Rob,i am just about to go down that avenue,reason being cannot be bothered to a complicated install and it is just plug in the usb cable and bingo it will be picked up as another hardrive !!!!!is that easy or what :-)then copy all you want to the new drive!!!

Mega...

Hi Guys, as a back-up it's ok (I have a lot of these keys with over 10 gig on as back-up data) but it doesn't solve how you can get your programmes over to another hard drive. My problem is I have two hard drives and only one laptop (well more actaully but no way to connect them) but the HD's are the same make.

I don't use USB drives because for normal backup I copy my data accross the network. That spreads it accross three computers which I consider secure enough for my purposes.

If you just want to backup data, then a USB drive should work fine, but why not just buy an old computer and network it? In either case, drive imaging programs should work but I'm not sure which programs can write an image back to an active C: drive.

If I want to replace a hard disk it is usually because it is failing in which case it is best to remove the disk and mount it as a secondary on another machine. This reduces the load on the disk and gives you more chance of recovery.

If you go for a USB drive, make sure that it and your computer are USB2.0. USB1.1 is many times slower. Also be aware of the difference between an (almost) normal hard drive with a USB connection and the solid state or micro drives. The latter, although very convenient are slow and relatively unreliable.

Great minds think alike, I do almost exactly the same as O above. I also copy some critical files to some web space I have which means they are remote and my ISP looks after additional backups ;-)

One of the big problems is knowing what exactly is data? some things are clear like documents but what about settings for programs? portfolios in software etc, these can all be called data and you would probably not want to lose them.

I use a 20Gb Travan tape drive (more, around 30Gb depending on data, with compression) for backups. It has the advantage that I can take monthly full backups of the entire disk (which can be used to restore the disk including Windows etc.) plus daily differential backups (which will bring it up to date). The daily backup is taken automatically before I wake up. I don't worry about what to back up, I just dump everything.

I can cycle through a number of tapes and thereby keep a number of backups going back several months. That means that restoring my system to this morning's state would simply be a case of loading two tapes. Viruses are not a worry since at worst I would go back to the last good backup. I have also used the tapes innumerable times to restore files that I have either accidentally deleted or changed my mind about :-)

The drives are around 100 on Ebay, tapes around 30 also on Ebay (of which you would need 5 or so at least). VERITAS software to do the backups and restore to a bootable system comes with boxed drives and otherwise is quite cheap. There are other makes of software too.

A USB disk as backup would also work but realistically backups would end up being taken sporadically. Also dropping the disk would be a major hazard, particularly if it was the only disk you had and it therefore had all of your backups on it. Even worse if you used it to back up a laptop, since you can just about guarantee that one day you will go travelling with both laptop and backup drive and lose or drop both at the same time :-)

It's difficult to fault Kayak's strategy. The only thing to be aware of is the life of the backup tapes. I seem to remember thet DDS tapes were guaranteed for less than 20 passes through the tape drive though they did do more. Also you need to make sure that they restore OK. A fire proof safe is a good idea as well.

I'm on the lookout for some mounting kits to make SATA drives removable. If the SATA drive really is hot swappable as it is claimed to be then I should be able to rotate 3 drives and have a full backup on each. If I don't drop them they should be good for 15 years storeage as well.

Yes the tapes do occasionally break. However, I've been using the 20Gb tapes for a year or so, and before that the 4Gb tapes for 2-3 years. Lifetime of the tapes is certainly a number of hundreds of backups. They dislike temperature changes during storage a lot more than the actual backup action.

Kayak, take a risk in your life :-)

Does anbody use https://www.123-reg.co.uk to host their sites? I have registered the domain names, written the code for the sites (well acquired it and added my special touch; Meta Tags, h labels etc.. I'm starting to sound like a techy!!) but now I don't know how to upload the files/codes to my sites - anyone any ideas?

All I can find is site building software, do I need to host it before if lets me put the code into it? I currently have place holder pages in place.

Thanks fellow webmasters, or is it sitemasters? :-)

Talking of back-ups why not use a calluna drive? ;-)

Mr Euro, I leave gambles to you and your 6 broken laptops :-)

To upload to a website, first find the ftp: address to be used (should be in the support section of the host site). Then open an IE window to that address (you'll be prompted for username and password). Open a Windows Explorer window to the folder with your files. Drag and drop from that window to the IE window. There is ftp software which you can use but for simple sites this technique is fine.

