Hi Ed,
        The danger of using a hard drive for backup is the same as the danger
of using an internal tape backup: If the motherboard hard disk
controller goes bad, to which either is normally connected, and
scrambles your main hard drive(s), you may well find that the data on
your backup is likewise scrambled.  Unfortunately, when the motherboard
hard disk controller goes bad, it may not be immediately obvious.
        Yes, thoroughly and immediately testing the backup is fine in theory,
but it's quite time-consuming.
        My preference is for a slower external Parallel Port tape drive, but I
would think one would have similar safety with a separate (not built
into the motherboard) IDE Controller Card if one wanted to use a hard
disk or internal tape drive for backup.
        An advantage of tape backups is that, having at least two fairly
current complete backups, you don't have all your eggs in one proverbial
basket.

                                        Terry L. Clark
                                        [log in to unmask]
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Ed Thomasson wrote:
> Since hard drives are so cheap, why aren't more people using them for
> back-ups?

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