I am going to be building a new gaming PC within the next couple years (at least 1 month before Diablo 3 comes out is my goal).
In the past, I never made any effort to back up my files and have had some serious mishaps. Now that I have the patience and money to invest in one, I am looking to purchase an external hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822111017
Now.. Do I need software for my new computer to be able to backup the information to the external hard drive?
In the event of a crash, how will I get the data from my external hard drive to the new one in my computer?
Would anyone recommend buying a second internal hard drive for backup inside my computer case (there will be plenty of space, I'm buying a huge tower)?
Basically, I'm looking for any advice on how to make my new gaming PC an unstoppable force (against crashes, need to reformat, or anything like that) because of my past mistakes. Anything you can offer would be greatly appreciated! :thumbsup:
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Diablo 3 PC (Built and ready to rock!)
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Proc: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz; Overclocked~3.8GHz
RAM: 8 GB G.SKILL (4x2 GB)
GPU: EVGA Core 260 (896 mb)
internal slave drive(basically a 2nd hard drive in ur tower that windows does not boot from is the easiest. )
externals are good for Keeping files from becoming corrupted or infected(virus ect)
I use a Slave hard drive on my rig. basically anything i want backed up i just copy over to the slave drive. Its not a full proof method as any virus,Trojan or spy ware on an infected file could be transferred over to ur slave drive when u move files. But i dont see you losing files in that6 case nor having to reformat since u are never actually booting off of the slave drive. If ur main crashed u would reformat ur main and then just copy everything over from the slave again
i Have a external as well but it rarely gets used. If you do get an external stay away from the software based ones. They tend to be more of a hassle then anything IMO. They are neat because u can schedule backups and all but i just never liked em.
A slave is not the best method because when the pc crashes and burns you can't get to the data until you yank the slave drive out of the box then install in another box. Get an external usb drive. That way you can recover your data to any computer you want. All modern computers have usb ports. Then back up the external hard drive to a dvd. Make two copies and store one offsite. That is the best method. So if your pc fails, plug your external usb drive into a new pc and restore your data. If you don't have another pc you'll have to fix the broken one first then restore your data. Another method is to have two pcs and back up each to the other one. You'll need large hard drives but it works. For software, I like to keep the data in it's original format. That way restoring is a simple copy and you don't need to rely on special software. I use Cobian. It's free.
As far as external hard drives go I *really* recommend the Vantec Nexstar External Hard Drive Enclosure. It's a fancy case that you can stick any 3.5 inch hard drive in to. It supports USB 2.0 and external sata for super fast speeds. This way you can stick your favorite hard drive in there and not be limited with your choices.
Right now I manually back up my files periodically. However, it wouldn't be too hard to write a batch file to copy the contents of all of your backup folders automatically and schedule that to run once a week or so.
Diablo 3 PC (Built and ready to rock!)
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Proc: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz; Overclocked~3.8GHz
RAM: 8 GB G.SKILL (4x2 GB)
GPU: EVGA Core 260 (896 mb)
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I am going to be building a new gaming PC within the next couple years (at least 1 month before Diablo 3 comes out is my goal).
In the past, I never made any effort to back up my files and have had some serious mishaps. Now that I have the patience and money to invest in one, I am looking to purchase an external hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822111017
Now.. Do I need software for my new computer to be able to backup the information to the external hard drive?
In the event of a crash, how will I get the data from my external hard drive to the new one in my computer?
Would anyone recommend buying a second internal hard drive for backup inside my computer case (there will be plenty of space, I'm buying a huge tower)?
Basically, I'm looking for any advice on how to make my new gaming PC an unstoppable force (against crashes, need to reformat, or anything like that) because of my past mistakes. Anything you can offer would be greatly appreciated! :thumbsup:
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Proc: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz; Overclocked~3.8GHz
RAM: 8 GB G.SKILL (4x2 GB)
GPU: EVGA Core 260 (896 mb)
externals are good for Keeping files from becoming corrupted or infected(virus ect)
I use a Slave hard drive on my rig. basically anything i want backed up i just copy over to the slave drive. Its not a full proof method as any virus,Trojan or spy ware on an infected file could be transferred over to ur slave drive when u move files. But i dont see you losing files in that6 case nor having to reformat since u are never actually booting off of the slave drive. If ur main crashed u would reformat ur main and then just copy everything over from the slave again
i Have a external as well but it rarely gets used. If you do get an external stay away from the software based ones. They tend to be more of a hassle then anything IMO. They are neat because u can schedule backups and all but i just never liked em.
Hope that helps
As far as external hard drives go I *really* recommend the Vantec Nexstar External Hard Drive Enclosure. It's a fancy case that you can stick any 3.5 inch hard drive in to. It supports USB 2.0 and external sata for super fast speeds. This way you can stick your favorite hard drive in there and not be limited with your choices.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17167&vpn=NST-360SU-BK&manufacture=VANTEC
Right now I manually back up my files periodically. However, it wouldn't be too hard to write a batch file to copy the contents of all of your backup folders automatically and schedule that to run once a week or so.
Congrats to Cosmosis on his first post~!
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Proc: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz; Overclocked~3.8GHz
RAM: 8 GB G.SKILL (4x2 GB)
GPU: EVGA Core 260 (896 mb)