[XPC465]

Hello to you all,
As a new poster to this forum, may I take the opportunity of wishing all members all the best.
I would like some expert advice on the following situation:-

I have a computer system running Windows XP Pro.
I have a SATA 11 internal hard drive, which I use all the time, for the purposes of running the system.
I have then another EXTERNAL SATA11 hard drive, enclosed in a caddy, and connected to my system via USB 2, which is a complete clone of my INTERNAL drive on my system.
This is in case, my original INTERNAL hard drive becomes corrupt, and I have to use the EXTERNAL hard drive, as my system hard drive. This has happened twice in the last few years. Now comes the part on which I need advice:-

At the end of each day, I need to transfer all updated data, in My Documents file, from my INTERNAL hard drive, which I have updated at the time, to the EXTERNAL hard drive, so that the EXTERNAL hard drive remains to be up to date, with the INTERNAL hard drive, should I need to use it.

WHAT is the best and EASIEST way to transfer this data update over, at the end of each day. My last attempt was by using some free ALLWIL or ALLWYN backup software, downloaded from the net, but I was not impressed with this, as it was rather complicated, and put numerous NEW icons on both my hard drives, causing confusion.
Many, Many thanks for all advice given.

[philthomas]

Check out Acronis True Image, this will allow you to take a complete image of your HDD each day and provides a Restore function (Boot disk) in the event of HDD failure.

Depending on how vital the data is, you could also consider a seperate tower and set this up as a Server. This will obviously cost more and take a bit of time to set up, but will provide a more reliable solution.