15 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
15 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

What is the best way to backup 450 GB to an external harddrive?

by Bjarne Eldhuset
11 replies
I have 450 GB of data on my computer that I want to back up to a usb harddrive.

First try:
It's a Lacie 1 Tb usb harddrive, that came with a backup program. I started a backup using this software.
Backup time: 38 hours
Errors: Yes, but at least I got a list of files that had not been backed up properly.

Second try:
I have the 450 GB stored in 11 "main folders". I copied one at a time to the external usb harddrive. It went well for the first 10 folders.

For the last folder I'm trying to copy over to the usb drive, i get an error saying "syclic redundancy check failure for _____filename", and then the copying gets aborted. Argh!

Third try:
Any suggestions from warriors are welcome!

I want to do this backup routine once a month, but I don't have time do spend 2-3 days each time, at least not if I have to babysit the computer to get this done.

How do YOU back up large amounts of data to external drives?

Any help is appreciated!
#450 #backup #external #harddrive #usd
  • Profile picture of the author mpruben
    You are always going to have this problem with a USB drive although I would have thought 38 hours a bit excessive. Is it USB 2.0?

    Your fastest would be a proper network linked drive either wireless, or better still old-fashioned ethernet cable.
    Signature
    Discover how I got 3,672 backlinks with a single article...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1230105].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Bjarne Eldhuset
      Thanks for your reply. It's usb 2.0.

      I' decided to try one more time using the lacie software that came with the drive, but this time I am only backing up around 40 gb at the time, and now it seems to go much faster.

      Maybe the software doesn't "like" when I set it to backup everything in one take? I guess a couple of 100.000 files takes some time.

      Would it go any faster if I zipped most of the stuff? Say I have folder with 2354 files in it, total size 500 mb. And then I zip it so it becomes 1 zip file of somewhere below 500 Mb. Would doing this make things faster?

      I'll check out your suggestions before next months backup!
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1230167].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author mikeyman120
        Very Slowly! A Little at a time.
        I can tell you my own experience with windows 98 at least. I have over 500GB of stuff on 5 hard drives and I backed it up to a Western Digital USB hard drive and from my own experience with moving or copying large amounts of stuff at once you are asking for trouble. I don't know how XP or vista may be but 98 can't handle large transfers. It first tells you it will take 3 million minutes and that jumps up and down and then if you get any error, and you will, you're done. You have to start over. I did it 1-2 Gigs at a time. But i'm assuming XP or up is better.

        But in your case it sounds like your did most of it already, you just have a file or so giving you an error so do that last folder slowly til you find the file with the error and if it won't transfer then hopefully you don't need it. Good luck.

        Mike
        Signature
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1230215].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    I have a 1TB drive I backed up recently and it took 12 hours with USB to do 600GB
    Signature

    nothing to see here.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1230176].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mpruben
    The zip will make it faster as you will be transferring a small amount of data.

    The method I use is to add a big backup drive to an old PC and link the two via regular Windows networking. I can then transfer in background while I still use my main PC. I do have a USB drive, but pretty much only use it for quick data transfer when I'm at a clients site.
    Signature
    Discover how I got 3,672 backlinks with a single article...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1230184].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author DyLan Lee
    What about everynight before you sleep you do a back-up on the latest update. Back-up and you went to sleep then the next morning everything is done. If you doing day by day, they you dont have to spend so much time to back up all at one shot.

    Just a suggestion.
    Signature
    Wanna Get Your Marketing Right On Twitter- Download this ebook FREE

    Sure FIRE Guide- http://www.jevince.com/TwitterMarketingStrategies/
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1230187].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Then
    You are using the wrong cable. Even if you use USB2.0, it's still slow.

    You need to get external eSATA connection. They are at least 4-6 times faster than USB.

    I actually run VIDEO EDITING with the video source file in external hard drive and it didn't slow a single bit. When I use a USB connection... I want to blast the PC.

    Here's one pretty good external HDD with eSATA connection:
    Amazon.com: Western Digital My DVR Expander 1 TB...Amazon.com: Western Digital My DVR Expander 1 TB...

    Don't worry, no affiliate links at all.

    Always look out for this phrase "eSATA interface" and you'll be sure that it's not only a USB connection.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1230206].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Bjarne Eldhuset
      Thanks for your replies, I see I'm not doing it the most efficient way now. I think the extra-slow speed I experienced may be because there are 216.000 files in the backup.

      I'll look into your suggestions.

      One more question though, if I want automatic every-night backup of new/changed files to the external drive, I'm guessing this requires some sort of synch software?
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1230223].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author zorus
        yeah, acronis true image can do that job too, every night, every 3 days etc

        Originally Posted by Bjarne Eldhuset View Post

        Thanks for your replies, I see I'm not doing it the most efficient way now. I think the extra-slow speed I experienced may be because there are 216.000 files in the backup.

        I'll look into your suggestions.

        One more question though, if I want automatic every-night backup of new/changed files to the external drive, I'm guessing this requires some sort of synch software?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1230550].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author susanm
          I have a Western Digital Passport USB drive that I back up to with Goodsync (not affilate link). You could even write a small batch file to do this, but I like the Goodsync interface. The first time you copy the files, it takes a long time, but after that, it only copies the new/changed files and goes much faster. Works for me.

          Susan
          Signature

          Just passing through.

          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1230669].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author zorus
    -eSATA
    -total commander, its copy paste is a lot faster than windows
    it seems windows make a temporal copy and then copy the stuff to the new location,
    total commander copy from disk a to b without temporal files, so is faster.
    -acronis true image is fast too.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1230537].message }}

Trending Topics