Windows backup to DVD-RW

[Emrys Davies]

I have Win7 Home Premium 64 bit and WLM

Recently I asked a question about backup to an external drive with 'Let
Windows Choose'. Before I decide I am wondering what will happen in
practice if I use a DVD-RW. Would I be able to use the same disk each week,
while there is room, and sort of have it updated or overwritten. Having
used floppy disks for ten years all of this is new to me and hopefully
someone will explain the merits of a DVD or an external drive in such
circumstances. Simply, I just need to know how they will perform from week
to week. I don't want a pile of DVD's bearing suitably marked sticky
labels. My backups will be quite small in content.

 

[Joel]

I have Win7 Home Premium 64 bit and WLM

Recently I asked a question about backup to an external drive with 'Let
Windows Choose'. Before I decide I am wondering what will happen in
practice if I use a DVD-RW. Would I be able to use the same disk each week,
while there is room, and sort of have it updated or overwritten. Having
used floppy disks for ten years all of this is new to me and hopefully
someone will explain the merits of a DVD or an external drive in such
circumstances. Simply, I just need to know how they will perform from week
to week. I don't want a pile of DVD's bearing suitably marked sticky
labels. My backups will be quite small in content.

Using RWs for frequent backups is a pretty good plan - I would use two
or three (rotating through them each week, so that you will always
have the previous one or two backups when you make a new one) CD- or
DVD-RWs (depending how much space you need for the backups). When the
disks wear out, just replace them.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Using RWs for frequent backups is a pretty good plan - I would use two
or three (rotating through them each week, so that you will always
have the previous one or two backups when you make a new one) CD- or
DVD-RWs (depending how much space you need for the backups). When the
disks wear out, just replace them.

In my experience, "the disks wear out" happens pretty often with RWs. With
the prices of external drives these days, I'd say stick to them for
backup...

My experience is pretty old & may be outdated, though, since after a few
short-lived DVD RWs I abandoned them.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In my experience, "the disks wear out" happens pretty often with RWs.

Not only that, but if they wear out after writing, but before you want
to restore from them, you're up the creek.

With
the prices of external drives these days, I'd say stick to them for
backup...

I'm with you entirely!

 

[Trev]

I have Win7 Home Premium 64 bit and WLM

Recently I asked a question about backup to an external drive with 'Let
Windows Choose'. Before I decide I am wondering what will happen in
practice if I use a DVD-RW. Would I be able to use the same disk each
week, while there is room, and sort of have it updated or overwritten.
Having used floppy disks for ten years all of this is new to me and
hopefully someone will explain the merits of a DVD or an external drive in
such circumstances. Simply, I just need to know how they will perform
from week to week. I don't want a pile of DVD's bearing suitably marked
sticky labels. My backups will be quite small in content.

RW discs do not overwrite or remove previous recordings, The add new and
write a new TOC. So you will still finish with a pile of disc's. Ram discs
Do and work in a similar way to a Hard disc The same with Usb memory sticks.
An External HDD drive would be best.

 

[Emrys Davies]

Not only that, but if they wear out after writing, but before you want
to restore from them, you're up the creek.




I'm with you entirely!

What a forum. Where else would you get such good advice from experts in a
language which is easily understood and makes real sense? An external drive
it will be.

 

[olfart]

RW discs do not overwrite or remove previous recordings, The add new and
write a new TOC. So you will still finish with a pile of disc's. Ram discs
Do and work in a similar way to a Hard disc The same with Usb memory
sticks. An External HDD drive would be best.

and RW's have a nasty habit of going tits up and losing their data when you
least expect it. Been There

 

[GlowingBlueMist]

What a forum. Where else would you get such good advice from experts
in a language which is easily understood and makes real sense? An
external drive it will be.

One other thing you might consider is using a USB "Toaster" drive system for
your backups rather than a single external USB drive. It gets it's name
from the way you plug your drive vertically into a slot of the base unit.

I use a Thermaltake BlacX drive that allows me to plug in either a standard
3.5 SATA or a small one from a laptop. A link to the system can be found
at: http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1268&ID=1642 It will give
you a better explanation of the system as well as show you what it looks
like.

I use three 500Gb drives on a rotating basis so that I can keep a backup
copy off site, just in case of a fire or other disaster at home. I could
use quite smaller drives but these were available at about the same price as
a smaller drive from one of TigerDirect's specials.

Having the toaster system really comes in handy when a friends system gets
trashed. I plug in their drive and usually can recover most of their data
for them since I don't need, or want, to boot from it.

What ever you decide to use don't put all your trust in just one backup copy
of your system.

 

[Seth]

One other thing you might consider is using a USB "Toaster" drive system
for your backups rather than a single external USB drive. It gets it's
name from the way you plug your drive vertically into a slot of the base
unit.

I use a Thermaltake BlacX drive that allows me to plug in either a
standard 3.5 SATA or a small one from a laptop. A link to the system can
be found at: http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1268&ID=1642 It
will give you a better explanation of the system as well as show you what
it looks like.

I bought that same puppy a few weeks ago in a bundle from www.newegg.com for
$79 including a 1TB SATA drive. Found the combo when I was shopping for a
new drive to upgrade my TiVo with. Much better than the old USB cable based
hard drive adapter I had been using previously for customer data recovery.

 

[Emrys Davies]

and RW's have a nasty habit of going tits up and losing their data when
you least expect it. Been There

Thanks everyone for your contributions so far. Just one more point about
which I am unsure: If I get an external hard-drive and Windows reminds me
on a Sunday to insert it ready for the backup does Windows do the
appropriate 'Let Windows Decide' backup and then the following week
overwrite what it did the previous week. I am just trying to get a picture
of the exact steps Windows takes week by week and at the same time get an
idea as to the minimum size of the external hard-drive which I will need.

