Advise on Backup Software

[alarson82]

On our external hard drive we have about 60 GB of family photos that I don't want to lose if the hard drive decides to quit working. I have a bunch of single layer DVD-r's (4.7 gb capacity).

I'm looking for a software that will automatically allocate the files to each dvd, so i can just sit and put the discs in when the previous one is done burning. Any suggestions?

(Windows 7 Home Premium x64 OS)

 

[shiranai]

Windows 7 has a built-in backup utility that fulfills your criteria (automated file backup to DVD).

 

[alarson82]

nice..thanks for the heads up

 

[alarson82]

well I've attempted using the windows 7 backup utility.. its taken over an hour and the 1st DVD isn't even finished burning yet, and i know my burner isn't that slow.

Any other ideas?

 

[BTA]

Get another external HD and copy everything to that...keep stored in another location?

 

[alarson82]

Get another external HD and copy everything to that...keep stored in another location?

I was thinking about doing that, or just buying an internal drive and hooking it up with my hdd to USB connector and storing the drive somewhere once the files are loaded on. I was trying to save some money though, because i have about 200 dvd-r's laying around. I used to be big into 'backing up' my movie collection, and so I stocked up on the blank discs.

 

[Homerboy]

just burn the jpgs to disk with something like imgburn
not sure how you have your pictures organized, but I Just take /2001 and burn to DVD
then /2002 burn to DVD
etc etc
toss DVDs in fireproof box and voila. (I also have the jgps stored on the WHS machine with folder duplication too so I'm covered that way).

 

[Homerboy]

I was thinking about doing that, or just buying an internal drive and hooking it up with my hdd to USB connector and storing the drive somewhere once the files are loaded on. I was trying to save some money though, because i have about 200 dvd-r's laying around. I used to be big into 'backing up' my movie collection, and so I stocked up on the blank discs.

buying a cheap HDD to back up irreplacable photos isn't that hard of a decision IMO. Hell I have some 160GB HDDs laying around I'd be ahppy to part with for super cheap.

 

[JJChicken]

Have you considered using online storage? Try Microsoft's Skydrive: www.windowslive.com/online/skydrive - it should provide about 25GB of storage so create multiple accounts.

The reason I say this is that DVDs go bad, DVDs get lost, etc. Online storage is a great (albeit slow) alternative.

 

[stevech]

buying a cheap HDD to back up irreplacable photos isn't that hard of a decision IMO. Hell I have some 160GB HDDs laying around I'd be ahppy to part with for super cheap.

With the price of 8GB and 16GB flash thumb drives, that too is a good way to backup photos and store off-site.