What is a good back up strategy?

[2]

Certain file types are degraded, each time the file is saved. For example, jpeg files, maybe tiff and others.

What is the best free, open source software to do the job?

Should the file types be changed prior to back up, and can this be done in bulk?

What about Volume Shadow Copy that comes with vista?

I'll use an external hard drive for the target, and have no plans to upload everything to the web.
That there is too much work.

[allan5oh]

What's wrong with just copying it to the hard drive? You do not need to back everything up, but rather just sensitive files, spreadsheets, pictures, etc..

[Roadhog]

I partitioned my local drive to (D) for making a complete Recovery.
Out side of that, the only things I need to back up are my documents. I trim them to what I really want to save and then back up to CD, DVD, and an External Hard Drive.
I even made a complete back up recovery to a couple DVD discs. That is redundant, but made me feel safer. Last time I wiped my hard drive and reformated was just off my Recovery partition. Plugged in my External Hard Drive and put my documents back up.

Don't forget to save your important emails to a document file.

[NotSteve]

Certain file types are degraded, each time the file is saved. For example, jpeg files, maybe tiff and others.

What is the best free, open source software to do the job?

Should the file types be changed prior to back up, and can this be done in bulk?

What about Volume Shadow Copy that comes with vista?

I'll use an external hard drive for the target, and have no plans to upload everything to the web.
That there is too much work.

The files are degraded because of the default options you have set like compression and other features.

I use Paint Shop Pro and I can save the file 1,000,000 and it will not change or degrade. If I go into preferences and set the compression and other features it will degrade each time I save it.

[Mackman]

I thought this was about backing up a truck :x

[Double L]

I thought this was about backing up a truck :x

Yeah so did I!

[2]

What's wrong with just copying it to the hard drive? You do not need to back everything up, but rather just sensitive files, spreadsheets, pictures, etc..

The problem with just copying everything, is that every time you save certain files, there is degradation. This is more acute with pictures in the .jpg format, even with no compression.

It is technically over my head, but I do have an awareness that there are issues.

roadhog, I'm going to have to spend some time with the pre-existing recovery partition D... I can see an original image, an some other stuff, but not quite sure how to work it, should I need to reformat.

There were 4 partitions - the maximum - on this. I resized one partition, and deleted another. So, that 4th partition has sub-partitions, and is something I can play with, when the urge strikes.

I have corrupted the MBR 2 times, in the past couple of months. That from being overly cautious and from being overly confident. The second event led to a back up note book.

And, I use web mail, and do not down load much, at all. Usually select documents that I need to have on the computer or other wise that I need to print.

Steve, I know what you're saying, regarding compression. Experts smarter than me will disagree with your assertion that no degradation occurs on each save, though.

However, you can open the file and save it under a million different file names, and you should have the same content, without degradation, in each one.

However, when you open a file, then save it, you will have degradation. Open the saved file and save it again, the degradation will grow.

Again, this is mostly picture files, that I'm worried about. I think you will also experience degradation in other file types, but now we're getting over my head, again.

For you gents that thought this was about backing a truck, I spent a good 2 or 4 years, learning that little trick.

I could back down a curved and sloped construction site, in the rain, with deep ditches on both sides, easier than I could hit a dock.

[ben45750]

I think you are being a bit to cautious. Your not going to see a noticeable difference in files that are backed up or even ones backed up several times. I use DVD's and Flash drives to back up my files. I use the DVD's for music, movies and pictures. I use the Flash drive backing up website files (also keep a second backup on the Webserver). I have never had any problems files degrading over several back ups.

[matcat]

There are two types of compression, Lossy, which methods such as JPG, GIF, MP3, DivX, ETC are, and what that means is that the compression method takes out certain bits of the file completely that cannot be recovered. And no matter what the format is, if you open a file that is saved in a lossy format, it will uncompress it first so that you can do whatever you are doing to it, but the missing bits are still gone, and when you save it it will re-compress it, taking more bits out. It is the copy effect, take something, and copy it, and then copy the copy, and keep on doing it and eventually it will have nothing left. Now on the other hand there is LOSSLESS compression, which is what ZIP, RAR, (I believe TIFF but I could be wrong), WAV, etc are all LOSSLESS compression, which means they are compressed without removing ANY of the data, so when it is uncompressed and recompressed, it will have no effect on it what so ever. Generally Lossless compression methods aren't as efficient but are required when you cannot loose bits of the data, such as a program, obviously if bits are missing from a program it just won't run right, but if a few bits are missing on an image, who is going to notice?

Usually high end audio/video/photo editors, work in either raw or lossless compression modes. Photoshops PSD format is a lossless format, so if you do a lot of photo editing it is best to keep your master files saved as PSD format, and when you want to use them publish them as JPG or GIF, but save for yourself the PSD format.

[2]

Thanks, matcat.
That's what I was thinking.

[Phantom433a]

I thought this was about backing up a truck :x

Yeah so did I!

