I just got an external hard drive...can anyone help?

Flashy

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I just bought a Western Digital My Book Home Edition external hard drive and hooked it up to my PC...

i am about to start saving stuff from my hard drive to that drive...

there are virtually no instructions, but i just wanted to make sure i am not screwing this up...how exactly do you move your stuff from the hard drive to the external?

is it as simple as copying a file folder from my C drive, and pasting it/dropping it into the K;Drive (WD External drive)? i just did that, and it now shows up in the K Drive file menu just the same...but then what do i do? do i delete the folder from my C Drive and that is it, voila, i have freed up that space on my C:Drive?

I am hesitant to delete anything important on the C:Drive until i have "mastered" this...anyone use the WD external drive that can offer some advice?

thanks
 

Flashy

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I just bought one too, and really it is pretty simple. Just plug it in and move stuff over.

thanks that's what i thought...i am just copying and pasting and it appears to be working...

so if my computer crashes (hypothetically) and all this is on the external, all my stuff will be safe, ideally?
 

D_Jared Padalicki

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VeeP

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I'll assume we're talking Windows here...

Use care to move only "user" files and folders... documents, pictures, etc... these are generally located in the "My Documents" folder, although they can be just about anywhere on the C: drive.

Moving "application" files and folders would be ill-advised... these are generally found in the "Program Files" and "Windows" folders.

And yes, adding an external drive will spread the risk, however bear in mind that it too can fail and that you should back up critical files on something more permanent like CD or DVD.
 

Flashy

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Flashy

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I'll assume we're talking Windows here...

Use care to move only "user" files and folders... documents, pictures, etc... these are generally located in the "My Documents" folder, although they can be just about anywhere on the C: drive.

Moving "application" files and folders would be ill-advised... these are generally found in the "Program Files" and "Windows" folders.

And yes, adding an external drive will spread the risk, however bear in mind that it too can fail and that you should back up critical files on something more permanent like CD or DVD.

thanks VeeP...yes i am only moving vids, pics and songs...no application type files or absolutely anything like that.

can i backup things to CD/DVD from the K Drive/external drive the same way i would from my normal C drive?
 

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Hey Flashy, I don't have an external hard-drive{yet} but it sounds like what your doing is correct. Redirect desired files from one drive to the other. In your case C to K{?}. Afterwards for good measure i would run some maintenance's on the C drive{hard-drive} like Window Washer utility, Virus checks,Anti-spyware, and most especially DE-Frag the drive also after transfering all the files off of it. From what i understand all the original files are still 'GHOSTED' on the C-drive even after transfering the files away, untill you run the DE-FRAG utility. Anybody else that is more computer nerdy than me can validate or de-bunk my claim about this.... Regards,PYM
 

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thanks Pym...

i think i am going leave the ghosts alone lol...so far it looks good, but i am too afraid to do anything more than transfer them at the moment :scared1:
 

pym

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Yeah, first things first. You have probably got the entire recorded history of smutty films clogging up your 'DIGITAL PIPES' to clear away:biggrin1:, at least from what i've seen on this site:smokin:.
 

Flashy

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actually my main concern is transferring over the 18 Compilations, cause they are clogging up at least 6 gigs of space, and i think having less room has been contributing to the problems i have been having saving and compressing the comps...

so this will hopefully change things for the better :biggrin1:
 

pym

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Don't worry too much about all your COMPS, i guarentee you that they are saved on a WHOLE bunch of hard-drives around these here parts.....Oh yeah! Good luck with your new toy.
 

Flashy

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true...i kind of hoped people had saved some of them, plus they are still accessible on MEga...but i just couldn't save and compress the new ones i was making till i could clear some space...

now it should be much easier :biggrin1:
 

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What you described is exactly right. The external hard drive is exactly the same as the one inside your computer in regards to how you use it. No backup method is completely safe though, unfortunately the external hard drive will eventually die.
 

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What you described is exactly right. The external hard drive is exactly the same as the one inside your computer in regards to how you use it. No backup method is completely safe though, unfortunately the external hard drive will eventually die.

how long are they normally good for??? :eek:
 

ohhhey

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There's really no way of saying, it could last 20 years or 6 months. If you have really really important stuff, the best way is to have it in two or more locations. The chances of things dying at the same time are very slim, so when one dies you replace it and put everything back onto it from the other backup.
 

Flashy

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Gotcha..

the one i bought is a 1 TB drive...

do you think i should get another, significantly smaller one, just in case to have double back-up?