How Can I Backup 30 GB of Data for my New OS?

[backtothefuture]

Hey everybody,

I have about 30gb worth of data on my Windows XP Home machine that I want to somehow back up, because I'm about to reformat it clean and install Windows XP Pro on it.

I was thinking about partioning some space on my HDD and putting it there while I reformat and install the new OS, but I don't have a clue on how to do that.

Could anyone refer me to any websites and/or guides that could help me out? I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,
bttf

 

[pink_floyd1]

most of that is programs and OS files ... you only need to back up the documents and settings folder ... what size is that?

if you back it all up the programs wont work (they need to be reinstalled) and the os data is usless having twice

 

[backtothefuture]

The 30 GB of data is my personal data. Yes... I have alot, heh.

 

[mr.monger]

if you partition things, it will formatt it and destroy your data.

 

[Tommy Boy]

do you have another hard drive laying around somewhere? you could put that in as a slave and put your data on that while you reformat. or if you have a dvd burner you can use a whole bunch of dvd's. I just backed up 27.5 gb of music on 7 dvd's and with a 16x dvd burner it only took me about 6-7 minutes a dvd to burn so it wasn't that bad. and if you do that, you'll have a permanent backup of all your stuff. you should be doing backups like that regularly anyway in case something happens to your computer.

 

[mammikoura]

I always use an external hdd. But if u can't borrow one from anywhere and won't have any use for it exept when formatting then I'd just burn them to dvds instead of spending more money on the external hdd.

 

[TRDCorolla1]

The external hard drive is the easiest and quickest way to back up the data, especially when it's 30gigs worth of stuff. It's a great investment.

 

[pink_floyd1]

yes try dvds .... or if you have no burner a spare/external hdd ... worst comes to worst burn to cds (like 100)