automatic back-up

Probably a dumb question...

When you use Vista automatic back-up, does it back-up the files to another
part of the hard drive, or am I inserting discs?

Also, how does it know what files to back - up?

and, what if I want files backed -up that are on another computer in my home
(I am networked)?

Thanks

For my Automatic Backup destination, I bought a separate external 160 GB
hard drive. I tried it with DVD's but takes way too long and too many
discs. You get to configure the backup as far as what types of files you
want backed up. You don't want to back up to the same hard drive, in fact
it will not let you choose C: as a destination. If you have a Recovery
partition provided by your OEM computer vendor, backup will let you choose
that D: drive, but you should not use it because 1) it is way too small and
2) it is the same physical disc as C: and won't be much of a backup in case
of hard drive failure. I don't know about multiple computers on a network
(one computer is all I can handle!). Just my experience....


"Ed43" <> wrote in message
news:7D1AA9AE-BF1B-4001-AD76-...
> Probably a dumb question...
>
> When you use Vista automatic back-up, does it back-up the files to another
> part of the hard drive, or am I inserting discs?
>
> Also, how does it know what files to back - up?
>
> and, what if I want files backed -up that are on another computer in my
> home
> (I am networked)?
>
> Thanks

Thanks!

Can I use CD's rather than DVD's?

(Believe it or not I am pretty computer literate, but really have never done
anything with backing up)

Also, how much is an external harddrive? Can I back up files from 2
computers onto one ext hard drive?

Thanks

"John Hanley" wrote:

> For my Automatic Backup destination, I bought a separate external 160 GB
> hard drive. I tried it with DVD's but takes way too long and too many
> discs. You get to configure the backup as far as what types of files you
> want backed up. You don't want to back up to the same hard drive, in fact
> it will not let you choose C: as a destination. If you have a Recovery
> partition provided by your OEM computer vendor, backup will let you choose
> that D: drive, but you should not use it because 1) it is way too small and
> 2) it is the same physical disc as C: and won't be much of a backup in case
> of hard drive failure. I don't know about multiple computers on a network
> (one computer is all I can handle!). Just my experience....
>
>
> "Ed43" <> wrote in message
> news:7D1AA9AE-BF1B-4001-AD76-...
> > Probably a dumb question...
> >
> > When you use Vista automatic back-up, does it back-up the files to another
> > part of the hard drive, or am I inserting discs?
> >
> > Also, how does it know what files to back - up?
> >
> > and, what if I want files backed -up that are on another computer in my
> > home
> > (I am networked)?
> >
> > Thanks
>
>

CD's -- I actually tried one backup with just CD's, but quit after twelve or
thirteen reloads of the CD/DVDRW tray, and that was only partially
compllete. Most of my automatic backups have been in the vicinity of 7 or 8
GB, and lately I imported some video clips which drove the last backup up to
22 GB; that is why I invested in the external hard drive. I paid about $60
for my 160 GB external USB hard drive; it was on sale at my local
electronics store. I am converting my old VHS videotapes to edited DVD's
and that is driving up my storage requirements; fortunately I have a 250 GB
regular hard drive. I expect that when I have actually made my new DVD's, I
will be deleting the intermediate files from my system, because I can see
yet another external hard drive otherwise. Good luck!

"Ed43" <> wrote in message
news:044A1AC9-0230-4F38-AE57-...
> Thanks!
>
> Can I use CD's rather than DVD's?
>
> (Believe it or not I am pretty computer literate, but really have never
> done
> anything with backing up)
>
> Also, how much is an external harddrive? Can I back up files from 2
> computers onto one ext hard drive?
>
> Thanks
>
> "John Hanley" wrote:
>
>> For my Automatic Backup destination, I bought a separate external 160 GB
>> hard drive. I tried it with DVD's but takes way too long and too many
>> discs. You get to configure the backup as far as what types of files you
>> want backed up. You don't want to back up to the same hard drive, in
>> fact
>> it will not let you choose C: as a destination. If you have a Recovery
>> partition provided by your OEM computer vendor, backup will let you
>> choose
>> that D: drive, but you should not use it because 1) it is way too small
>> and
>> 2) it is the same physical disc as C: and won't be much of a backup in
>> case
>> of hard drive failure. I don't know about multiple computers on a
>> network
>> (one computer is all I can handle!). Just my experience....
>>
>>
>> "Ed43" <> wrote in message
>> news:7D1AA9AE-BF1B-4001-AD76-...
>> > Probably a dumb question...
>> >
>> > When you use Vista automatic back-up, does it back-up the files to
>> > another
>> > part of the hard drive, or am I inserting discs?
>> >
>> > Also, how does it know what files to back - up?
>> >
>> > and, what if I want files backed -up that are on another computer in my
>> > home
>> > (I am networked)?
>> >
>> > Thanks
>>
>>

If I get an external hard drive, can I back up files from 2 different
computers onto the one hard drive?

"John Hanley" wrote:

> CD's -- I actually tried one backup with just CD's, but quit after twelve or
> thirteen reloads of the CD/DVDRW tray, and that was only partially
> compllete. Most of my automatic backups have been in the vicinity of 7 or 8
> GB, and lately I imported some video clips which drove the last backup up to
> 22 GB; that is why I invested in the external hard drive. I paid about $60
> for my 160 GB external USB hard drive; it was on sale at my local
> electronics store. I am converting my old VHS videotapes to edited DVD's
> and that is driving up my storage requirements; fortunately I have a 250 GB
> regular hard drive. I expect that when I have actually made my new DVD's, I
> will be deleting the intermediate files from my system, because I can see
> yet another external hard drive otherwise. Good luck!
>
> "Ed43" <> wrote in message
> news:044A1AC9-0230-4F38-AE57-...
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Can I use CD's rather than DVD's?
> >
> > (Believe it or not I am pretty computer literate, but really have never
> > done
> > anything with backing up)
> >
> > Also, how much is an external harddrive? Can I back up files from 2
> > computers onto one ext hard drive?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > "John Hanley" wrote:
> >
> >> For my Automatic Backup destination, I bought a separate external 160 GB
> >> hard drive. I tried it with DVD's but takes way too long and too many
> >> discs. You get to configure the backup as far as what types of files you
> >> want backed up. You don't want to back up to the same hard drive, in
> >> fact
> >> it will not let you choose C: as a destination. If you have a Recovery
> >> partition provided by your OEM computer vendor, backup will let you
> >> choose
> >> that D: drive, but you should not use it because 1) it is way too small
> >> and
> >> 2) it is the same physical disc as C: and won't be much of a backup in
> >> case
> >> of hard drive failure. I don't know about multiple computers on a
> >> network
> >> (one computer is all I can handle!). Just my experience....
> >>
> >>
> >> "Ed43" <> wrote in message
> >> news:7D1AA9AE-BF1B-4001-AD76-...
> >> > Probably a dumb question...
> >> >
> >> > When you use Vista automatic back-up, does it back-up the files to
> >> > another
> >> > part of the hard drive, or am I inserting discs?
> >> >
> >> > Also, how does it know what files to back - up?
> >> >
> >> > and, what if I want files backed -up that are on another computer in my
> >> > home
> >> > (I am networked)?
> >> >
> >> > Thanks
> >>
> >>
>
>