 

[Dave]

snip

One other thing you might consider is using a USB "Toaster" drive system
for your backups rather than a single external USB drive. It gets it's
name from the way you plug your drive vertically into a slot of the base
unit.

I use a Thermaltake BlacX drive that allows me to plug in either a
standard 3.5 SATA or a small one from a laptop. A link to the system can
be found at: http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1268&ID=1642 It
will give you a better explanation of the system as well as show you what
it looks like.

I use three 500Gb drives on a rotating basis so that I can keep a backup
copy off site, just in case of a fire or other disaster at home. I could
use quite smaller drives but these were available at about the same price
as a smaller drive from one of TigerDirect's specials.

Having the toaster system really comes in handy when a friends system gets
trashed. I plug in their drive and usually can recover most of their data
for them since I don't need, or want, to boot from it.

What ever you decide to use don't put all your trust in just one backup
copy of your system.

That looks interesting. What do you use to store the HD's in while they are
not in the toaster?
Dave

 

[Char Jackson]

One other thing you might consider is using a USB "Toaster" drive system for
your backups rather than a single external USB drive. It gets it's name
from the way you plug your drive vertically into a slot of the base unit.

I use a Thermaltake BlacX drive that allows me to plug in either a standard
3.5 SATA or a small one from a laptop. A link to the system can be found
at: http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1268&ID=1642 It will give
you a better explanation of the system as well as show you what it looks
like.

The only problem I see on that specific model is a lack of eSATA, (I
wouldn't buy it without eSATA, but everyone's needs can be different).
However, wandering around at that site a little I see that they do
make similar units that include eSATA, so all is good. Maybe if I keep
looking I'll find a model with USB, eSATA, and Gigabit Ethernet, the
best of all worlds.

Having the toaster system really comes in handy when a friends system gets
trashed. I plug in their drive and usually can recover most of their data
for them since I don't need, or want, to boot from it.

I'm still using one of those semi-awkward adapter cables for that.

 

[Joel]

RW discs do not overwrite or remove previous recordings, The add new and
write a new TOC. So you will still finish with a pile of disc's.

RW discs can be overwritten each time, although they are commonly used
as you describe. For backups, I would overwrite the entire disc each
time (but again, rotating through at least two or three, with each
backup).

 

[GlowingBlueMist]

snip

That looks interesting. What do you use to store the HD's in while
they are not in the toaster?
Dave

Dave,
I usually use older hard camera cases, foam lined. Many of the older ones
were non-static as they might have messed up the electronics in the old 35mm
cameras. The one's I like best are the aluminum cases with the foam lining.
The foam helps protect the drive from minor shocks as well as rapid
temperature swings, should one get stored in a protected area of a car trunk
during transfer. When in doubt about the type of foam in the case, a
plastic anti-static bag can be used for added protection. The sturdy handle
makes the thing easier to carry as well. I usually find them at thrift
stores or pawn shops for next to nothing.

For what it's worth I also encrypt the data on my drives using Truecrypt in
case one is misplaced or borrowed...

 

[Dave]

Dave,
I usually use older hard camera cases, foam lined. Many of the older ones
were non-static as they might have messed up the electronics in the old
35mm cameras. The one's I like best are the aluminum cases with the foam
lining. The foam helps protect the drive from minor shocks as well as
rapid temperature swings, should one get stored in a protected area of a
car trunk during transfer. When in doubt about the type of foam in the
case, a plastic anti-static bag can be used for added protection. The
sturdy handle makes the thing easier to carry as well. I usually find
them at thrift stores or pawn shops for next to nothing.

For what it's worth I also encrypt the data on my drives using Truecrypt
in case one is misplaced or borrowed...

Thanks for the info, I'm going to switch to this instead of the backup book
I have now.
Dave

 

[Al Dykes]

The only problem I see on that specific model is a lack of eSATA, (I

Thermaltake makes an eSATA model.

 

[Char Jackson]

Thermaltake makes an eSATA model.

Yes, I mentioned that in my reply. It was in the part you snipped. ;-)

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

snip

That looks interesting. What do you use to store the HD's in while they are
not in the toaster?
Dave

http://www.wiebetech.com/products/cases.php

Someone in a newsgroup recommended these, and I tried and liked them. I put
tape labels on the drives and corresponding labels on the boxes. I made a
spreadsheet describing the contents of the drives, using the same names (as
well as the actual partition labels, when they are different from what the
tape label says). With three computers and a handful of drives, the
spreadsheet helps a lot.

I don't remember the original source person, for which I apologize (bows
head in mild shame).

 

[Char Jackson]

That looks interesting. What do you use to store the HD's in while they are
not in the toaster?
Dave

I have a few bare hard drives setting on a shelf above my desk. When
I'm ready to do a backup, I grab the nearest one. When I put it back
on the shelf, I slide the drives over and put the latest drive at the
far end of the row. It never occurred to me to put the drives into
some kind of case for storage. It doesn't seem to be necessary, in my
case.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

RW discs can be overwritten each time, although they are commonly used
as you describe. For backups, I would overwrite the entire disc each
time (but again, rotating through at least two or three, with each
backup).

IIRC, you do that by first explicitly erasing the whole RW disc and then
writing the new backup - but it's been a few years since I switched to hard
drives, so don't necessarily trust what I say.