usb flash drives...

[Scarlet Pimple]

Heilandee--well that explains everything in detail. :029:

You mean ....like....to back up the whole hard-rive one needs to do it file by file?

C/maaaaaaaaaaan!  Be nice and help an old 'un out before his withers wither and die.

No, no, no, that remark was not intended to be withering,,,maybe blithering Hoich ! Hoch! ?

And, Manfer, there is no need for you to reply --I already know the answer? Ha, ha! ? :012:

[tm4tj]

Scarlet bought a grey one Scarlet bought a grey one na na na na

Pimple, I am no technical wizard, but if you right click on the folder.....My Documents or Shared or whatever the Documents are called on your PC where you store all your files, you will have the option to send to the drive you wish to store the folders/files.  In my case the drive shows as E or F.  No rocket science, but if in doubt right click on the folders/files or highlight them and click on file in the top left corner of the screen, you will then see the options asking you what you want to do with your files.  Failing that, we can send maimie oer for a week.  If all else fails, go back to using a diary.

[Hamish]

You can copy multiple files over to it in one operation (indeed, your whole hard-drive if you wish and the USB flash drive is big enough). You just move files around as you would normally do; the fact you're using a USB falsh drive doesn'y change the process...

[Jay_7]

Scarlet, for what you are talking about, I'd reccomend not doing that on Flash memory.  I make regular back ups of my computers files and folders on to an external hard disk.  It not only backs up the folders but it compresses them into .cab files to take up less space on the external disk.  Also if you're as paranoid as I am, it's a good idea to have another spare hard disk and make an entire image of your current hard disk which includes the operating system for when the worst happens...

[Scotty]

I'm with Jay_7 & Hamish on this one

FLASH DRIVE = good for transferring files from one machine to another or for holding portable applications that can run from it on any machine (such as portable Firefox or RoboForm password stuff etc). Not good for system backups. When using it, just click on my computer and use windows explorer to drag/drop files on it like you would with any other drive. no need for all that right clicking palaver.

EXTERNAL (or extra internal) HARD DRIVE = Also good for transferring large files from one machine to another but perhaps a bit bulky to be as portable as a USB key. Far better suited to making system backups than a flash drive ever will be, plus you can pick up huge drives (500, 750 or even 1000 Gigabytes (1Tb)) for a lot less than the cost of USB.

Think I mentioned this on a thread somewhere else to you SP .... but if you use something like GHOST you can do wonderful stuff to keep your computer running.

Step 1 - install operating system, windows updates, service packs etc and then all the day to day applications you want in your base system such as antivirus, firewall, word, excel, outlook, firefox, adobe ... etc. Configure them how you want.

Step 2 - Use ghost (or similar) to make an 'image' file of your complete system. This 'image' will be very helpful to you if you ever have to revert your system back to its raw state. I would suggest you also copy this image to recordable CDs or DVDs for safekeeping. (belt and braces approach).

Basically, step 1 will take you many hours the first time you do it as each program will have to be installed separately and you will have to download service packs, driver updates and all that fun stuff !!!! HOWEVER, by creating an image file, it means that if you ever want to blow everything away and start again, all you will need to do is use the ghost recovery disk and tell it to load that 'base' image. It might take an hour or so, but when you restore that image, all the programs you previously spent many hours or even days installing and configuring are there and ready to use. If you have them stored to CD/DVD you can also apply them to other machines (such as a new PC)

Step 3 - Schedule ghost to take regular backups of your system. My full system is backed up twice a week and I also run a monthly full "my documents" backup with incremental backups a couple of times a week. This can all be done on a schedule so you dont even have to remember to do it. If something on your system screws up today, and you dont want to go all the way back to the very start with a clean installation then you can restore the last backup, or go back a further few days etc. The only downside is that when you restore an image from last week or from months ago you will lose anything from that date forward so if its not your email thats screwed up you may want to make an offsite copy of things like your mail pst files (to usb drive perhaps !!!) before restoring an image.

[maimie]

I thought that Maimie would have been along with an update.  After much research and investigation, several trips to the shops to view the options, she has finally made her purchase ............................................

SHE BOUGHT A PINK ONE.  :015:

:015: Good to hear she's getting a handle on the technical aspects at last.

it's even got a wee arrow to tell you which way's up...  or should that be in....  :001:

[Scarlet Pimple]

Holy smokes, the techie wizards have all come out of the closet at once. :003:

Thanks guys for all your suggestions. I am sure that it will all make sense to me once I mull it all over.I am going to right click it & print the page out for future reference the noo.

Scotty you did indeed talk about Ghost in the not too distant past. Seems like a neat but rather large programme . Quite expensive too but in the larger scheme of things probably not.

I use a computer strictly for research, history information searches, email, buying cinema tickets etc, etc but by no means am I techically advanced in the whys and the wherefores of advanced electronics. My problem is often that I see too many options so that I ask too many questions and rarely get all of them answered at once and by the time I really see the road ahead clearly I am exhausted by the effort of trying to master too many things at once. Mostly I hope to have some stuff stick and gradually build on that. Truthfully though I DO find all the advice really helpful, if challenging . And it gives me the rare opportunity of a wee wind up of Manfer which  is fantastic when he bites at the worm..  :cdn:

The only other alternative is for Scotty to get away from it all , the six foot drifts, tornados et al  and drop by my wee house for a week's free  R & R in the rain soaked West Coast and fix up my computer whilst I retire to the sofa wid the pipe and slippers and a big smile on my face. Look--he's weakening  !! :001: