Backup entire HD or just documents and media to external HD?

[ggreer58]

I recently purchased an external HD and it came with the BounceBack software for backups.

What are the advantages of backing up my entire HD to the external drive as compared to just important documents and media files? If for instance I lost my computer, and had my entire HD backed up on it, could I connect the external to a new computer and load everything onto it?

 

[bobtomay]

edit: canceled post since I am in no way familiar with your 12" Powerbook capabilities.

 

[Macwillis]

backing up the entire hd means you can restore the whole hdd if needs be. i just backup my documents

but yes you could yes load everything onto a new computer.

 

[benjgr]

Using Bounceback software - if computer is stolen

Hello

My question is also about Bounceback, and is rather similar to ggreer58's.

I have just bought an external hard disk and have started backing up my whole hard disk to it using Bounceback. It all works very well, and I am very satisfied. But I suddenly had a thought. If my laptop is stolen, will I be able to access all my files from another computer?

The reason I ask is that I notice that when I am logged in as one user, I can't access files for another user on the external hard disk. So won't that mean that, if I plug the hard disk into another computer, I wouldn't be able to access anything, which would rather defeat the point? Or will I be able somehow to log in from there? (I have ordinary Bounceback, not the Professional version, which apparently means I can't reboot from the external hard disk).

Any advice gratefully received!

Ben