Quick help needed! Backing up data

Bell Canada fried my modem, Acer is going to replace it but suggested that I back up all my data because they will probally delete the contents of my hard drive.
I am currently using "NTI back up now" (oem edition) I chose to back up my data using this program. it is on disc #6 and is only about 40% done.
Is this program saving my pictures? They are my primary concern. I dont have much else on here, so does that mean they are being backed up? There are many many of them and I CAN NOT lose them.. I am on a time crunch here, Acer is sending Purolator out to pick this machine up and I really need to make sure my pictures are safe. I just bought 50 CD's and will stay up all night if needed..
How do I make sure these pictures stay safe? Can I check the back up CD's to see if the photos are there? I don't know what else could be taking up so much room..
The Laptop goes out tomorrow at noon (Friday)

Use norton ghost 9 (Powerquest v2I) it could perform a complete image disk.

Why don't you burn it directly onto the CDs or zipped them up first if CD space is a concern??
backup usually take a while. A server backup can take a few hours depending on how much data to backup...
I am not familar with the backup program you are using but you might be able to test the backup if the feature exist in the program.

Before each disc ejects it does a "compare" so I believe the disc is checking to make sure all the data is present..
What I don't know is if the data that is being "backed up" contains my photos..
I am guessing it will fill about 15-20 discs (700 meg) with backed up data, is that normal?

Depending on the size of your hard drive ...What size is it ?

17 gig, there are two of those.. Only one is used though

17 Gig = 17* 1024 Mb = 17408 MB about 25 CD if your disk is full

With a Norton Ghost solution you can use compression and backup your disk as an image.. and you can extract one file if you want from your backup image ...

I can deal with 25 cd's as long as I have the data I need..
I will look into Ghost soon..

OMG if you use CD's you'll lose your patience, especially because of the speed but maybe also because of the reliability.

May I recommend you save your sanity & buy a decent but inexpensive external hard drive and have Ghost put the image of your internal drive onto that?

After getting back the computer from Acer the ugly-but-efficient Ghost program is run under DOS (perhaps from a CD you've created) on your blank but working computer you can simply select the image from your USB/1394 external drive, walk away and in about 15 minutes you should be good to go.

Note that Ghost is super easy to use, but the instructions are less than worthless. They make it seem so hard and focus on the unusual scenarios. Terrible instructions, just awful. Maybe those with 10 are better but I doubt it. I have yet to get that version.

Give your machine or another one a trial run using Ghost to get the hang of it before you ship off your precious data to the tech support!

Heck, you might also want to use Ghost to wipe your drive before shipping it off anyway. That's another thing you can do with the package. (Well, it's not exactly Ghost to do that, it's something like gwipe.exe or some such but it comes with Ghost.)

After getting your computer back, you might also find Ghost and that external drive handy for making monthly backups in case all goes haywire when you decide to load something (like that Longhorn/Vista beta or something). You can password-protect your backups, btw.

Ghost sounds great, but this is a time issue for me now.. I live far from any store to pick up a new program, and I am on dial up, so downloading is tough too..
I can live with the speed of this cd thing, as far as reliability, well, I am pretty sure the program I am using to store the data is double checking the data to ensure it is not currupt, is that possible?
after the laptop heads off to Torono I will purchase an external hard drive, I have alot to learn before I try any new programs..

where do I find ghost?

I found it.. Only 10 more cds to go..

It's certainly possible and common for the backup program to write then read-to-check. I don't know NTI (sorry).

You have much patience! I hope the whole fix goes smoothly.

I know you said you are far from a software store, but perhaps you can grab another internal drive at the office store or big box store. You could then add that drive into your computer, and copy everything off. You only need a 40GB drive, which is pretty cheap these days.

Here in the states, a 200gb internal is like $110 at Office Max, with $60 in rebates. That's what I did recently when my computer threatened to crap out. I threw in a 160 GB drive and copied off like 40-50 GB of photos that are irreplaceable. Now I'm going to put the drive into an enclosure and make it an external, but that can come later, just copy off your pictures now.

daloosh

edit: oops, I missed the part about it being a laptop. I guess you'd need an external drive then. but it sounds like you have it well in hand. Well, at least halfway well in hand! good luck!

It's not about patience..
I once had about 3000 pictures of my kids, their birth and the following year or two, I lost about 2000 of them to a virus and have never forgiven myself..

Yeah those pictures are irreplaceable! That's why I keep my photos on two computers and on DVD. But it's a pain keeping track of them.
daloosh

How will I know if the pictures are even part of this back up I am doing? Will I be able to check that?

17 CDs, $10
4 beers $4
day off work $$
Not knowing if it even worked.. Priceless

But I am done none the less.

11,242,489,632 bytes

Pull the hard drive out of the machine. Send the machine back to Acer without the hard drive.

paulr said:

Pull the hard drive out of the machine. Send the machine back to Acer without the hard drive.

Click to expand...

I considered this, actually Acer gave me the option.. I don't know where to look, or what I am looking for once I find it..
Also, I am kinda hoping they will help clean things up a bit... I am almost positive that I got this back up thing right, I am not happy about my pictures being compressed, but at least I will have them..

Now I am going to get more beer, a new flashlight and sit here patiently and wait out the proverbial storm. :sweat: