Topic: Help with WD Passport Essential

[Jo]

Hello,

I recently bought the WD Passport Essential as a means to back-up my documents/photos/emails etc.

However, having spent far too much time on Google, I have discovered that there are lots of disgruntled customers who have used it to backup their docs and have subsequently lost them. This is apparently because the device is used to sync the documents rather than back them up. So if the data is lost from the PC, then when you sync the Passport, it will also delete the documents from there as they won't be on the PC anymore. Surely this defeats the object of the Passport?

I have now installed the Smartware software but half way through a back-up I have got cold feet about using it. I don't intend to leave it connected to my PC so the automatic backup function is useless for me (surely if the PC was stolen then the portable hard drive would be too?!)

I thought maybe I should just use it as an external hard drive and use Vista's backup program but this doesn't seem to back up my items in a way that I can easily find them afterwards. What about other free back-up software or just copying and pasting to the WD Passport? This seems time-consuming and will mean doing regular complete back-ups rather than just backing up changes since the last time.

HELP! I'm so confused. I don't know what to do for the best. I really just wanted a place to back-up my stuff, maybe backup stuff on the laptop too, so that if they die or are stolen then I have them copied elsewhere.

Hoping for assistance soon!

Many thanks 

[Simon]

Hi Jo,

I usually just backup to an external hard drive once in a while, but not nearly as often as I should, so I'm not the best one to give advice.  I'm sure someone will come up with some solutions for you later. 

[Jo]

Thanks Simon, I hope so as I'm fretting that I shouldn't have installed the stupid thing now. I wish I'd never looked on google now!

 How do you back-up then? Just copy and paste or use software?

[Simon]

I just copy and paste, which takes forever, as I don't do it often enough.  I'm sure there are better ways, and one of these days, I'll come unstuck. 

[GillE]

I'm not the most computer literate of people, but my solution is to have an external HDD which I hook up to my PC every Sunday evening and then let Windows do an automatic backup.  With a 1TB HDD, I can get several backups onto it.  When the HDD is full I simply delete the oldest backups.

I've never had to restore from a backup so I don't know how successful this process is.  However, I have a tendency to cut and paste valuable documents to a different external HDD as a sort of belt-and-braces policy.

[Rik]

Get your hands on a copy of Syncback, Jo, it's free:

http://www.2brightsparks.com/welcome/backup/freeware.html?source=adwords&campaign=syncback-name-search&adgroup=syncback&ad=003&gclid=CMu_3qX-v6oCFUtA4QodMh7O5A

and does the job brilliantly. I opted to buy the program for extra flexibility, but the free version is enough for most people's needs, and easy to use.

If you want to back up the OS as well, consider buying a Clickfree 6 hard drive. Powered from a USB port (2 or 3), it will image your entire system, then back incremental backups as required. Store the drive away from the computer.

[Jo]

Thanks Rik. Does Syncback allow you to just backup new items rather than the whole lot each time? Do you think I should just uninstall all the WD software (if I can...) and use syncback instead?

[Rik]

You have a range of choices. It only backs up changed files, but you can, for example, choose not to delete files in the destination folder which you have removed from the source folder, ie it can, effectively, create an archive.

[Jo]

Ok. That sounds good. Just before I do this though can anyone let me know if I can do this with the already installed WD Smartware on the Passport. Otherwise I'll go ahead and install syncback and try to remove Smartware.

Thanks.

[Rik]

Syncback runs on the PC, Jo, so the two need not be mutually exclusive.

[sam]

yeah that's a nice program, rnapshot is great too - it uses rsync, but I have a feeling that might only be for us linux people.