Wizer:
Thanks to your comments, I have solved the backup problem for my Dell Latitude E6500 laptop, by buying an apparently new WD product (the box is © 2012): a “portable hard drive” called the “My Passport,” with a 500GB capacity, and dimensions of about 4.25" x 3.25" x 0.5." (There also is a 1TB version, which — based on the size of the box — is the same size as the 500GB version that I bought.)
The Passport connects to a USB 3.0 or 2.0 computer port via a single cable. That setup works _ if _ the port has the ability to power the Passport as well as send data to and from the Passport. I suspect that the Passport won’t work on my ancient Dell Latitude C800 and C840 laptops or my wife’s IBM A31 laptop. So I will continue to backup those computers to my old Apricorn external hard disks, using Apricorn’s EzGigII (very simple to use) version of ancient Acronis software.
For my new-to-me Dell Latitude E6500 laptop (which has an internal WD hard disk), the Passport so far is ideal, because the E6500 has a USB 2.0 port with extra power, Using the WD Acronis software (2009 version) that I had previously downloaded from the WD website and installed onto my E6500, I have backed up my partitions C: (System) and D: (Data) to the Passport, and have been able to restore my data partition D:. And after using that 2009 version WD Acronis software to create a Recovery CD, I can restore my system partition C:.
In short, at least so far, the Passport is ideal for me.
Roger Folsom
