Back up drive

[Carole]

I haver finally got around to getting myself a back up drive.  Never having owned one before and it came with hardly any instructions, I just would like to ask a question.

I want to store some files on the back up drive but not on my main desktop which doesn't have much storage space left mainly because of storing my Imaging files. 

It seems to do a regular "back up" without me asking it to.  If I have files on the back up drive which aren't on the PC it is copying from, is it going to erase them when it does a copy, or does it just copy any new files?
i.e. I was planning to store my darks library on there rather than the desktop to save space. 

Hope this makes sense. 

I have got a terabyte on the back up drive but only 82 Gb on the Desktop HD.

Carole

[RobertM]

I got one for my dad this week, Samsung 1TB powered from the USB port so literally plug and play.  What a great idea.

[mickw]

The backup program that is doing it automatically will be copying the files to the backup drive, not moving them, so they will be on both your main hard drive and the backup drive.
It is likely the only files backed up will be files from your "My Documents" folder.

Personally I don't like "backup programs" which usually do some sort of compression on the backed up file, I just drag and drop files to the backup drive, that way I can retrieve them from any PC without the need for special software - it does take longer though.

[Carole]

It is likely the only files backed up will be files from your "My Documents" folder.

Actually Mick it has copied everything, including all my programme files!!!!

Personally I don't like "backup programs" which usually do some sort of compression on the backed up file

Oh Gawd

I just drag and drop files to the backup drive

To be honest that is what I wanted to do, but as it came with no instructions, not sure how to stop it doing an automatic backup.  Must have a look and see if I can work it out.

Carole

[Whitters]

Always good to have a back-up. I usually have the last year's worth on the Astro pc, then copied to my main laptop and to the Wondows Home Server, which also backs up all the lappies and pc's in the house. Thinking of having a cloud back up too for the data files.

[Carole]

I've just been on line and found a Users forum where loads of people are asking the same question and also complaining there are no instructions.  The moderators never seem to get back with an answer.  All like me wanting to save space on their hard drives.
One person lost some files in the way I described above.
You think they would have an on-line set of instructions or an included DVD with products.

I have fiddled with the software that goes with the back up drive and found a way to post-pone back up indefinitely, hopefully I can just drag and drop files.  This is the 2nd time I have bought a product from Maplin that does not do exactly what was discussed in the shop. 

Not risking storing my RAW files on this until I am more confident, makes a nonsense of buying the thing in the first place.  Well I might try some I don't mind losing.   

Carole

[Ian]

if you want to free up space, then Micks drag and drop is about the best plan. That way you can control what goes where. I would sit down and think of a plan, how you're going to decide what data goes where, how important it is and why you're moving it. There is no software you can download that will help with this bit, although there is some guidance on the web.

In short, this is what I do. I have a fileserver on my network, but the mechanics are not important, it works just as well on a USB drive.

Categorise your data.
How important is it? If it's not important, one copy somewhere will do, and you won't lose sleep if it gets lost. Drag and drop on the USB drive and *move* the files.
If it is important, consider keeping two copies. That way, should a drive fail (and they do), there always another copy. If you are keeping two copies of something, use software such as Synctoy from Microsoft or Allways Sync. These will make a duplicate of a folder and it's contents across two drives.
If it's *really* important, then make multiple copies as above, *and* make copies to CDR that can be locked away, or better sent to someone else to lock away.

In general, I find the frequency of changes is inversely proportional to the importance, that it, you only change the really important stuff rarely.

But, whatever you do, make a plan first of what goes where. Come up with a way of naming folders so you can tell at a glance what's in them and use a good hierarchy. All you astro stuff, put under a folder (say called astro) then use subfolders for various classes of files, raws, stack, processed and final, say. Or organise them by date, or target. Whatever comes easiest.

Finally, the backup tool that the drive came with sounds like it's just making a full system backup. Great (if it works) when the whole machine dies. Much less useful for getting at one file you might want to get at. Which is what Mick meant by compression...

bit long winded, sorry, but it's not too hard once you've done the thinking bit.

[Carole]

Nope switching off the automatic back up only works until the PC is switched on again and then it automatically backs up again - also tried disconnecting it, but it just did a back up in the background waiting for me to plug the damn thing in again.

I wouldn't mind so much if there was proper instructions or customer support for this thing. 

So currently can only use it for back up and not offloading files to make space on the desktop.

Carole

[mickw]

What's  the model number

[Mac]

either try uninstalling the software that came with the backup drive
and then format the backup drive to move all of the software present,

then when you plug it in it should just act like a normal drive.

Mac.

[mickw]

Will windows recognise a 1TB USB drive ?

I believe Western Digital have an autorun on the drive that installs a driver, which may be required if you plug into another machine.  It would pay to copy all the drives system files and programs into a seperate folder and save them somewhere - just in case 
Then format.

[Carole]

Ah, looks like the moderators have finally replied (to some-one else), as follows:

Please note that if you delete files from your computer, while using Memeo Instant Backup, they will not be deleted from your storage device.

The main purpose of Memeo Instant Backup is to allow users to store their files on a secure location so that in case the user needs more free space or has a computer crash, he will be able to restore the files when needed.

The Purge Deleted Files feature, present in the Standard or Premium version of Memeo Backup means that all files that are deleted on your C: drive will also be deleted from the backup folder. The main purpose for this function is to remove files after a system cleanup or to remove outdated files that you no longer need. However, Memeo Instant Backup does not have such a feature.

Therefor, if you wish to delete certain files from your pc, while using Memeo Instant Backup you can do so without assuming any risks, as the copies of the files included in the backup plan and located on your storage device will not be affected in any way.

BTW Mac, it never came with any software, it just installs itself when you plug it in.

Carole

[Mac]

It must have software on it to do the backup,
probably in a hidden directory.

Open windows explorer and goto to tools folder options
click on view and see if show hidden files and folders is higlighted.

that will show you all the hidden files ect,
you will find the software somewhere on there.

Mac.

[Carole]

It must have software on it to do the backup,
probably in a hidden directory.

Yes sorry, what I meant was I had no disc with software to install beforehand. 

Anyway, if they reckon it does what I want it to then I don't really need to do anything else.  I think I am going to wait and watch before I will be fully trust it though, before I go deleting any files from the desktop.

I don't think I am confident enough to change any of the software installed.  I don't know why they have to add so many fancy features to these sort of products most of which I never want or need.  All I wanted was to drag and drop of files I wanted to keep safe and or to keep them off my main PC to save space.

Thanks anyway every-one.

Carole

[mickw]

You should try plugging the drive into a different PC and see if you can transfer your files to that one