I use a tape drive and make a complete system backup periodically. It takes awhile - several hours with the large capacity hards drives and the transfer rate, but I do it at night, and it the morning get a report of any errors or problems. I can do a complete or  limited restore.

A tape drive is a separate type of hardware. They come in external ind internal models but do have the capacity to store large harddrives on one tape. Mine is a HP 20GB external tape drive. I forget what I paid for it several years ago but think in the $250 range.

I backup periodically and use two tapes, alternating Tape 1 and Tape 2. I have not had any problem with my tape drive tapes but from music tapes know that sometimes a tape can get tangled.

I think Seagate is another manufacturer of tape drives.

I had a hard drive crash once, and it is a real pain, if you do not have a backup.

so I do need special software to do this? I can't just burn my C drive to a CD? (I wish it could be that easy)

bob when you say "tape drive" are you referring to a CD burner?

forgive my ignorance on the subject...

I don't mean to horn in on Bob, but no, you can't just burn your drive to CD. You can burn individual files to CD, but you need special software to make an image that can be restored to a blank drive and work.

Bob is using a tape drive of some kind. They use magnetic tape just like a VCR or an audio cassette. There are several tape formats: Travan, DAT, DLT and others. Travan drives are the cheapest. All tape drives tend to be pricey. Tape drives can back up huge amounts of information onto relatively cheap media. The downside is that there is no random access. Most tape drives come with some sort of backup software. In addition, many standalone backup programs support tape drives.

I wonder what kind of tape drive Bob has.

Also, see my post in the hard drive forum "Ghost 2003 'smoke test.' " I have tried to post Dell Talk links here, but they don't seem to work.

 

Bob,

I just noticed that my first post in this thread is missing. Never had that happen before in three years. I wonder if I violated some arcane new board policy. It was kind of long. And I mentioned three commercial products. Hmmm.

Message Edited by nilo on 10-27-2002 01:10 PM

thanks for the information guys... I am gong to check that other post as Ghost sounds like the better option...

I am very glad that this forum is available...

I'm using Norton's Ghost as my backup software. The latest version supports USB 2.0 devices. I'm using an external USB 2.0 HD for my Ghost backup. This software is also user-friendly.