I've been overwhelmed with loads of things since FF. It was absolutely great to meet you and I hope to see you again sometime in the future. When I reallllly need a SB fix, I'll be in touch.

 

To update this thread: I'm still loving my external harddrive. I've kept current backups on all my data on at least a weekly basis and really love being able to just plug the external drive into my laptop when I travel. WOW, I can't believe how much easier it is to have this little small box as opposed to all those cds I used to have to keep. I've only used 30 gig of the external drive and still have loads of space (for the time being) for backing up both my computers. I do intend to get another external drive sometime soon to store in my fireproof safe, but am thrilled with the portability of this drive and the ease of backing up stuff. Thanks for all the advice.

 

Good one to bump, Val. My pictures are the most important thing on my computer. I have taken a "few" of the grandkids. I generally back them up to a CD every six months or so, and need to do so for 2007.

I have a small flash drive I can use , but I need one with more space to fit all my pics. I should look into it.

It always amazes me that we can ask for, and receive, advice on just about anything around here. Vintage wisdom is a wonderful thing.

 

All my pictures are stored in subject/date folders on the external drive and I'm leaving them on my hd for the time being as well. I've never used more than 30 gig on my hd, so I have 90% of my hd space available for more storage. I'm just sleeping better at night knowing I have everything stored in at least two and quite a bit in three places since I used flashdrives to store scores of pictures over the years.

 

You should always have your pics in at least two places. I keep mine on my main hard drive on one computer, on a mirrored drive on my second computer and for those pics I absolutely would be upset if they disappeared I keep on a third external device. It is an Epson P2000, it has a 40 gig drive and I was originally going to use it only for storing when on a trip but I have found the device to be really cool in that I can set up a slide show and pass it around.
Now my biggest problem is managing my camera and my crutches at the same time. I will figure something out.

 

I bought a external hard drive for backups (75GB). It did not come with any instructions. So my question is - how do I copy files/folders/whatever to it?

I have Windows XP but couldn't find any drop downs that were helpful.

I plan to continue doing alternate backups with CDs and placing them in the safe in case of a fire. In the case of the CDs I have a drag and click program for copying files over.

 

If its a USB drive, which I assume it is, you should be able to plug it in and the computer should recognize it as another drive and assign a drive letter to it. It should be plug and play. You should be able to view it simply by double clicking on MY Computer.

Once it has a drive letter, backing up to it should be a simple task.

 

You are correct. I done that. It's hooked up and ready. I know this is a stupid question but what do I do next?

 

You should be able to back up to it just by selecting it as a destination. Or, you can copy files to it using the copy/paste commands.