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Computer and Technology |
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"Hard Drives and Backing Up" Presented by Dick Curry
Dick Curry reviewed the structure and function of a typical hard drive which consists of a stack disks spinning as one. Each has two sides with one head per side. Disks must be formatted before use and there are three levels of formatting, low level which is usually done by the manufacturer, partition, and high level formatting. Low level formatting divides the track into sectors. Partitioning divides the drive into a number of sections and high level formatting prepares the disk for use. He noted that the partition boot sector contains the File Allocation Tables FAT16, FAT32 and New Technology File System NTFS) which provide the structure for storing data, the File Allocation Tables. NTFS is the system more commonly used with Windows 2000 and XP, because it can be more secure, saves space on larger partitions, and requires less maintenance; however, it can not be used with Windows 9X and ME operating systems and is incompatible with DOS applications. FAT32 is the system Dick prefers. In deciding on a backup, he cautioned that the Restore feature backs up only certain systems programs (like the Registry) and that you must decide how many days of data you wish to risk. He recommended an internal or external hard drive as the best for backing up. Numerous other options are available (tape, removable disk drive, cd/dvd RW), on-line, etc., but the price, overall flexibility and speed of the hard drive makes it his first choice. He recommended that the minimum size be at least 3 times amount needed for a single backup. Dick discussed archival backups and Drive Image backups. Archival backups are exact copies of files; however, when restoring archival backups they will not be replaced in the identical tracks and sectors they were copied from. Drive Image makes a mirror image of an entire drive or partition and will restore copied files to the track and sector each was copied from. Rather than make specific recommendations, Dick explained how he backup methodology. He has installed a second hard drive, one being the master drive and the other the slave drive. The master drive contains the operating system and the programs, the slave contains his data files (My Documents folders) and his backup of his master drive files. He makes a drive image backup every 3 months; he makes a normal backup archive file, using Windows XP backup program on the first of every month; and, on the 15th of each month, makes an incremental backup file of only those files that have changed since making the last normal backup file. He makes a normal backup (on the 1st of each month) and an incremental backup (on the 15th) of his data files and saves those in a partition on his master disk. Dick noted that when backing up files you should close all programs because those in use will not be backed up. The session ended at 11:30 at which time about 20 members of the group car pooled to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View for an enjoyable walk through the history of computers. The museum has the largest collection of computer memorabilia in the World. |