OT Backup question

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

I know that this is a stupid question, but how do I find out how many GB of data are on my computer to backup? I am looking in to online backup and I need to know how to find this to compare prices. I probably back up too much on my external hard drive.

Thanks!

Bonnie

[kcjenkins]

Click on My Computer, then right click on the hard drive, select Properties, and it will show you the size of the drive, and how much space is used and how much is free.

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

Thanks, KC. That includes the programs, so I am trying to figure out how much of it is data. Maybe there is no easy way and I'll just have to go through all of the folders and add them up.

[MDCPA]

One option to get you close would be to take the amount of used space on your hard drive as KC explained above, and subtract the total of the programs listed in the "add/delete programs" section in control panel.

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

Great idea! Thank you.

[Catherine]

Great idea! Thank you.

One of the other issues with online backup is that the files are compressed -- so you don't need nearly as much backup as you might otherwise think. I have 21GB of backup and that is all my accounting and tax data, my own business data, letters, spreadsheets, etc, and also pdf's, jpg's, pictures, and some other random stuff as well.

Catherine

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

Thanks, Catherine. I didn't know that, either. It's such a pain to look at all these reviews.

Bonnie

[Catherine]

Our friends at VMSUS have backup services as well, so don't forget them. I've been using MozyPro and that's been working well for me. And I know folks who are very happy with Carbonite.

Catherine

[Lion EA]

The VMSUS folks came into my computer to see how much space I would need. I told them what I wanted backed up. They set it up to happen automatically in the middle of the night.

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

Thanks, I think that I will give them a call.

Bonnie

[Virtual Managed Solutions]

Bonnie,

If you could, please email a time today that would be good for you (BTW, we are Eastern Standard Time) and I will have one of our technicians call to give you an exact amount of how much space you are looking at. One great thing about us over the competitors is exactly what Lion was saying, we can set it up to automatically connect and backup at any time of the day. Others allow you the option to manually backup whenever you initiate the process.