Can annyone reccommend a (free) hardrive backup program that will copy my entire main drive to a 2nd (external) drive and be able to copy it back over again in case the main drive failed at some point. Is there one that would keep the 2nd drive data upto date on a scheduled basis?

Dont, buy a second internal hard drive and use that instead for backing up your important files.

I dont know of any free ones but for £40 my money would go to:

http://www.symantec.com/en/uk/norton/ghost

well worth it if you are serious about proper recovery

clonezilla.org . . . brilliant bit of software . . . completely free

You boot your computer off a CD or USB stick then it backs up any drive to any other drive (uncluding USB drives) and allows you to restore from that backup point whenever you like . . . just like the day it was backed up . . .

I have a USB drive for backups and USB stick with CloneZilla installed and back up the laptops every few weeks . . .

Fd

I use Macrium. You can back up anywhere, and create a CD to boot from when it all goes wrong, so you can restore from your back up to a new hard drive.
Free for basic, paid does more.

Why why why ?
If your hard drive fails you need to put in a new one, the best solution then is a clean install of your operating system,
Your important stuff [documents pictures music videoes etc] is on the 2nd hard drive.
I have seen so many complete loss of data using daft methods. Important data should be backed up to a 3rd media and kept somewhere safe [online storage, mem sticks cd kept at work mums ?] away from your PC as the biggest complete loss of data is theft.

Agree with Dales_rider, don't just have one back up. Keep everything of value in at least two places (I use a USB drive and the internet). I also image the hard drive just to make it quicker to restore it (but never needed to yet), but a fresh install will always be better.

Why why why ?

Because some of us have a clue about this stuff . . .

Fd – Member

Why why why ?

Because some of us have a clue about this stuff . . .

Obviuosly you have more experience than me as I only spent 35 years in the industry, in fact this message will probably get to you via one of the systems I installed/maintained.

So I will bow to your superior knowledge on this occasion. 😆

If you want some software to manage your backups GFI Backup is pretty good and free.

You can use it to manage backups/restores and also to synch to an external source (USB stick/drive etc).

dales_rider, surely a second internal drive is just the same as having an external drive, apart from it being always connected and inside the computer….

Data transfer rates are superior with an internal drive (unless the external drive is e-sata).

You still need an external device(s) (DVD/USB stick/ext.drive) for your backups though.

why why why etc ….

I know bugger all about computers but I do know that I "need" an internal disc backup (fast, frequent) and an external, networked one at a remote point in the house in case of norty rascals burglarising the place

If we have a fire I reckon I'll have more to worry about than a few photos so I only keep very important stuff outside the house as well

Just trying cobian backup, as it happens – seems OK

(I don't do a full clone of the drive because I always (ie twice) forget to do one after a clean start & don't see the point in cloning a partly messed up drive a month or two into its use)

tommy – Member

dales_rider, surely a second internal drive is just the same as having an external drive, apart from it being always connected and inside the computer….
As Freddyg said, plus its cheaper, kept in a more stable environment only advantage of an external drive is it can be taken to anywhere and used, but hey with 64 Gig USB mem sticks available there is no need to cart a hard drive around.

xcopy is built into Windows – powerful, free and easy to use (sort of!). It's what I use for copying photos/docs etc to my backup drives.

See here for a guide: http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=1547

Robocopy is more powerful, also built in to Windows from Vista(?)