[jman999]

What is the most efficient backup solution? I built my comp maybe a year ago, and now I realize that I have no way to store and backup my larger files (1.5, 4, 8 GB), and not only that but I need a way to protect all my documents and other important small files on a regular basis. I'm considering:

buying another hard drive for raid
buying a hard drive and sticking in a case to make external
DVD burner (I have software all ready)

The DVD burner would also be useful for movie backups, converting old VHS to DVDs. I don't want to spend any more than $120 total, which includes media for the DVD Burner.

P.S: Do you think it would be worth it to wait for DVD DL?


Thanks, in advance for all the help, Jonathan.

[FTC]

Hi, given the state of technology today, for home use I would just make my own BIG external hd (firewire or USB2), and backup complete drive images there every 1-2 weeks, just backing up important files in between. This can be made very fast (using an imaging solution such as ghost or DriveImage you can backup easily at around 50 Gb/hour or even more), and avoids pauses for swapping media. Plus, you save expensive media and you can still buy a big enough disk so that you can save the last 2-3 images.

Regards
FTC

[jman999]

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking that backup with a dvdburner might be a little cumbersome. The DVD burner im looking at is the NEC ND-2500A for $80 shipped at newegg.

[stockhatch]

You could get a huge SATA HDD with a hot swap bay. That would be cool. Not sure, but that may not be cost effective though...The DVD burner would be nice as well though, as the only limit to storage size would be your ability to afford media.

AC