wrote in message
...
On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:48:28 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

wrote in message
. ..
On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:21:58 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

wrote in message
m...
On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:07:37 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

"John H." wrote in message
news:dp5co3do346t5dedeton6q6s2rrat5mhgt@4ax. com...
I have a 160 GB external hard disk to which I tried to back up my
documents
and settings using the Windows backup system.

After about a half hour, I get a message saying there's not enough
room
for
the backup, and that if the hard disk is FAT 32, the backup can be
no
larger than 4 GB. So I checked, and sure enough, the external HD is
FAT
32.

Now what? I already have about 50 GB of stuff on the external HD
that
I
don't want to lose by reformatting (if that's what's required).
--
John H


When you get this working properly, where will the external hard drive
be
kept most of the time?


One step at a time, Doug. That issue was part of why I suggested the
idea of buying another drive for this project to John. :')



Small enough to fit his safe deposit box at the bank, right? :-)


Probably, but that wouldn't be such a great spot for it. As I'm SURE
you know, the biggest failure of any backup plan is that if it is too
inconvenient, it won't get done. A backup stored onsite is 1000%
better than a backup that doesn't get done.

I do my backup onto an external drive and bring it to the office.


John doesn't have an office. So, when his "onsite" burns to the ground,
there goes his backup hardware, too. I'm in the same situation. I have a
choice to make: Two sets of media, one of which I can't get to if the
bank
is closed. Or, no off-site media, and then I'm phuqued if the place burns
down.


John may or may not have an office, but I'll bet that unlike some
sourpusses around here, he probably has a friend or friends who
wouldn't mind being the offsite storage. I know many people who do
this for each other. I even know one guy who keeps his backups in his
pickup truck parked outside. Tupperware is a beautiful thing!

Off site doesn't mean the backup doesn't get done. Use the one at home for
a
week, then take it to the the safe deposit box and swap for the other one.
Or, someone else's house. Anything's better than storing all your backup
media in the same building. No sane corporation does that, unless they
have
a storage arrangement like a bank's.


For the overwhelming number of home users, having to go to the bank
and get a safe deposit box to swap disks would be enough of an
obstacle to make the plan fail. You can always improve on any backup
system in some way. The worst backup is NO backup, and I hear about
those tragedies all the time. A backup stored onsite is better than
that by a country mile, even though it's not "as good as it gets".

And major corporations generally hire a service that comes and swaps
backup media on a schedule, and takes the fresh backups offsite. They
also have a contract with a hotsite to use if they lose their
building. That way, they can load their backups at the hotsite and
have a place for the staff to work in a matter of hours, rather than
going out of business. John probably won't need that level of
security, either.



I guess it depends on how much value you place on years' worth of digital
pictures.

There's a response to this issue that I haven't seen yet. It's one I know
you're too smart to write. Let's see how long it takes before we see it. You
know the one I mean. :-)