I was going to say that a great plan would be to startout by putting it in reverse :wink:

[2]

I thought this was about backing up a truck :x

Yeah so did I!

I was going to say that a great plan would be to startout by putting it in reverse :wink:

Often, not...

[Colin]

Copying files to a new directory or hard drive is not the same as saving.

That's your first misconception, and the correct answer will likely alleviate your fears.

[NotSteve]

I'm not going to get into this too much but I was in the computer science field for over 35 years. There is NO file degradation when backing up anything or saving anything to a directory, CD, DVD or ANYTHING!!!

I have JPEG files that are over 20 years old and are backup up once a month over and over again.

If this were true at all every word document you have would look like Chinese after a year!!

[Kurbski]

2,

Have you considered uploading your files to a server. Godaddy.com offers your own url and server space that you can save your file on which allows you to save or access them from any computer, anywhere. Just type in your url and password. The server is password protected and backed up as well. Just a thought.

[NotSteve]

If you do like I do you create a folder on your hard drive like in my case it's BOOTH. Within that folder are sub folders like EMAIL, DOCUMENTS, TAX, IFTA, PICTURES, MUSIC and so on.

When it's time for me to backup I can put a CD or DVD in my drive then I grab the root folder BOOTH and just drop it on the CD or DVD. You can use a USB key drive or anything.

The trick is to be aware of where your saving all your files. Don't let them go to MY DOCUMENTS and all over the FU**ING place. Change all your default settings for saving to go to your own personal directory. Then it's a simple matter of just dropping your whole directory like BOOTH onto the backup disk.

At home I have a 40 gig hard drive on my desk with a $20 option that plugs into the hard drive on one end and USB on the other. I plug the USB cord into my laptop then drop my whole folder onto the backup drive.

Each time I backup I create a new folder on the hard drive called
Booth-Backup-Aug-19-2008
or whatever the date is. Then I drop my whole BOOTH folder into that folder.

I also have a second hard drive that is the same size and once in a while a make a mirror copy of my backup drive onto a secondary backup drive.

I also burn DVD's with the files I cannot afford to loose like EMAIL, TAXES, DOCUMENTS and a few other things.

I started backing up with magtape in the 70's then to floppy's then to cassette tape then to streaming tape then to DAT drives then to CD then to DVD then to hard drive. I have everything I ever created back to 1974 when I started in the computer field and is now all on either DVD's or hard drive.

And by the way. I was the first person in Digital to play a song for the first time on a Digital VAX computer when Multimedia was just getting going. I was the engineer doing the programming at the time to make the computer play music

Eric Clapton's Torn Down.

[2]

Copying files to a new directory or hard drive is not the same as saving.

That's your first misconception, and the correct answer will likely alleviate your fears.

The light bulb just lit, with that idea.

I surf various places, but haven't spent enough time to overcome the learning curve.
One of those sites is paintdotnet, which is where I think I developed the misconception. Not sure that was the place, or just one of many.

Now, I'm impressed, Steve. I remember when DEC was the darling, and then no more. I had trouble programming in basic, with punch cards.

I was excited by the CBM from Commodore. It was really neat to see words input on a screen, and then manipulated - wow, that was something.

That was my first state of the art machine. Cost $2,500 and had dual 5.25" floppy drives, a printer and 32 K of RAM.

Kurbski, I am under the impression that Godaddy is russian.
There is something else about them I don't trust, but I don't recall what that is. Just being russian is enough for me to avoid them, even if they are somewhere else.

Backing up is a discipline that I have heretofore ignored. I have lost a little, but not a lot, so far.

I appreciate all the input.

[Kurbski]

Copying files to a new directory or hard drive is not the same as saving.

That's your first misconception, and the correct answer will likely alleviate your fears.

The light bulb just lit, with that idea.

I surf various places, but haven't spent enough time to overcome the learning curve.
One of those sites is paintdotnet, which is where I think I developed the misconception. Not sure that was the place, or just one of many.

Now, I'm impressed, Steve. I remember when DEC was the darling, and then no more. I had trouble programming in basic, with punch cards.

I was excited by the CBM from Commodore. It was really neat to see words input on a screen, and then manipulated - wow, that was something.

That was my first state of the art machine. Cost $2,500 and had dual 5.25" floppy drives, a printer and 32 K of RAM.

Kurbski, I am under the impression that Godaddy is russian.
There is something else about them I don't trust, but I don't recall what that is. Just being russian is enough for me to avoid them, even if they are somewhere else.

Cold war server space LOL....
I am not sure who own's godaddy, but trucker tom endorses them if you ever listen to his podcasts. I actually rent server space from a local web hosting company for only $60/yr because I can upload anything from anywhere and my wife (or anyone else) can also grab the files they need for whatever reason. It nice especially when I forget my laptop or don't feel like dragging it around with me.
Backing up is a discipline that I have heretofore ignored. I have lost a little, but not a lot, so far.

I appreciate all the input.