Thanks Kayak, this time next year Rodney!

Now I can't find the ftp address, is it the IP address?

I have these options:

Currently managing XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.com

Upgrade to Web Hosting
Web Forwarding
E-mail forwarding
Manage DNS
Change Nameservers
Modify Contact Details
Manage Domain Locking
Holding Page Wizard
Transfer Domain to another 123-reg user
Submit Site to 10 Search Engines - FREE
Submit Site to 400 Search Engines
Display or Print an Invoice


and these are the FAQ pages:

123-Reg Frequently Asked Questions

We find that many of our customers need the same information. Before contacting support please check the list below to see if we have already answered your question.


Domain Purchasing



Domain Transfers



Web Forwarding


Email Forwarding



POP Boxes



Domain Name Renewal


Hosting



Dial-up



Site Builder


DNS Management



Webmail



Front Page Extensions


and looking in DNS management I find the following:
DNS Management FAQ back to FAQ menu
Print Page

* Q. What are the zone files?
* Q. What is an A record?
* Q. What is a CNAME?
* Q. What is an MX record?
* Q. What does FQDN mean?
* Q. How can I create subdomains for my domain to point at my server?
* Q. When does the DNS update?
* Q. Do you do wildcards?
* Q. Can I have an IP address as my MX record?
* Q. Do you do AAAA records?
* Q. Can I use 123-reg mail servers as backup if I alter my main mx record to my own mail server?
* Q. How long does it take for a DNS change to take effect?
* Q. Why can't I have mx0 or mx1 as a subdomain?
* Q. What is the IP of your hosting server?
* Q. My domain is attached to a webfusion hosting account, how do I set-up the DNS for it?

Mr E

As far as I can tell the ftp instructions should be in the email they would have sent you confirming your webspace hosting and username/password. If you don't have it you will have to ask them.

If you have enabled FrontPage, though, apparently you can't use ftp, so in that case follow these instructions:

Q. How do I upload via FrontPage to the host space?

To connect via FrontPage:

Start the Microsoft Front Page, click File, and click "Open Web". A new window will appear called "Folder Name".
Enter your domain name (e.g. http://www.mydomainname.com)in "Folder Name", and click "Open".
You will be prompted for your FrontPage login details (Username: Webmaster, Password: ******).
Click "OK". You should now be connected to your web-space via FrontPage, and will be able to upload.


While connected to the hosting space build your website. To upload to the hosting space simply save the page and FrontPage will automatically transfer your files to the hosting.

Please be aware that connecting to 123-reg hosting via FrontPage Extensions requires a DNS change. This will take between 24-48 hours (after purchase of the extensions) to activate.

Kayak, I haven't asked them for hosting yet, I just bought the domain names through them and can manage the sites there (i.e. build them) and host them when they are ready.

I haven't enbable frontpage (the MS software), just put frontpage place holders :-)

I will mail them in the morning, off to bed. Nite nite.

I seem to have a problem. Norton Antivirus has ceased to work and I am unable to download Windows Updates. A visit to the trend-micro site has given me a list of Trojans and viruses on my computer, but the site was unable to clean the files. Here are some of the problems it found:

WORM_RBOT.VL
TROJ_DLOAD.A
TROJ_MENDWAR.A (This seems to be located in the Recycler\NPROTECT file as well as a number of other places)
DOS_AGOBOT.GEN

Any suggestions or help gratefully accepted. Thanks. H

splat, I am just going out so I cant be much help however, the following may well be of some use however please note this will take some time !

Download the sysclean package from here, put it in a folder
http://www.trendmicro.com/download/dcs.asp

download this pattern file and unzip it into the same folder
http://www.trendmicro.com/download/pattern.asp


Unzip all files and then run the sysclean 'stinger' this will search for an clean many trojans, I have used it a couple of times but it does take some time.

Thanks very much Spaceman. Unfortunately I can't get the links to work. Will keep trying..

Splat, the downloads work fine for me. Perhaps this is another symptom of your problems :-(

Could be Robber. The pages just won't open. :-((

just popped back before going out for a long lunch, as other have stated above this is probably the trojans causing problems, I will see if I can get a more direct link....

OK try http://www.trendmicro.com/ftp/products/tsc/sysclean.com

for the frist one and
http://www.trendmicro.com/ftp/products/pattern/lpt244.zip for the second, thay should go straight into the downloads.