I think you are making a semantic mistake. Any copy of your data (in whatever format) that you are storing somewhere else, that would allow you to reconstruct your data in the event of loss of your primary computer (including everything from a HD crash to theft to your home burning down) is a type of backup. Even paper printouts can be backups. Gary Templeman "Helen Castle" <helenlcastle@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message news:47adbc3e$0$12542$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au... > Does you computer recognise that there is a drive attached when you plug > it in? > > If it does press F1 when at the desktop, do a search on backup and read > how to use Windows backup to backup to the drive > > But frankly I have never backed anything up in 19 years of using > computers - I keep a copy of everything important in the native format > that it was created in and then in an exported format of some sort plus a > lot of my important stuff is on websites - so that if I have to I can > recreate my files all over again very easily - backups only work while you > have the program that you used to backup. > > I generally have a major rebuild every 2 years, with minor reformats in > between and I have never lost anything important - sometimes I forget > minor stuff that doesnt matter but I have had some files since Windows 3.1 > and they are still readable. If the had been backed up files I wouldnt be > able to access them by now. > > If you copy stuff you can compress into a zip file - right click, sent to > zip (compressed) file. copy to Maxtor. > > Or use Windows Explorer to copy and paste to the Maxtor drive. > > -- > Helen Castle > Narangba