Hard drive backup

[pitbullmamaliz]

Would I be wiser to go for an external hard drive or an online backup? A friend is going to take my laptop apart to clean it and redo something with my heat synch (no idea what that is other than that it's probably dried out and no longer working to cool my laptop). He's a computer guy for a living, so I trust him, but I'd still like to backup everything before hand.

I like the idea of an external hard drive, but they're expensive (yeah, I know I can get one for like $80 but that's expensive right now). But I don't know if online backup would work - my computer will only run so long before over-heating and shutting off, so if it doesn't back up relatively quickly it won't do any good.

Thoughts? Bob?

[mnp13]

a "backup" is only a backup if it's a full copy and not in the same place as your computer. I recommend mozy online backup, but if you need to get it done right now, you don't have time for that because the initial backup takes a while.

Your other option is backup software that will compress your files and burn them to CD or DVD (whatever your burner is)

But frankly, yes, you should suck it up and eat ramen for a week or two and get one of these:
http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/We ... oduct.html

That's what I have with me pretty much all the time for my photo shoots, or did until I got my one with the card reader built in. They are quite durable, and for under $50 you can't beat 320 gb of space, and they don't need an external power source.

It's not a great long term solution, but it's good for short term, and good to have around.

[Pit♥bull]

You can backup your important files like images to a CD/DVD if you have one otherwise I wouldn't bother backing your whole drive. If you are having an 'overheat' issue you will never get a proper backup anyway.
I wouldn't think it's a heat sink issue other than needing cleaned. There would be no reason to to bother or cause an issue with your hard drive. If worst case happened then you could get an external enclosure for your current hard drive and plug in in to a new laptop and download all your files.
CD/DVD backup is the best option.

Good luck Liz

[pitbullmamaliz]

DVD burning is out as I haven't been able to burn those for years. Not sure why. I'm only thinking of an external/online backup because of all the pictures/music I have on here - 6 years worth.

He's thinking it may be a heat sink issue due to the age of the laptop (6 years) and I think he read online that this model had several heat sink issues. He said it probably needs more goo or whatever technical term it would be. He suggested backing everything up just because he'll have to take the laptop way apart to clean it/re-goo it.

Michelle, that hard drive is a lot cheaper than all the ones I've seen. Maybe I'll go for that. Thanks!

[mnp13]

Michelle, that hard drive is a lot cheaper than all the ones I've seen. Maybe I'll go for that. Thanks!

and same make and model I use, and I've been happy with it. It's not ultra fast, but it has been reliable.

[SLS61185]

My mom got me an external backup drive thing for my birthday a couple of months ago. I have yet to even get it out of the box... Because I don't know how it works since i haven't read the instructins yet.

Even if you're not worried about having to reformat or anything, back your stuff up. I had a HORRIBLE virus back in Jan or feb that went through both of my hard drives on my other computer. I lost 3,000 songs that I had and pictures I can't get back.

My heat sink (sp?) went bad on my other computer about 4-5 years ago and would turn itself off after 5-10 minutes of being on. One of my fans was clogged with dust and we found out the heat sink went bad along with it.

[mnp13]

cat and dog hair are murder on fans - and your fans are vital to your computer.

just opening up your computer and using compressed air ( NOT your breath ) to blow out all of the hair and stuff will be a big help. But hair has a lot of oils and grease that attract dust and keep it there - and the hair sitting on the components transfers that oil. using a lint free cotton pad and rubbing alcohol to remove the gunk can help as well. BUT the heat sink has a grease that is supposed to be there (that's the stuff your friend is talking about Liz) so don't clean that off.

Just stick to the fan and the the obvious hair that is hanging out in there.

Make sure your computer is un-plugged, before you open it. And touch something metal to discharge any possible static you have in your body before you do anything inside of it.

The last time I opened my laptop I think there was a whole cat worth of hair wound around my fan.

[mnp13]

My mom got me an external backup drive thing for my birthday a couple of months ago. I have yet to even get it out of the box... Because I don't know how it works since i haven't read the instructins yet.

Most are VERY easy - actually "plug and play"

get off the forum and go do it NOW! BYE!

[SLS61185]

My mom got me an external backup drive thing for my birthday a couple of months ago. I have yet to even get it out of the box... Because I don't know how it works since i haven't read the instructins yet.

Most are VERY easy - actually "plug and play"

get off the forum and go do it NOW! BYE!

Well, I got off of the computer but had to go to bed, .

Do you know if you can back up 2 or 3 different computers onto one of the drives? Oooorrrr will it only do one? Like is there a way for it to know that it's different computers? Cause I have one computer with Windows 7 (this one), my husbands laptop with Xp and my other desktop with XP also.