Backing Up a Laptop

Bird · Oct 17, 2001

Yeah, Richard, I told you I don't know much about these contraptions. I was in K-mart not long ago, and since I've never "burned" any CDs, I was looking at the blank ones and couldn't ever figure out why one brand was so much cheaper than the other (unless it was just the name), so I bought a package of the cheaper ones. When I got home and tried using one of them, that's when I learned the difference in the CD-R and the CD-RW./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

Anonymous Poster · Oct 17, 2001

...The one thing I would caution you about backups -- check them regularly to make sure they are storing what you think they are storing. Many people run a backup procedure as a matter of habit but never review the procedure or the results of their efforts. Invariably, when the time comes that the backups are needed, they don't have the data they thought they had...

...The one thing I would caution you about backups -- check them regularly to make sure they are storing what you think they are storing. Many people run a backup procedure as a matter of habit but never review the procedure or the results of their efforts. Invariably, when the time comes that the backups are needed, they don't have the data they thought they had...

...The one thing I would caution you about backups -- check them regularly to make sure they are storing what you think they are storing. Many people run a backup procedure as a matter of habit but never review the procedure or the results of their efforts. Invariably, when the time comes that the backups are needed, they don't have the data they thought they had...

Amen! {Three times a charm...} /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

cowboydoc · Oct 17, 2001

You and me both Bird. I know just enough to be dangerous.

EdDekker · Oct 17, 2001

There are three flavors of CD: CD-ROM CD-R and CD-RW.

CD-ROM is read only

CD-R is write once

CD-RW is rewriteable

All three are read only with CD-ROMs
CD-R and CD-RW can both write the write-once CDs

Ed

scruffy · Oct 17, 2001

Best method (INMO) is backing up to a secondary hard drive. The ZIP drives have a problem in that quality control has headed downhill the past few years, and while efforts have been made over the past six months or so to correct the issue, many drives out there will suffer the 'Click of Death' syndrome until the issue is resolved and those drives have died. The click of death problem is one where the read/write heads snag on the storage material in the disk, and subsequently rip the heads loose and let them dangle....creating a perfectly good paper weight. This process will also destroy the disk that was inserted, even if it just 'nicks' it, you will have a bad disk.
How frequent is the problem...not THAT severe, I've had one of two external ZIP drives suffer the malady, and 0 of 3 internal drives have the problem, but the majority of failures have been with the internal drives.

Anonymous Poster · Oct 17, 2001

...There are three flavors of CD: CD-ROM CD-R and CD-RW.

CD-ROM is read only

CD-R is write once

CD-RW is rewriteable 

Hello Ed,

Don't mean to repeat myself... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

CD-ROM and CD-R are one of the same... read only

CD-RW again means Compact Disc-Read Write

The early 1x and 2x CD-RW writers were mostly all write-once, not rewriteable... now just about all units manufacturered are multi-read, write-once, and rewriters...

glennmac · Oct 17, 2001

Uhhhh ... I'm not only ignorant and redundant, but I am apparently redundantly ignorant. That is, I am still confused.

I am confused as to whether the CD-R and CD-RW terminology refers to the capability of the media or the drives, or both. I am further confused as to why you would need the terminology of CD-R if it means read-only, since a plain old CD is read only (isn't it?). I am penultimately confused as to whether the R and RW terminology relate to the write-once ability or the rewritable ability, and if so, whether we are talking media or drives. And I am ultimately confused as to whether CDs have a good shelf life or not, and if so, which ones, since there seems to be conflicting testimony on this point.

So, let me propose some terminology. I will speak of drives and disks. I know there are read-only CD disks and read-only CD drives. That's what the traditional CD disks and CD drives are that I am familiar with for music and computer programs. I also know there are read-only DVD disks and read-only DVD drives.

1. Are there CD drives that can only write, but not erase, a CD disk.
2. Are there CD disks that can be written on only once and cant be erased?
3. Are there CD drives that can write to and erase a CD disk? Is this true erasure or only overwriting, or both?
4. Are there CD disks that can be written on, erased, and rewritten on? Is this true erasure or only overwriting, or both.
5. Which of these drives and/or disks are referred to by the CD-R and CD-RW terminology?
6. What are the shelf life characteristics of these different CD disks as compared to themselves and to zips, hard drives, or other long term storage media.

Sorry for repeating myself. But maybe I'm not the only one who is confused.

HarveyM · Oct 17, 2001

What I use for my laptop (wouldn't recommend it for a desktop is an outboard USB drive just like you describe. I feel safe with it because the laptop and backup drive are generally in different areas and not connected to each other unless I want to backup. The software that came with the drive keeps five generations of any file it backs up and allows individual or entire disk recovery.

Gatorboy · Oct 17, 2001

Let me try to answer a couple things for you:

The actual hardware that you would put in your machine could be a:

~ CD-ROM - Your regular CD player/reader
~ CD-RW - CD-ROM, but the ability to WRITE to CD's
~ CD-RW/DVD - Same as CD-RW, but the ability to read DVD's as well
~ DVD-ROM - Will read CDs and/or DVD's
~ DVD-RW - Same as DVD-ROM, but with the abilty to WRITE

Now, the blank CD's that you buy at the store come in two flavors CD-RW and CD-R (we will not be discussing DVD's in this lesson /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif).

~ CD-RW are CD's that can be written to and erased and rewritten. Just like a floppy disk.
~ CD-R's are CD's that can be written to ONCE! These are commonly used to "burn" music CD's, or make backup copies of purchased (or pirated) software. Other uses are saving your digital pictures, etc. These are much cheaper than the CD-RW's. So you can backup your files, and file that away. The next time you backup, just use a new CD. You are not forced to do ALL writing at one time though. You can write some data now, and write more data later on CD-R's -- but that is a whole other subject matter. There are software packages out there (Adaptec Easy CD Creator for example) to aid with the "burning" of your CD's.

Regardless of the CD type (RW or R) -- they can all be read by a CD-ROM.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Dave "Gatorboy" Hoffmann
Fallston, Maryland

EdDekker · Oct 17, 2001

Hi John,

No. CD-ROM and CD-R are not the same.

CD-R is for CD-Recordable and CD-RW is for CD Re-Writable.

See I'm seeking some guidance on purchasing a CD-R or CD-RW. I'm getting a little overwhelmed by all the choices out there for an article on TechTV's web site on chosing a CD-R or CD-RW drive.

Ed