Most Inexpensive Backup

[jimjiminyjim]

What's the most inexpensive way to back up 40GB of data reliably?

Thanks,
A graduate student.

 

[Applespider]

What kind of back up are you talking about? One that's fairly constant and won't change on a daily/weekly/monthly basis? One that you only need temporarily while you're without a computer? One that's quick or one that takes time?

If the data is constant (40GBs of music/images you want to archive), you could just get a pile of DVDs and burn the files onto them. It will take a while and you need access to a DVD burner but it's pretty cheap.

If the data changes a lot and you don't want to take that time, then you're looking at a small external HD that you can backup to. If it's only for a short amount of time, you could try to borrow an iPod and do it on that.

 

[jimjiminyjim]

The backup is primarily for the purpose of installing Tiger. I do not have a regular backup solution right now though, except the use of email storage for basic documents (but not my pictures, movies, music, or preferences). Is an external drive the only way to go for regular backups?

 

[Applespider]

Is an external drive the only way to go for regular backups?

It's the least hassle but not the only way (particularly with Spotlight). You could back up your files onto DVD and then use a Smart Folder to show you any files that you changed since that date and burn those onto a new DVD. It does mean though that you might end up with multiple versions of files.

An external drive makes life easier (but bear in mind that it's not a permanent backup since any HD can get corrupted). I burn my picture files onto a CD/DVD every year. I have a backup HD with a bootable copy of my HD. And I have my images (and of course my music) on my iPod just in case the external drive gets corrupted.

Externals have really dropped in price now so it's worth investigating.