Introduction
Despite having backup software for Windows (Windows 2000 and Windows XP), I don't use them as they slow down my Windows computers, so instead I do my backup copying manually once in a while. I wanted to know an approximate time to copy my main hard disk (external USB disk) to another one. I compared copying with a Windows PC and with a Mac PC. I only have a few password protected files, so I don't need to use NTFS or extended filesystem (ext3, ext4, etc.) for encryption. Also, I tend to use my files with Windows, Mac and Linux, so they all need to be able to access the hard disk contents.
Problem 1: I tried to copy files and directories in Windows 7 Safe Mode, but in Safe Mode my Windows 7 Ultimate switches off my monitor. The unintentional monitor turning off problem seemed to be common at least from November 2010 to January 2011 with Windows 7 according to blogs and forums.
Problem 2: I tried to copy files and directories with Mac OS X 10.6.6, but couldn't finish copying all the files. Instead, I saw this message: "The operation can't be completed because an item with the name "Omat" already exists."
Copy 144 GB of Miscellaneous Data
- time: approximately 3 hours
- operating system: Windows 7 Ultimate
- from: LaCie 250 GB
- to: LaCie 2 TB
- USB: 2.0
- file system: FAT32
- energy saving: turned off
- network cable: plugged off
- antivirus program: turned off
- UPS with battery backup: used for PC and both hard disks during copying
- January 25, 2011
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