Thanks for your prompt reply! Imbedded in your reply are more than a few suggestions/recommendations for change. I am going to have to cogitate on these things. Making some of the changes in the file system will be 'interesting' to plan out. Your concern for the actual backup of my total system is well-placed. I am deficient in that regard. My external drive is well-protected and I don't always connect to it. It is a 2Tb drive by Seagate, maybe 4 years old but only used in the last year or so.
Your 'trail' of OS's is interesting. I started out with UNIX many years ago, but went to windows 3.1, then .... Lately, I have been contemplating LINUX, but all the different versions are difficult to choose from. My wife and son both have MAC Pro's and have been suggesting .... - ha. My Dell is > 6 years. I had a 500 Gb SSD put in when the original HD died, but only 200-250 of that is really available, hence the external drive.
Taking all of that into consideration, it still comes down to the filing system, it would seem. If it's not too personal, would you share some of the details of how you organized your system?
Of late, I have been contemplating a sort of 'jump list' or an alias table of some sort wherein I would create a shortcut using an 'alias address'. Then when some shortcut was executed, if the target address existed in the 'alias table', the target address in the table would be substituted for the 'alias' to finish the shortcut processing. If the target address did not exist in the 'alias table', processing would continue with that address. This way, when the target address moved, only the substituition side of the alias would need modification. Nice plan. I haven't the foggiest idea how to imlement it.
I mean, I could create the 'alias table', but how to get the system to always use it like I described - THAT is what I don't know how to do - in Windows, anyway. It would be a bit of work, but using a 'C Shell' or 'K shell' (or the modern versions of them) in LINUX, it would be do-able. Worth the effort? Now, that I couldn't say. I don't even know if Windows has such a capability, at least not that I could get access to.
In windows, I'm not familiar with the 'automaticdestinations' and 'customdestinations' folders. Do they have size limits?
So, first thing - get a 'true' backup situation going. Checking on possibilities of a Backup Situation (BS), there are Free & Commercial pakages to purchase, in addition to the many Services. Given my potential for different OS's in the future, if I purchase something (even for $0), I'm thinking the BS I endup with should be useful on all three. That eliminates quite a few. Another feature that sounds good, but the absence of which eliminates all but a few is continuous data protection. Then, there's bang for your buck. Backup services are big now-a-days. How to price them? Encryption would be nice, Synching would be nice (especially, if my wife shared the service and I used my 'other' laptop), limit of number of devices supported (include external drives)? Bandwith issues, How are restorations handeled - individual files as well as complete computer? So many questions ..... ha.
Your help so far, has been very informative, Mikeymikec, and I appreciate your time, too. I would appreciate it if you would like to continue, but if you don't that is OK. Be aware. that, in the above, I am not requesting specific product recommendations.
Thanks for everything, CuriousGeorgie