advice on ACI backup....

[Daystar]

Looking for ideas on how to back up ACI files, that also will have versatility of easy access to the files. External drive?, Online?, whats the best way to go. I really dont want to use cds, or zip drive.

 

[James Moore]

This doesn't apply just to ACI.

I bought a 300 GB Seagate external drive about a month ago. It comes with Bounceback software. I paid $150 on sale. Normally $179, I think.

Seems to work fine. One thing I really like: the backup is the same as the internal drive. That is, the files are in the same format and can be used "as is." I once had a tape backup that just created one huge compressed file for a backup. I couldn't just grab one file without going thru a procedure.

The external drive has a button on the front. Push the button once to turn on. Push it again and the backup starts. I turn it off when thru. That way, if I get a virus, it can't get to the backup drive.

You can back up only certain directories if you want. I backed up the whole drive. The subsequent backups are only the changed files.

I would say the first full backup took about 4 or 5 hours. The weekly update backups take maybe 15 minutes.

You can set it to remind you to back up once a week, every day, etc.

Naturally, I bought this a week after a hard drive crash that cost $350 to recover data and install a new drive. I was lucky at that.