I run just a one user PC and back up to flash drives my Quicken program and
have copied "My documents" folder on to a CD .
What I would like to know is for a user with limited data like myself that
does not change too often  what is the difference in just copying all these
file to some external media or using a Back Up software program . Is copying
any different  to Backup and what advantage does a Backup program give me .
I know some programs give me the opportunity to take an image but I  do not
think I would be computer sophisticated enough to restore anyway even if it
worked .
I would be glad of any comments .

Graeme

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Mostly the difference in your case would be small, but still perhaps
important to you. Your system is manual, and requires you to remember and
actually do it. Any backup program worth it's salt will do it automatically
in the background with no attention on your part. You would always have a
current backup at whatever schedule you set.

The flash drive is a great idea, and I have my key documents backed up to
like this. The original copy on drive C:, an automatic hourly backup to
drive D:, a daily backup to external drive J:, and a sort-of every two day
backup to a flash drive. Each backup is a synchronized exact copy of the
original. All changes in the original are reflected automatically in the
backup, including file deletions.

A simply copy gradually grows, because deleted files remain on the copy
untouched by the copy process. Some folks prefer that, as a simple
versioning system. I don't. The backup software (freeware) gives me the
choice for each folder I backup.

Since it is free, automatic, and flexible, even in our case a backup program
like Karen's Replicator would be of value.

--

Blessings & peace  --- Ray
"GSD" <nospam@badexample.com> wrote in message
news:473ea794$0$10671$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
>I run just a one user PC and back up to flash drives my Quicken program and
>have copied "My documents" folder on to a CD .
> What I would like to know is for a user with limited data like myself that
> does not change too often  what is the difference in just copying all
> these file to some external media or using a Back Up software program . Is
> copying any different  to Backup and what advantage does a Backup program
> give me .
> I know some programs give me the opportunity to take an image but I  do
> not think I would be computer sophisticated enough to restore anyway even
> if it worked .
> I would be glad of any comments .
>
> Graeme
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Per GSD:
>I run just a one user PC and back up to flash drives my Quicken program and
>have copied "My documents" folder on to a CD .

>I would be glad of any comments .

For low volume data - assuming you always know where it all is -
I think you're on the right track.

Only issues I'd see for myself:

1) Remembering to do the backups

2) Having enough flash drives so that one is always
offsite somewhere and not available to me.


The reason for #2 is that I've seen a rogue USB card fry
drive-after-drive until I finally caught on.   Having one
unavailable mitigates that, as does a personal rule-of-thumb that
I'd never, ever hook up my last drive without backing it up to
another PC first.... or, now that I think of it, burning a DVD or
CD from it and using the DVD or CD instead.

Having said all that, products like SecondCopy can reduce or
eliminate the need to remember to do backups.   Just tell Windows
to force the drive letter of each flash drive to the same letter
and let SecondCopy do it's thing automagically.  All you have to
do is swap drives as often as you think is necessary.  SecondCopy
will automagically copy the files/folders you designate, and even
keep a specified number of older copies on hand.
--
PeteCresswell

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

"GSD" <nospam@badexample.com> wrote in message
news:473ea794$0$10671$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
>I run just a one user PC and back up to flash drives my Quicken program and
>have copied "My documents" folder on to a CD .
> What I would like to know is for a user with limited data like myself that
> does not change too often  what is the difference in just copying all
> these file to some external media or using a Back Up software program . Is
> copying any different  to Backup and what advantage does a Backup program
> give me .
> I know some programs give me the opportunity to take an image but I  do
> not think I would be computer sophisticated enough to restore anyway even
> if it worked .
> I would be glad of any comments .
>
> Graeme
>

Thank you both .After receiving your replies I think I am on the right track
for meeting my limited requirements . I do like to keep things simple .
In most cases I prefer not to have programs running automatically, rather I
like to take the manual approach , including updates etc. . I understand
about forgetting to update ,but I feel that I am pretty good at remembering
such things, sometimes to the point of excess . It might be different if I
had a whole heap of Data with frequent changes .
However I will have a look at both the programs mentioned as they may offer
a smoother approach .

Thanks again for the quick replies to my query .

Graeme

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]