You can compress the data. You should have it verify it after the backup. I keep at least one good backup a year on CDs that are kept in another room in the house. The external hard drive isn't used unless I know I'm going to do a backup. I turn on that drive then turn on the computer, or sometimes Ghost won't recognize that drive to use. After I finish for the day I turn that drive off again and keep it isolated from any transactions with the computer. The external drive is for backup, not for burglary, but having had one stolen, it can be a good idea to keep the hard drive somewhere else as long as you don't jostle it a lot and as long as you remember to regularly bring it back and make the backup.

SRS