How do I get a reliable backup?

I recently attemped to do a full backup of my hard drive. The backup window indicated that I had 919000kb to back up. I was using floppies(1.44mb)for the backup. After about 1000kb I was told to insert a new floppy. At this rate I would need 919 floppies to make a full backup. Since this didn't seem right I terminated the backup. My question is why a 1.44mb floppy will only hold about 1000kb. Also I found in the file selection window a file titled "backup 1-24-99". This file size was 758mb. I did a full backup about this date but now I don't think I did it right. I was using floppies for this backup but I don't think the floppy drive ran as the indicator light never came on . I suspect that when I did the backup everything went back on to the hard drive which would account for the large file size and a huge drop in my free space which is at 978mb.My question is is it possible to backup everything back on to the hard drive. If so can I delete this 'Backup file" without making a mess of everything. I would like to make a full backup but don't think I can with this huge file in the way. Any help will be appreciated thanks Cleo Freeman [email protected]

This question was answered on April 16, 2000. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

---

You have about 1GB of data on your hard drive that you are trying to back up Your math is accurate, you will need a whole lot of floppy disks to accomplish this 1000kb roughly equals 1mb, So your floppys are holding the right amount of data

With the amount of space needed by current programs I would suggest you consider investing in a tape drive, Zip drive or a CD Writer to perform your backups Most of them come with very user friendly software that will schedule regular backups of your data for you A good quality tape drive is fairly inexpensive, and the tapes are quite reliable.

Best of luck.

About the author

Posted by Chester of University of Advancing Computer Technology on April 16, 2000

Need Help with this Issue?

We help people with technology! It's what we do.
Contact or Schedule an Appointment with a location for help!