Computer Back-Up Help Quick

audiobliss
audiobliss Posts: 12,518
edited April 2024 in Clubhouse Archives
Hey all you computer whizzes....(one title I hope to one day claim for myself)...I have a question about backing up. I'm fixin' to reformat my desktop just to have a clean start, so I was going through My Documents to see what I wanted to save first. One of the files I want to save is 14BG. (It's badminton game/training videos, etc.) Another file I know will be quite large is music. I don't want to have to use 10 DVDs, so what should I do? I also want to do this now, and I don't want to have to buy any special software. Is there some option lying at my feet that I'm just not seeing? What should I do?

Thanks!
George Grand wrote: »
Jstas wrote: »
Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
In Use
PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
Epson 8700UB
In Storage
[Home Audio]
Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
[Car Audio]
Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
Post edited by RyanC_Masimo on
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Comments

  • neomagus00
    neomagus00 Posts: 3,899
    edited August 2005
    compress if you can, if you still need to split a file, there's a utility called GSplit that i find useful... it also has a packager available, so you can put a ton of files into one package, compress it, split it into 750-meg chunks, transfer it, and reverse the process...
    It's not good, very fundamentally simply not good. - geolemon

    "Its not good enough until we have real-time fearmongering. I want my fear mongered as it happens." - Shizelbs
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  • CrBoy
    CrBoy Posts: 580
    edited August 2005
    What's the capacity of your Hard Drive, in Gb? maybe you can create a 2nd partition and move there all the files you don't want to delete...

    Then you choose the old partition when installing the OS...
    <|>
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  • bobman1235
    bobman1235 Posts: 10,822
    edited August 2005
    You could find a program like PartitionMagic that will partition your hard drive into two (or more) parts, put the stuff you want to keep on one part, the stuff you don't on another, and then when you reformat only reformat the partition that has stuff you don't want to keep on it.

    But i gotta ask : what kind of file could you hvae that's 14GB? That's a little absurd. Any way you can find the disk it CAME from and just reinstall after you reformat? Keep the save files, but the rest you probably don't need or can find again.
    If you will it, dude, it is no dream.
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited August 2005
    Is that pretty simple? lol I guess there's no kind of 'data loss' in that method, is there? I'm looking to back-up on DVD-RW (larger...and I can later re-use); will that work just as well? Just curious, about how small can I expect to get a 14GB file?

    Thanks!
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
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  • CrBoy
    CrBoy Posts: 580
    edited August 2005
    the data compression ratio depends on the actual format of the file... if it's a video or music the compression would be insignificant... DVD back up is a good idea, but a secondary partition containing all the back up files is even better... if you scratch the DVD you'll be screwed... just my $0.02
    <|>
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited August 2005
    Partitioning..that's a great idea! My hard drive is 200gb, so that ought to work just fine. Now, let me clarify what it is I'm doing. I'm not actually 'reformatting', I don't reckon. I'm actually going to use the 'Recovery Disc' that Windows XP let me create the first time I started it up. So, I'm not sure if the partition will work, seein' as how that's what I'm doing.

    The file is just a collection of videos for badminton training and past badminton olympic games. Might have some pics in it, too; I'm not sure.
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
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  • neomagus00
    neomagus00 Posts: 3,899
    edited August 2005
    i prefer to do a complete and total wipe of the drive when i do this, which means removing all the partitions and starting from scratch, then i'm guaranteed not to have any leftovers... CrBoy is right, the compression ratio varies wildly with the type and content of a file, only real way to find out is to try, but videos don't compress so good, you'll have to split it...
    It's not good, very fundamentally simply not good. - geolemon

    "Its not good enough until we have real-time fearmongering. I want my fear mongered as it happens." - Shizelbs
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  • CrBoy
    CrBoy Posts: 580
    edited August 2005
    Just use a tool like Partition Magic, create a 2nd partition (50Gb...?) move all your file there and use the Recovery Disc... Just like Neo said, a clean install works a LOT better...
    <|>
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited August 2005
    Well, I've only had this computer for a year, so it's not really all that 'clogged up'. I just wanted to start fresh anyways. I don't think it really needs a completely clean start. Especially since I don't have any discs with which to do that. Or is the Recovery Disc that Windows XP let me create going to allow me to do that? Will it let me start from the beginning just like installing an OS and let me do the partitions and all that, too? Or will it just take over and do everything itself?

