Backup, SyncToy, USB stick.

[Yami]

I discovered recently that my Gramps has been doing things for the past few years like writing his novel and inputting genealogy records, without backing any of them up, except for once to DVD last year when I did it for him.

I plan to get him a USB stick, say 8GB, and set SyncToy to sync-backup his stuff every day. My question is, are there any problems with leaving the USB stick in all the time? Or would getting him an external hard drive be a better idea (or an extra internal drive).
He only needs to back up slightly less than 2GB at the moment.

His hard drive is at least 5 years old, so it's slowly becoming more of an issue.

 

[carnageX]

Should be fine. We did this for a while with our inventory data on our server at work.

 

[Yami]

Ok, thanks

 

[KSoD]

Just be careful, remember USB Thumb Drive have only a set amount of read/write cycles to them. You might be better off making sure that the device is removed or get a External Hard Drive. Who knows if the USB Thumb Drive might get corrupted if the system BSoD's.

 

[Abstract Hero]

Ya see I used a flash as a permanent emergency file drive and left it plugged in but as time went on it started failing bad so I would recommend removing it or getting an external like mak suggested

 

[BestComputerGeek]

A USB should work but I would think about even replacing that every so often. Either that or getting a second hard drive.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Just grab a 3.5" enclosure and stick in any hdd you have spare. It should cost you less than 40 bucks all up (providing you've already got an old hdd laying around, which you SHOULD!) and it'll be a much better/safer solution than a USB stick.

 

[Yami]

(providing you've already got an old hdd laying around, which you SHOULD!)

Sorry I do at home, but being on holiday 600+ miles from home makes getting it a bit hard.

Since you all seem to think that the USB option wouldn't last as long as it needs to, I think I'll try and go the hard drive route; though any drive I get him will be faster and larger than his current one (which is a 120GB IDE that grinds like a pro skateboarder). So I'm really just replacing his drive.

Any foreseeable problems cloning an OS from an IDE drive to a SATA one?

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Sorry I do at home, but being on holiday 600+ miles from home makes getting it a bit hard.

YOU DIDN'T PACK A SPARE?! OMG!

 

[Yami]

I'm sorry! Please forgive me T_T