I am using Roxio Backup to back up to an external Maxtor 250GB drive. However, after my initial backup (I set it as Incremental Backup) it says Error Creating Layout.
As I am a self-employed computer engineer, it is important for me to back up the My Documents folder and also my Thunderbird emails.
I am using XP SP3 with 1.5GB RAM

If you can remember to do the back-ups, I find that Mozilla Back up does a great job for Thunderbird and for FF.

Sorry, I never used Roxio BackupMyPC. The new version is called BackOnTrack. If I remember correctly, BackupMyPC was a bit buggy. I use Acronis.

Perhaps one of these 4 articles might give you some information.

If the idea is to create a backup that can be read on ANY compuer, your safest bet is to use Creator Classic and create Data discs - CD or DVD. AVOID disc-spanning - which has a record of failing.

However, if the data is too big to fit on individual DVDs, then back it up to an External Hard Drive or an online backup service.

Creating a backup that requires a specific backup program can lead to unrecoverable data.

Lynn

edit: back it up to an External Hard Drive AS DATA, not as a recovery file.

Because my backup drive packed up with an I/O error, I am going to get a new one. However, when Roxio Backup has worked (which for me very rarely happens!) I set it to encrypt them. If I delete Roxio Backup, what happens to the documents?

Even though I have tried deleting the old backups, it is still telling me there is an error creating the layout. I may try not encrypting the files but I don't think that will help; the backup is littered with long file names, I say yes to Convert to short file names - I don't know if that makes any difference? That's all I do. The backup works for the first few times however.

If they're on the backup drive which went belly up - they're gone really.

You can pay to have stuff retrieved from a faulty drive - but it's pricey.

Removing the backup program? Well if you can't access the drive where they are, it doesn't really matter one way or another

First, backup programs use their own, proprietary, means to back things up. If you go looking in questions on backup programs, such as BUMP or BackOnTrack (not to mention the Retrieve function for spanned discs!!), you will find frantic posts by people who no longer have the program or are unable to access it, and are stunned to learn nothing else can access it either.

Sometimes a recovery program (cdroller, ISOBuster) can get to the files, but not always. Often the backup program will compress the files to save space - with proprietary methods

Thus, the likelihood of getting to something in a backup file is very low without the program that created it. If the files are encrypted - NOTHING will read them. That's the point of encryptation, isn't it?

Lynn

PS: Earlier, I mentioned how to make the files accessable. Depends on the relative importance to you of accessability and security.

(Edited because other thread was merged with this one)

Lynn, can you tell the OP how to get backups from a drive that went belly up?

OP said,

I take that to mean OP is asking about future use of the backup feature, rather than how to recover from a deceased drive. As to recovering from a deceased drive - it depends on if the heads are broken, or if the platters are broken. If it is just the heads that are trashed, as Daithi said, there are ways tor retrieve the data. If the platters are broken, I doubt there is much hope for the past.

But the future is yet to be written, figuratively and literally.

Lynn

Jim! Do you still have that crystal ball around somewhere? I think I've found a customer.

Lyn,
What brings you up to the EMC 8 forums? I thought you uninstalled 6 and went back to ECDC 5?

Oh, btw, It's called encryption, not encryptation.

Oh my Yes!!!

I should use this guy as my Screen Saver
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I have this one too if you need to be suduced

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