Backing Up Personal Computers

Backup on business computers is typically not the user's concern unless it's a small business. A business should have a policy in place for managing backups especially due to Sarbanes - Oxyley.

Four options for backing up:

• External hard drive
• CD-RW (CD rewriteable) drive
• Tape
• Network server

Two options for what to back up:

• Everything
• Data files (.doc, .xls, .db, .ppt, .txt, etc.)

Personally, I use an external hard drive (this is a 120 gig hard drive, they also have 20 gig, 40 gig, 60 gig, and 80 gig available. I suggest getting one that is 20 gigs bigger than your hard drive.). It saved me when my computer had to be reformatted a few months ago. Typically, the hard drive is supposed to be rebootable and load everything back exactly as it was before the crash.

Obviously, that didn't happen. It worked out for the best because some of my system files were bad. The hard drive still had my data files and programs. First, I referred to my latest copy from Belarc Advisor. This is a free program that lists all the applications on your computer. Since I don't have a CD of every program I use, this was handy.

Using this list, I reloaded all applications first starting with the most important working down to the least important. It takes time to load everything, so you won't want to reload everything in one sitting.

As soon as an application was reloaded, I copied all of its data files from the external hard drive back on the computer. I try to keep all of my data files in as minimal folders as possible. That is where My Documents, My Music, and My Photos comes in handy, but I hate those names. For the most part, I have /docs, /media (with subfolders for music and photos), /sites (for Web-related docs).

Keeping data files in as few folders as possible makes it easier to keep them organized and to find them when you need to restore data.

Programs like Norton's Ghost, AlohaBob, and NTI Backup Now are useful for creating and managing back ups.

Using a RW-CD and tape back up are also viable solutions. I prefer the external hard drive since I don't have to use an external media like a tape or CD. No sitting around and waiting for the CD or tape to fill up and inserting the next one.

Thumb drives (portable hard drives) are helpful, but typically can't hold enough if you have as much data as I do. It's great for critical data and data that you need at all times.

When buying a USB drive, make sure you have USB 2.0 not 1.1 as most the drives require 2.0.

At a minimium, back up your data files - the products of your work. Have a copy of these file somewhere other than your hard drive. Ideally, I'd like to back up my data on a network server because:

• if my house were on fire (ptpthpthpth), the files are safe on a server located somewhere else.
• if the computer goes crazy and ruins everything in its path including the back up hardware, the files are safe on a server.

However, storage is not cheap enough for personal use just yet. I am sure it's one of the future options we can expect to become a regular part of safe computing.

Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl's notes, eNewsletter Journal, and The Remediator Security Digest. She is also a PC Today columnist and a tour guide at InformIT. She is geared to tackle your editing, writing, content, and process needs. The native Texan resides in Plano, Texas, a heartbeat north of Dallas, and doesn't wear a 10-gallon hat or cowboy boots.

More Data Recovery Articles

Is Your Backup Good Enough?
As someone who has seen quite a few hard drive crashes over the years, I believe that performing a full backup of your computer's hard drive should be an important part of your weekly (if not daily) routine. There's nothing more frustrating & costly than trying to restore a computer with only a handful of Floppy disk drives, a couple of scratched CD-ROMs or poorly stored backup tapes.

Computer Data Backup - Data Backup Solution Will Give You A Peace Of Mind
Imagine that you have been working on a file for the entire day and there was a power surge that caused your computer to 'black out'. It would have been a frustrating experience for us as we had put in a lot of time and effort into it.

When Disaster Strikes: How Long Would Your Business Survive if Files On Your Computer Disappeared?
A Tornado? In Birmingham? In The United Kingdom? Unthinkable!Yes, in July 2005 (while I was putting finishing touches to my cave-house in Spain) my house, along with many of my neighbours' houses was struck by a powerful tornado that literally tore up the streets. Leaving people homeless as their homes were bulldozered (with all their possessions inside).

Data Recovery: Beginners Tips
Right now you probably in a lot of mental pain, and all you?re concerned about is recovering your data as quickly as possible - so we?ll refrain from comments on the wisdom of regular back ups. The time for preventative measures has gone - the issue at hand is data recovery.

How to Effectively Back Up Your Data
What to backup, and what to loseThe oldest ?computer expression? is that there are two kinds of computer users, those that backup their data and those that will. Often, it takes a ?data disaster? to compel otherwise responsible people to make a regular habit of backing up their data.

Its All In The Planning - Surviving Disaster
ITS ALL IN THE PLANNING - PREPARING FOR THE UNTHINKABLE* Make it clear who needs to do what, and who takes responsibility for what.* Appoint deputies for key roles.

Disaster Recovery- Managing the Risk
Helping your business survive in the event of an unforeseen disaster: Most business failures are not from bad business but from bad business practices.Most companies that fail are the ones that have not planned how their business will continue to function in the event of a disaster.

Backup Schmackup: Im Afraid, Very Afraid!
"Why should you be afraid?", I can hear you ask.I just got an email from my friend Miche who said,"My laptop is sick at the hospital.

The Importance Of Email Backup
Viruses, software failures, power failures, human errors, hard drive failures are only a few examples of what could destroy the data on a hard drive, including all documents, pictures, emails and other files!Most home computer users don't need an expensive backup solution; as they only need to burn the folders with important documents and pictures to a CD-RW from time to time; this ensuring that in case of a disaster they can easily get them back. Togeder with documents and pictures, it's a critical operation to save the emails, attachments, address book and other important data from within the email client; otherwise in case of a computer problem the user will find himself in the impossibility to get them back, and this can be a really unwanted situation especially for webmasters or people who rely on their emails.

Data Backup Solution: Why You Need a Backup Plan in Place ? Part 2
In the first part of this article series, I talked about the three main threats to the data on your computer. I talked about the need for a data backup solution that protects your data properly.