[ColColt]

I've had a love/hate experience with computers ever since we were forced at work to learn them. That was many moons ago. I still feel in the dark somewhat when it comes to backing up my OS. I've always thought cloning your hard drive was the way to go to be able to get back up after a possible failure but when I thought about it, that would work great, just take the old drive out and pop in the clone. However, suppose that old drive doesn't die till a year or more down the road. You've got all those updates and a multitude of other changes and additions that won't be on that clone.

I've just bought a 1TB WD drive for the purpose of backing up my OS on Vista as I know the hard drive in it must have it's days numbered. I'm far from a computer geek and wondered what's the easiest way to do what I want to do and welcome any suggestions. I think Acrois True Image comes with this drive I just bought from B&H Photo but don't know if it's written so that it takes a seasoned geek to understand it.

[reeftool]

In the past, I have used rescue CD's and currently, I have an external HD with a complete HD backup on it. I used the Western DIgital software that came with the external drive. I also back up all my files to an external drive and I have a backup of that drive. If you are concerned about your hard drive, I would suggest replacing it now and don't wait for it to fail. While you can copy an image of your whole drive and then copy it to the new one, you are also going to copy all the unwanted crap and put it on your new one. I would start with a clean install of your OS and whatever software you want to keep and then access your files from the external HD although you can copy all your files back to the new drive if you want to.

Having backed up copies of all your files is handy for a new computer also. Just plug it in and you have them all right there. You should still have a backed up image for emergencys.

Vista is getting pretty old and in all honesty, you might be better off upgrading to a new computer as there are other components that are just as likely to fail as your hard drive.

[ColColt]

I bought the Vista machine back in 2009 but also have a Window 7 Dell that's just under a year old. I got in on getting the W7 OS before it was no longer available as I didn't want W8. Most of the emails and other programs/features I want to keep are on the Vista computer. That's why I wanted to get a clone of the drive in the event of failure. If the mob goes I guess I'm up the creek. I've been lucky till now. I still have an old Dell XP computer that still works. I bought it back in 2001.

I'd like to copy some of those folders in my email on the Vista and get them on the W7 computer but lack the knowledge to do that.

[condor27596]

I lost my entire life 15 years ago due to hard drive virus. I spent years cloning and mirroring.

What I do now. When I get a computer ( usually used or re manufactured) first thing I put in SSD drive that is mirrored to the original. Before anything.

I keep all my software disks with the key written on the disk. All my software now is buy once no monthly fee. It's important to me to keep this and not " upgrade " to a monthly fee.

If something happens it means I probably need another used low cost laptop anyway. I just repeat the above. And yes all the updates are a pain. But I only do it once every great while.

However I keep two copies of all my photos and video and other important files on two different external hard drives.

[ColColt]

However I keep two copies of all my photos and video and other important files on two different external hard drives

I do this as well but on internal HDD's. One is on the Vista and another on the Windows 7 computer spare bays. My problem is the OS back up. Maybe I should just take it to the local geeks and have them do it

[ChrisPlatt]

Be optimistic: a drive crash is an opportunity for a fresh start!

Keep original copies of all your software (impossible for you pirates I suppose),
and backup your important data files only. Simple as pie for the average user...

Chris

[condor27596]

Exactly. I have no stolen software. I have an account on all software I bought. You reinstall log in and update. So far no problems.

I also agree. If your computer is 5 years old and dies you can get a fantastic upgrade OS included for a couple hundred.

I currently have a pentium dual core i5 bought for $200. Laptop. I have a $120 SSD drive in it, this is the second laptop for it. The last laptop was windows 8. This one is 7. You just adapt.

[reeftool]

I'd like to copy some of those folders in my email on the Vista and get them on the W7 computer but lack the knowledge to do that

The easiest way is to plug your external drive into your Vista computer and copy the folders and files you want to save to the external drive. The easiest way is to right click on the folder and drag it to your external drive where it will copy the contents. Hold down the control key and you can drag multiple folders and save some sitting time. Then you can move the external from computer to computer and have all your stuff handy. If you choose, can also copy the files to your new computer using the same method and you have also created a backup copy in the process. It's quite simple and there are plenty of books you can buy or better, free online tutorials that will describe to process. You can also use the Windows backup function in Control Panel and the external drive you will buy will also come with software to back up your computer, copy files, etc.

You can certainly go and have this done but it's well worth your while to learn how to do this. It's necessary skills in this day and age and backing up is really a constant process that needs to be done. When I import my photos into Lightroom, I have it set to also import a copy to my external drive so all my originals are automatically backed up.

[Parallax]

I think Acrois True Image comes with this drive

I've used True Image for years. It's fairly intuitive and easy to set up. I've had to use it twice to do a system recovery and it worked flawlessly both times. The version that comes with the drive likely isn't the version that will let you migrate to a new computer, but it will get you back to where you were on your machine with a new hard drive.

[ColColt]

Can you use a docking station to backup your entire HDD?

[reeftool]

The backup software that comes with Western Digital drives will do that. Just plug the drive into a USB port. The software is preloaded on the drive and it will load the WD Smartware apps on your computer and it will allow you to easily backup files, folders, or your whole PC. Other drives will also have similar software. I use WD drives because they have been good performers for me. The software that clones your whole drive won't work to share or copy individual files to a new computer but it will work to copy it's contents to a new hard drive you have installed in your old computer. I have a full backup on my external as well as copies of folders and files. All of my pictures that are over 3 years old, I keep on external drives and I have deleted them of my PC's 'C' drive. I have 3TB of backups stored on multiple hard drives as well as some CD, DVD, and cloud backups. As megapixels and file sizes continue to grow, the need for large amounts of storage increases.

[ColColt]

All my digital pictures are stored on another drive within the computer's bays I call F-drive. I still have 381gb of space left on that drive which is also a WD HDD. I used the docking station to copy those photos onto another drive and install it on my Windows 7 computer so now there's the original on the Vista computer as well as a backup on the W7 machine.

Any cloning I'd do would be with the Vista computer as of now, I have no back up for it. My 1TB WD drive will be here this week and that's what I wanted to do with it. Does it have to be formatted before use?

[ChrisPlatt]

In school I used Acronis True Image backup and recovery software on XP systems.
I was impressed with how easy it was to use. Current version reviews are mixed.

Chris

[ColColt]

I still have TI9 on the Vista computer, maybe I should just use it.

[reeftool]

My 1TB WD drive will be here this week and that's what I wanted to do with it. Does it have to be formatted before use?

Many external drives are sold pre-formatted for Windows (NTFS). The documentation will tell you. Some are sold formatted for Mac's. It's an easy thing to reformat the drive or to format an unformatted one. One of my WD My Books I formatted in FAT 32 so I can plug it into anything. I do have a Linux computer but I don't do photo editing on it. I'm still entertaining the idea of getting a Mac. I will decide on that when Windows 10 gets released next month.