backup program is a step in the right direction but still has problems.
Also many people just don't know about backups and their importance.
I think the computer manufacturers need to include some information with the computers stating the importance of backing up and how to do it.

Re Windows Vista's backup program:
I did try Windows Vista's backup program once.
I think it's ok for the average user though it does have one flaw.
It doesn't backup with file locations, it works on file types.
So if you select audio then all the audio files including in the ones in C:\Windows\Media used for Windows sound effects are backed up.
No one really cares for things like that to be backed up.

For one, you seemed to have backed up a lot more than your own files. That same thing happened to me once. It took hours and I ended up with many Gigabytes on my external disk. If you try it again that way, watch the settings.
Then I would back the data to an external disk, not a CD or DVD - too messy. Easiest is, to just copy the folders you want with "Copy to Folder...". If you don't have this function, get it from here: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto.....lick-menu/ -- that way at least, you know what you backed up and can easily relate to it.

RobbieBoy -

As an avid music (concert) collector I can relate. What I generally do is after downloading about 4GB worth of flac files (from http://bt.etree.org or the live music archive) I convert them all to MP3 for daily listening, and then burn a DVD with those shows. I label the DVD well and then tuck it away. Pretty manual, but if you stay on top of things it's not bad. I've found that having a "back up these files" folder is handy. After I'm done converting, I put the folder of flacs into the "back up these files" folder. Once that folder hits 4gb, I burn to DVD. Then delete them from the HD and start all over again :)

If you want more of an automated system, the freeware version of SyncBack (http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html) isn't bad. It's intended to be used w/ a 2nd hard drive or external drive, but it does allow you to decide what to back up and when. LifeHacker has a pretty good (tho a bit old) tutorial on how to use it: http://lifehacker.com/software.....147855.php

Robbie, here are some answers to your questions. BTW, there are no dumb questions when you are trying to learn.

To know how many discs a backup will take, the backup utility should provide you with that info. Sometimes, you may just get a total size of the data to be backed up and then you are expected to do the math and figure out how many discs that will be. A backup utility that uses compression will make this harder since some files compress well and others (e.g. music) don't compress. We've established that the Vista backup utility is very basic, so I would not be surprised if it gave you no estimate of the number of discs required.

When it says the disc will be "formatted", that's a strange use of the word. Write-once media, such as DVD-R, is formatted as it is written. That could be ISO 9660, UDF, or some other format. If you were using re-writable media, such as DVD-RW, then the format would erase all the data and still write the data, formatting as it goes.

As for the next backup using any empty space on the previous backups final disc, that would be something a very sophisticated backup utility might do. I've never used one that was so frugal with space. Also, depending on the utility, the discs might be "finalized" which would prevent any further writing to them.

Robbie, you are not having misconceptions. Your description of subsequent backups is exactly right. The first backup is called a "base" and then the future ones that only save new and changed files are called incremental or differential backups. Of course, names change from app to app. I looked at the help for Vista Backup and it says when using scheduled automated backups it will only save new and changed files. So, even this very basic backup utility has that feature. Give it a try.

[This post may be a dup due to the great transformer explosion of 5/31/08]

Thanks jd2066.. the thing that would stop me from getting external hard drive etc is that I severely doubt I could even hook the thing up!! I have a PC literate buddy from whom I have called in far too many favours, so I don't want to call him again. And of course I don't want to drive you kind and helpful folks around the bend with my questions...

Thanks DP/Lighthouse- it really is great to have a friendly resource such as how-to-geek to refer to! Ok so I have been having a look at this Norton 'Ghost' back-up software as well as the Norton 'Save And Restore' one. I was looking at Save And Restore in the hope it could do 'incremental' back-ups onto a DVD or CD disc, but if I understand what jd2066 said about this, incremental back-ups are only an option with an external hard drive.

When I had a hard drive disaster a couple of months back Norton 'Ghost' was heavily recommended to me as a worthwhile investment. Or would Norton Save And Restore meet my needs ok?. I really don't have a whole lot of documents on my computer that I need to back-up. Really I just want to back-up my music (would hate to have to rip my collection from scratch), some pics (album artwork) and would like to back-up all my program files because when my system 'crashed' a little while back I had to re-install all my software (what a hassle).

Ok and the next bit I need your kind help with is the correct names of all the stuff I need to ask for at my local computer parts shop i.e the stuff that jd2066 listed- external hard drive etc. Thanks again.