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I've checked various threads, but can't seem to get a consensus. What's the "best way" to backup my PC locally. I need to do some "housekeeping" and want to secure my data (pix, docs, music) while I do it. Kinda like setting stuff out on tables, etc. while I Spring Clean the garage. I gotta have a place to put it all first. THEN, I'll decide what to keep and what to throw our I know I want an external device. Should I get a an external HD; an Iomega: a couple of big zips? The small zips (2g, 4g) and Cd's aren't big enough. (I've got a lot 'o junk ) Anyone?
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I'm of the school that says you need to separate your backups from your main system. This would imply an external hard drive. And archive your critical data permanently on a DVD-R.
The only internal backup I do is to occasionally clone my primary HDD to another HDD so that I have a backup "system" that's ready to go very quickly if needed.
Disk is a great way to stage your data in a quick fashion an it's very cheap. the USB HDDs seem to be the cheapest and quite large. The Iomega REV drives works very well too.
Once you've gotten a disk solution think about storing your data to tape as well. Another layer of protection is not a bad thing and tape is extremely portable.
I've checked various threads, but can't seem to get a consensus.
That's probably because there are a lot of options available. And, while your question appears to focus on preferences/suggestions for backup media, I'd like to suggest that there are a couple of other considerations you should also be aware of.
Backup to something other than your system drive and that includes a multiple partitioned system drive. Why? If the drive goes south, your backups go south with it.
How does one backup? Two primary choices here and I'd recommend using both. First is to make a complete image of your system drive (and data drive if you have them segregated). Second, make incremental backups of your primary data stores (docs, pics, music, videos, email, dbx, pst etc). Norton's Ghost or Acronis' True Image are among the better choices for creating Images and Karen's Replicator is probably the best program ever written for data backups.
My personal choices are to use a secondary removable internal HDD and I also use a laptop drive mounted in a USB case requiring no external power (similar to a Western Digital Passport). Being somewhat paranoid, I also keep a set of DVD's containing a bootable image from my initial setup. It takes me about 5-10 minutes to write an image to a second hard drive and I try to do this at least monthly. I run all of my Replicator jobs on an automated daily schedule.
I'm not big on using tape and I don't like pen drives for making regularly scheduled backups. That's not to diminish the utility of either, its just not my cup of tea. The important thing is to put yourself on a regular schedule re: backups. With a little advance planning, one can recover from a catastrophic drive failure in less than half an hour.
Back up device. I have a couple of DNS-323's. they have there quirks, but I like them. there might be much better now, I'm not up to date but a device than can take 2 hdds (for Raid) and hook up to a gigabit network to be shared by all your PCs, and included Media servers and had a OS that can be hacked to perform different functions would be my choice.
Images. Acronis every time, I keep my latest back up on a local drive for quick recovery and also the previous week's one on the DNS. remember to make a bootable CD containing the Acronis software =]
Belts and Braces. Carbonite. $45 yr / unlimited space. I have 200Gb in mine. took months but handy in case your house blows up and takes the NAS. Make folders for all your networked computers on the PC with carbonite installed and then redirect Docs or use a sync tool to make sure everything is backup up online.
Sync Tool. I like SyncBack SE to automate copying files and folders around networked machines on a shedule or once a pre set rule is met. there may be other software that offers similar functions.
I know I want an external device. Should I get a an external HD; an Iomega: a couple of big zips? The small zips (2g, 4g) and Cd's aren't big enough. (I've got a lot 'o junk 