    Thanks!
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited August 2005
    Yeah, I'd love to do a clean instal - but this Recovery Disc won't let me do that, will it?
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • neomagus00
    neomagus00 Posts: 3,899
    edited August 2005
    no, i don't think so, so apparently your only option is the repartitioning...
    It's not good, very fundamentally simply not good. - geolemon

    "Its not good enough until we have real-time fearmongering. I want my fear mongered as it happens." - Shizelbs
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  • CrBoy
    CrBoy Posts: 580
    edited August 2005
    the Recovery Disc will not allow you to perform a clean install, you'll need the WinXP CD...
    <|>
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited August 2005
    Wait a minute; you've lost me. How can I repartition if the Recovery Disc isn't going to let me set-up partitions? From what I know about this XP stuff (not much!!), It's just going to wipe out everything and automatically redo the partitions, no? So doesn't that mean that if I set-up a new partition and move all my data to it, I'll just lose it all when I use the disc?

    Thanks, folks! Almost there!
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CrBoy
    CrBoy Posts: 580
    edited August 2005
    the Recovery Tool will NOT touch the new partition (that's why you have to create it before) so don't worry about files been deleted from the new partition, its not going to happen...
    <|>
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  • CrBoy
    CrBoy Posts: 580
    edited August 2005
    To create new partitions you'll need a third party software...
    <|>
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited August 2005
    Oooh, that's awesome. So, now I can google for Partition Magic - was that it? And use that to create a new partition. Then move all my stuff over there. Then use the Recovery Disc. Then move the stuff from the new partition (which will still have the same name it did when I created it, no?). Then can I 'delete' the partition? No, wait. I don't want to do that; then I wouldn't be able to use that part of the hd, right? So, would I just be stuck with a 50GB partition? I guess I could just keep it for future backing up.

    So, is there anything else I need to be aware of?

    Thanks!!
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
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  • neomagus00
    neomagus00 Posts: 3,899
    edited August 2005
    once you've 'recovered' the old partition and moved your files back to it, you may be able to use the partition manager to merge the two back together
    It's not good, very fundamentally simply not good. - geolemon

    "Its not good enough until we have real-time fearmongering. I want my fear mongered as it happens." - Shizelbs
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  • CrBoy
    CrBoy Posts: 580
    edited August 2005
    You can create the new partition, move the files there, use the recovery disc and keep the new partition and the files... you don't need to move them back to "My Documents"... just leave the file in the new partition so you don't have to go thru this over and over whenever you want to refresh your install... Partition Magic is not free so you'll have to download another tool... i'm working on it right now
    <|>
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited August 2005
    Alright, awesome! So, there's nothing else real major I need to be aware of? Thanks guys!! I really appreciate it a bunch!!
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CrBoy
    CrBoy Posts: 580
    edited August 2005
    Just make sure you back up every single file you need... after the Recovery Disc works there is no way back...
    <|>
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited August 2005
    Alright, awesoem! I'm on it!

    Thanks, folks. What a great forum! Much appreciated!!

    (BTW, I posted this exact same question on another (computer) forum and so far I have 2 views and 0 replies.)

    Thanks!
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited August 2005
    I just found Partition Magic 8.0 download free trial. That should for as long as I need it to, no?

    http://www.soft32.com/download_151.html

    Thanks!
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CrBoy
    CrBoy Posts: 580
    edited August 2005
    I just find a Free one Partition Tool

    The downside is that you need to burn the image onto a CD and the use it... not so bad as far as I'm concern

    :D
    <|>
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited August 2005
    What does that mean? I'm lost - again. Burn the image onto a CD? And use that? What does that mean?
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited August 2005
    Hey, cool. My 'What does that mean' line up nicely! :D
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CrBoy
    CrBoy Posts: 580
    edited August 2005
    audiobliss wrote:
    I just found Partition Magic 8.0 download free trial. That should for as long as I need it to, no?

    http://www.soft32.com/download_151.html

    Thanks!

    try it if you can, that's one of the best/easy to use tools for the job.
    <|>
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  • CrBoy
    CrBoy Posts: 580
    edited August 2005
    audiobliss wrote:
    What does that mean? I'm lost - again. Burn the image onto a CD? And use that? What does that mean?


    Just try the PQ Magic... it will be a lot easier...
    <|>
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited August 2005
    Ok. Will do.

    Thanks!
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CrBoy
    CrBoy Posts: 580
    edited August 2005
    You're welcome...

    this is the first time I do something good/useful for the people here... it feels nice! :D
    <|>
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited August 2005
    Haha...awesome. I'm pretty sure I'm still waiting to do return a few favors on here..... :( ....maybe I'll get to one day.
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter