Solved How do u make sure the person working on your PC can't access ur files

[Lady Fitzgerald]

That might be easier, but then I would have to plug my external drive in every time I want to access my data. I'd rather have a second hard drive like they mentioned because then I could leave it attached to the computer when it's not in the shop getting worked on. Besides, if you stored all your data on an external hard drive how would you back up your external hard drive?

You made some valid points. Since you are inexperienced with working on computers (nothing to be ashamed of, we all were there once), the easiest route would be a variation of what our friendly, neighbor bear suggested.

Get a second external drive and copy all your data to it (also make sure your backup drive is up to date), then delete the data from the computer before taking it into the shop. Ask the shop if they can install a second HDD in your computer (if not, ask them to make a separate data partition on the one drive).

When you get the computer back, copy your data onto the new drive (or the old drive if the shop couldn't install a second drive). Keep one of the external drives at home for your onsite backup. Keep the second external drive somewhere offsite, such as at a trusted friend's or relative's home, in a locked locker or desk drawer at school or work, or in a safe deposit box at a financial institution. Swap out the two drives as often as possible to keep the offsite backup as up to date as possible.

 

[kuurt]

Seems like it would be easier to install a second hard drive myself. Then I wouldn't have spend money on external hard drives or taking the computer to the shop. I wouldn't say I'm completely inexperienced working on computers. I have installed memory cards, a sound card, a video card, a hard drive, and a disk drive. It can't be that hard, can it? Was I right about how to do it in #18?

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

If you feel comfortable doing it, got for it! Check out these links:

SATA Hard Drive - How to Install and Setup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2kcJH8ASN8

I still recommend getting a second external HDD so you can have both onsite and offsite backups. Several reasons for that include:

1. Theft or disaster, such as a house fire, could cause you to lose both your computer and your onsite backup. With an offsite backup, you will be able to recover most of your data.

2. Any drive, including backup drives irrecoverably fail without warning. Having a second backup drive gives you another layer of protection.

3. User error could corrupt both your computer's data drive and your backup to get wiped out (don't ask how I know that ). Having that second backup can save your bacon data.

 

[kuurt]

Thanks a lot everybody. Now that I know all of my options, I guess I can mark this as solved.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Thanks a lot everybody. Now that I know all of my options, I guess I can mark this as solved.

No worries. We'll send you a bill at the end of the month.

 

[Layback Bear]

Another thing to remember.

If a drive is hooked to your computer in any fashion it is susceptible to ransomware.
If one gets a ransomware attack and it encrypts your system and backup you got huge problems. If your back ups are in a safe place you could be up and running in a short time.

Jack

 

[mrjimphelps]

Is that what you guys are talking about when you say "data drive", a second hard drive? I assumed they meant a zip drive that you plug into a usb port, no?

Your data drive is indeed a separate drive from your main drive. In my view, the best way to do this is with a second internal drive, either a hard drive or an SSD. You could use an external USB drive or a big flash drive as your data drive if you wanted to; but there could be problems with this approach:

• An internal drive is "permanently" installed. It isn't designed to be removed, but rather mounted permanently in the case. (You can remove it if you want to, but it takes work to do so; it is tucked away inside the case, rather than being outside the case, making it harder to remove.) If you remove your data drive, and you have told Windows that that is the data drive, Windows might not know where to store your data.
• An internal drive will always have the same drive letter assigned, whereas an external drive might not. This can cause issues for Windows when it tries to find the data drive, if you have designated that drive as your data drive in Windows.

mrjimphelps, if your data drive is in your main computer, how is it shared with your other computers?

You make the drive "shareable" in Windows on the computer that the drive is installed in; doing this makes the drive visible to all other computers on your network. Then you go to each of the other computers and map a drive to the data drive. They are able to do this, because they can "see" the drive. If you open File Explorer and look in the left panel, you will see a listing called "Network" or something like that. Click on that, and you will see the computer with the shared drive listed. Drill down on that listing and you will find the shared drive. You can either access it that way each time, or you can map a drive to it on the computer to make it easy to get to.

I have Linux on my computer that has the shared data drive; so I run a program called Samba, which allows me to make the drive shareable or visible on the network. Windows has that functionality built in, so you don't need to run Samba or any other program if your data drive is on a Windows computer. And you don't have to install anything on the other computers in order for them to be able to access the shared data drive.

It is really handy having one shared data drive for all of my computers. Everything is stored on that drive, in that one place, rather than spread around on all of the different computers. And I can use any computer to work on any document or look at any picture, because all of the computers can access the shared data drive. And as I said earlier, if I back up the shared data drive, every computer's data is backed up, because it's all on that one drive.

How difficult is it to install a second hard drive as a data drive? I have installed a hard drive before when my last one failed me, but I'm not sure how to connect two of them. I'm assuming each hard drive needs it's own cable to connect to the power supply? And each hard drive needs it's own cable to connect to the mother board? I'm assuming there are places on the power supply and mother board for these second cables?

It is easy to install a second hard drive. You'll need a separate data cable; but you likely have a power cable already available -- your computer's power supply will have several SATA power connections available. And if they are all in use by other devices, you can get a SATA y-adapter to add an additional SATA power connector.

If you stored all your data on an external hard drive how would you back up your external hard drive?

When you run your backup software, it will see all of the drives, including the external ones. You would simply select the drive you want to back up, which can be an external drive.