I'm not sure how you set up your backup drive, but mine only backs up files periodically according to a schedule. The schedule I chose was to backup at 3am when I'm not using it. In my experience, when the backup drive is copying files from the main hard drive, the main drive might respond a tad slower. However, being on the Internet and surfing to things like Facebook shouldn't really be affected unless you are trying to upload pictures, etc., while the backup is running, especially since it sounds like you have a newer computer with probably adequate RAM. You may coincidentally have something else going on.

Thanks, I have a PNY, which was cheap and has worked well - so far. I now keep it on my key-ring because I lose them otherwise. I do medical work at an office and I zap my data and take it home to work on it at night on my home machine. I worry how much abuse these drives can handle. A key-ring gets knocked around and dropped. I just wondered if some were tougher than others. Owbist, that's a bargain and I'll get a few. Mine is a 1 gig and I paid more than that. Thanks all, Jane

On my old version of Quicken Just open Quicken and click on File > Restore Backup File and navigate to the thumb drive.

A 1 gig drive is awfully small to use as a backup device. There are 4 gig thumb drives available for $10-15 that will store more without using electricity. If you're going to use an old drive for backup, it's probably already formatted, but you may want to do a quick format to clear it off. It doesn't need an OS on it.