Backup

[evanbarth]

Should be simple, but not for me, how do you backup onto an external hard drive. When I try to backup, it only lets me do it on a drive / folder on my hard drive on the computer.

Thanks!

[Germaniac]

I use WinRAR (other programs like 7-Zip, etc will work as well), create a zip-file of my entire file (in the saved games folder ---> "xxx.lg") and then manually put it on my external drive.

I occasionally had problems with the in-game backup so I went that way and now I back up my files every 3 - 6 game months

[jimmysthebestcop]

I would recommend google cloud over external unless its an SSD. Externals HDD die all the time from heat. Those external cases have no ventilation or air flow or fans.

Same reason most off the shelf NAS units die no air flow drive gets choked out and dies.

You can get 120gb ssd from amazon for like $20 and 240gb ssd for around $30. a sata to usb3.0 cable is usually around $5. And you will be fine that route.

Or you just create the backup and use google drive desktop installer to keep the backup folder in sync with the cloud and never worry again.

[evanbarth]

Thanks-- is there a way to backup to that directly or does it have to first go to saved games?

[Germaniac]

Originally Posted by jimmysthebestcop

I would recommend google cloud over external unless its an SSD. Externals HDD die all the time from heat. Those external cases have no ventilation or air flow or fans.

I'm using a 2GB Hitachi external drive for 10 years now and I never had the slightest problem

[Germaniac]

Originally Posted by evanbarth

Thanks-- is there a way to backup to that directly or does it have to first go to saved games?

I'm using the method I mentioned above, but I'm pretty sure that with other methods you also first have to create your backup (if you use the in-game backup you find it under data --> saved games --> xxx.lg --> backups) and manually move it.

[jimmysthebestcop]

Originally Posted by Germaniac

I'm using a 2GB Hitachi external drive for 10 years now and I never had the slightest problem

Trust me you are in the minority. Typically if a mechanical drive gets to 3+ years it will never die. But the rate of failure on <3 years is astronomical. That's why if you look most consumer mechanicals have a 2 year warranty from the manufacturer.

So I would say you have been extremely lucky. But I don't recommend pressing you luck. Backup to ssd or cloud or 3 more mechanicals lol

Also some manufacturer's on external use custom HDD pcb inside the enclosure. Not a standard sata connection but a custom connector pcb. straight to usb.

If its a standard sata conversion you can buy an after market cable/dock/enclosure and your in business. If its the propriety connection and not a standard sata you have to find the same model enclosure and swap drives to get your data.

So multiple failure points on those externals. Lot of variables.

[NoOne]

you can chnage directory while saving by using the "up" button or maybe it's an arrow or 2 dots. keep clicking 'up' until you see letters of your connected drives.

if it does not show and it is connected, that's a hiccup. you could google to figure out how to trick os into thinking that removeable drive is not actually a removeable drive. so, all is not lost if you don't mind a registry edit or 2. plus, it's in 'greek' with the alphanumeric hardware ID's. can use device manager to deduce which it is.

it will save time by saving directly to the drive. so, it's potentially worth it, if you do have to jump through an extra hoop to get it done.

becareful, i believe ootp remembers the last save directory, so don't accidentally save something else or overwrite etc... if a button doesn't exist to return to orignal save directory (odd feeling it exists?), you'll have to traverse the directories again with the 'up' button, but re-trace steps once you get to drive letters, of course.

fwiw, mechanical drives will start to die around 25-30+k hours. the rate of failure isn't so odd at that point and continues to increase at a faster rate. you can track its health with an app that can read teh SMART diagnostics on every drive -- shows hours of use and if it's slowly replacing uncorrectable sectors you know it's on it's way out. c5/c6 errors in SMART, once the uncorrectables pile up, it'll eventually slow to ~1-2MB/s for a while before dying, or simply just die and skip that step.

i've had 3 drives age and die on me, and i haven't owned that many in my lifetime. also, only recently was it worth it to own 1 hdd for an extended period of time, because the sizes have remained in a similar range and still hold 'enough' for most purposes. even a 500gb is still useful as a 2nd or 3rd drive. those sizes have been around forever and more than fast enough to play even 4k media.. bottleneck won't be the storage device, anyway.