I like your method (this is close to what I do). I use removable HD bays to make it fast to plug in the HDs for drive cloning and drive swapping.
It seems Acronis is the preferred imaging software here. What are recommendaions for HDD or CDs to use for the actual backup along with Acronis? Thx!
Hi Sherlock, What HD encrypting package do you use? Do you also encrypt your swap partition? Be good, nononsense
If using an internal HD, any one will be as good as another. (I don't know about the differences with external HDs) As for CDs... those made by Taiyo Yuden are generally recognized as the best. Google for more info. As for Acronis, it's probably THE best at imaging... it also clones just fine, too. Other good cloning possibilities are CAsper XP 3.0 and Western Digital Data Lifeguard. WD's has the advantage of being FREE. It works just great UNLESS you get an error message about "odidev.dll". If you see that, you won't be able to use it.
Don't use CD's if you don't HAVE to. Convenient for moving around though, but less reliable for vital backups. External HD usb2 (or dual usb2/firewire: don't get stuck with ONLY firewire) I have been through MANY hd's. I prefer Seagate. Why: less noise and less heat. Good reliability and good docs & support. Don't back up to internal HD's. They should be PHYSICALLY REMOVED and stored in a SAFE place. (read preceding posts on this)
Agree on all points, however Seagate's cloning software SUCKS compared to WD's (both are lite versions of Ontrack's Disk Manager, ironically). Update.... I previously mentioned that I have 2 HDs mounted... I don't really consider the 2nd HD as legitimate backup, just a convenience... things could happen which could damage both mounted HDs at the same time.
I only use Acronis tools for backup & cloning. Haven't used HD manufacturers programs for a long time. In fact these are all written so that they only copy to/from their own brands which I found to be a constant nuissance.