Disc backup advice wanted

[EHM-1838 Andrew]

Today i bought a large external hard drive with the idea of backing up my FS files,but i ve heard its a good idea to backup all your files(incase of internal hard drive failure)so i used the backup utility and selected back up all files,now thats fine but i can see that by the time the backup finishes i will be old and grey.My question do i have to make a backup of everything or are there just some critical files i should backup so i can restore if hard drive fails.
Hope that makes some sense.
cheers Andy

[EHM-1633 José]

Hi Andrew. I wondered myself the same a few motnhs ago when I did a Backup of all my files I wanted to keep and I got to this solution:

I guess you mean flight simulator files, but you can use this to save other files either. Go to the FS2004 folder and my recomendation is to save just the Aircraft folder, Gauges Folder, Effects Folder and Sounds Folder, as they are those in which your Add-ons are, because the others are included in the FS2004 installation CD´s, so don´t bother yourself by saving the rest. Also if you have other programs such as FSPassengers you have to save the entire FSPassengers folder too. Then if you need to reinstall the whole FS again for any reason, after completing the installation process you just have to copy&paste the folders you saved previously. I did it that way and it worked fine, and in my opinion is much more faster.

[EHM-1838 Andrew]

Thanks Jose
I will give that a try.Actually i did mean all the files on my computer not just FS9.Do i have to back up everything or is just the documents and settings folder?
Thanks for your help
cheers Andy

[EHM-0361 Karsten]

Hey Andy,

I think it would a bit overkill to backup all files on your harddisk. It takes a whole lot of time and even before you have finished the backup, som files would be outdate. And if you have a disk error of some kind. In most cases a restore of an backup isn't enought. So I would backup things of value to you. the documents and settings folder is a good one, if you have any fs addons in download form then back them up too. Look at your harddisk and ask you self. If lost all this today, what do I have here that I need to save because I don't have on cd or dvd.

[EHM-1838 Andrew]

Thanks Karsten
I dont really now what iam doing but will take your advice.I have noticed that i cant have a backup file larger than 4gig on this drive anyway(seagate 360 gig)because apparently its FAT32 type,and if you try i just stops with an error message.
Thanks for your advice and help
cheers Andy

[EHM-1617 Iain]

FAT32 on a 360GB disk

On a big external hard drive, you needn't really run the backup program. I would just copy all files that are important to you across - this would also sidestep the FAT32 problem.

[EHM-1838 Andrew]

Thanks Iain
Your right i ve just copied my aircraft folder over and that was fine but SLOW.I will do as Karsten suggested and copy the gauges file etc.
cheers Andy
I am usually fairly computer savvy but all this backing up,copying malarky is fairly new.
cheers Andy
PS all i really wanted to do was back up my complete system just in case my internal hard drive died.

[EHM-1798 Conrad]

One question, why are you using FAT32???

NTFS is much better, faster,better tables, and all round best

[EHM-1838 Andrew]

Thats how it came when i bought it.I believe i can reformat it to NTFS but i dont want to mess anything up.
What would you advise?
cheers Andy
PS disc is Seagate 320GB External USB connected

[EHM-1838 Andrew]

Hello Guys
I am as i write this re formatting my drive from FAT32 to NTFS
after checking the seagate website.
cheers Andy

[EHM-1838 Andrew]

As usual with our blazing stonking computers this task is SLOW.
Cheers Andy (10% percent done)

[EHM-1838 Andrew]

Originally posted by EHM-1798 Conrad
One question, why are you using FAT32???

NTFS is much better, faster,better tables, and all round best

Certainly is Conrad
Have reformatted now
cheers Andy

[EHM-1982 Carlos]

Remember that if you bought some addons from Flight1, you have to save the purschase file utilitie, the Key and the code for reinstall (usually the 4 digits of credit card used for the purschase). If you format the Hard Disk and reinstall Windows, the files back up of installed products won't work.