Quote:

Backup, backup, backup! And not just your user created data, but your program installation files and disks.

I have found there are very few programs that have to be installed from hard media (CD or DVD); so I have copied all my applications, updates, upgrades, add-ons, etc, to an external USB hard drive, categorized by type of application, with each application in its own folder. I include any license codes in the folder name, so it's easy to copy/paste when asked for them. I create text files with notes about the application, and I have an index spreadsheet that lists everything, including web links to the application. For applications that want to be installed from media, I just create an ISO image and then use a virtual CD utility to mount the image as if I had the original disk.

I synchronize this USB disk drive to another every so often to keep things up to date and to have a complete backup. So far it's worked very well for me, and it makes re-installs go much quicker.

But it takes time and diligence to do that; once done, however, maintenance is pretty simple.

And of course, I backup my own data to a different external hard drive. In general, if I crash, I might lose at most a little bit of recent email.



John,

Not sure if I asked you this before but what applications do you use to create the ISO image and also the virtual CD Utility? Is the CD utility also ok to mount DVD as well?

thanks
musiclover

Musiclover

My music https://www.youtube.com/user/donegalprideofall

Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use smile