Skyrocketing storage capacity of computers makes backing up difficult. Saving individual files is fine, just copy important stuff to disk. Burn CDs and frisbee them (gently) towards your fireproof safe.
Ninety percent of the time, swell. But the other ten percent is critical. If you perform certain upgrades or need to reload your computer, get the aspirin ready: You’re about to have a major headache. Backups of important files are great, but what about reloading Windows? What about driver files (programs telling Windows, for example, how to use the printer)? What about email, customizations you’ve made to the PC, and programs and games?
Some computers come with “system restoration CDs”, or “recovery partitions”. These will restore your computer as it was on the day you got it, and is only halfway to a full recovery.
CDs and DVDs don’t hold enough. A computer storing 150 gigabytes of information would need 200 CDs or 30 DVDs to make a single backup. A specialized solution like tape backup is great, but the price tag bruises your wallet worse than movie-theater popcorn.
Get an “external USB hard drive“. In non-geeky language, this is just a box plugged in to your PC. Your PC runs software to back up all data to the box. If you need to reload your system, recovery is much easier. You can restore your PC from the box, and this means everything: Windows, programs, games, your email, all will be backed up and can be restored individually or all at once.
“External” means it’s plugged in to your PC. “USB” means the unit plugs in to your computer’s USB port. A “hard drive” is the thing inside your PC holding all information. This one just sits outside, connected by a USB cable.
Before buying external USB hard drives, know what size you need. In Windows, open “My Computer“, right click to access the “Properties” of each drive, and add up “Capacity” values (measured in GB). The external drive you purchase should be near this amount. Expect to pay around $150 for 100GB of storage.
A popular brand of external USB hard drives, and one I particularly like, is “Maxtor OneTouch“. They’re easy to set up, have a button on the front you can use for manual backups, and come with excellent home PC backup software. The software is “Dantz Retrospect Express“.
Install Retrospect Express, tell it what you want to back up (everything), how often (daily at 10pm), and where you want those backups saved (to the external drive, which will appear as another drive letter within Windows). Then to quote Emeril Lagasse: Bam! You’re done.
Also use your external drive as an “information moving van”. You’ve got hundreds of digital pictures to show off while visiting Aunt Jackie and Uncle Chan. Instead of printing everything out or burning multiple CDs, save all pictures on the external hard drive, and plug it in to most any PC. Sharing and saving just became seriously simple.
Sue asks a question:
I have just purchased an external Hard Disk Drive and am busy backing up files / pictures. Would you suggest that I need a backup of the i386? What other folders, other than my personal ones, would you suggest backing up?
If you’re backing up to an external hard drive, then you probably have enough space on it to back up EVERYTHING on your computer. This is what I recommend you do. i386 folder, your critical documents, program files and all.If you have the Retrospect Express software (mentioned above), it will allow you to do this, with a cool option: It will initially back up everything on your PC, and for all future backups, will save only the things that have changed since the last time. (This is called an “incremental backup.”) To do this, tell Retrospect Express to perform a full comprehensive system backup, every day.
This will allow you to restore and recover your full system in case of emergencies, as well as making sure your critical documents are also backed up often.
I was a bit surprised that you suggested backing up all of the programmes and the operating system.. Can these be just transferred back to a hard drive from an external hard drive, without re-installing them? I thought that the operating system would have to be re-run from a Windows original disk.
Yes, and yes. :)
If you do need to recover your system or reload Windows, and have a full system backup, here’s what you do:
1) Reinstall Windows. You don’t, however, need to reinstall any programs. Just get windows running enough so that you can connect the external hard drive.
2) Install the external hard drive backup software.
3) Using the backup software, perform a full system recovery. This will load all of your important files, and well as reinstall all the programs you had on the machine before. No program reloading necessary.
I don’t have the Retrospect Express backup programme. I have Microsoft SyncToy installed at present, but will look into the Retrospect Programme.
By the way, I’d be careful with this if it’s your sole means of backup. Synchronizing files between computers is a very handy and often required tool, but it’s not a replacement for a backup. I’ve had clients lose some very important data because they thought the SyncToy could double as a backup replacement.