backup solutions:ext firewire OR to desktop?

[CivilRightsLawyer]

hi folks,

i need to backup 20gigs of data on my laptop somehow. i currently am toying with these two options. which is more economical and efficient? or please make another suggestion. thanks!!

(1) buy an external firewire enclosure. pop an IDE HD into it and plug it into my laptop (has firewire port). how much time does it take to backup 20gig via firewire (if HD laptop is a mere 4500rpm and IDE HD is 5400/7200rpm).

(2) network my laptop (runs win98) and desktop (winXP) together and just massively dump files. is this viable? what hardware/software do i use? (my desktop has no firewire card. no usb2.0)

appreciate all your input.

 

[lupohki]

(2) would be the most economical. You need a network card in your laptop and your desktop, and a crossover network cable. Software-wise, you don't need anything besides Windows.

 

[CivilRightsLawyer]

thanks. how much does as "cross-over" network cable run for?

is there a problem with both computers being different OSs?

 

[MWink]

I recommend you go with the external Firewire drive. That's how I backup and it works quite well. It probably takes around an hour to backup 20GB.

 

[Doh!]

Let's see...

Option (2) will roughly cost you the followings:

Lan card for the notebook: $20
NIC for the desktop: $10 (probably less...I've never paid for it more than $5 for the past two years)
Crossover cable: $5
Total: $35 or less (by the way, this total includes shipping & taxes)

Option (1) will roughly cost you the followings:

External firewire enclosure: $55
Firewire cable: $10
Total: $65 (add to this the cost of a new HD if you're not planning on using the existing HD)

As you can see, the Option 1 is much more costly than the other. Personally, I would favor Option (2) as you can add a hub/switch for about $15~$25 and setup a LAN between the notebook & the desktop (or any other systems you may add in the future) for backing up & synchronizing the files (or even share the internet connection or play games). As far as the time it will take to backup 20G of data, it will vary depending on the hardware you have (cpu, HD) but I would estimate it at around 2 hrs or less.

 

[corkyg]

I have a laptop with a 20 GB drive. I just finished backing it up - 100% onto a duplicate 20 GB laptop drive. There are several ways.

My laptop has a modular floppy that lets me put in a second HDD. That is a no brainer - DriveCopy on a bootable CDR and the job is done in 20 minutes.

Before that, I used BulletDrive Express module which has a PCMCIA interface. Just copy the entire drive from A to B.

Lastly, there is a way using inexpensive adapters for 2.5-in drives to 3.5-in desktop controllers. Just open your desk top and connect (temporarily) both 2.5-in drives via adapters ($6.95 ea) and run DriveCopy 4.0. You can clone drive 1 to 2 or 2 to 1. Pretty fast.

These are better than backup becuase no restoration is required. The duplicate drives are always ready to go.