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Thread ID: 25246 2002-09-29 11:43:00 FAQ #7 How do I backup my important files – which files should I back up? Susan B (19) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
84464 2002-09-29 11:43:00 BACKING UP YOUR DATA

Backing up your data is essential if you have documents, files or programs that you do not wish to lose should something happen to your computer . "Something" can include:

* a hard drive crash and/or failure
* accidentally deleting the wrong files or folders
* a virus wiping out your files or folders
* the computer being stolen
* a lightning strike or power outage frying the PC
* floods, fire, etc etc .

If you have files and programs on your computer that are important to you, it is very wise to back them up .


1 . WHAT TO BACKUP

* My Documents folder - files created by yourself including word processed documents, spreadsheets, databases, etc .
* Your emails - if using Outlook Express go to File>Export>Messages . It is also a good idea to search for the * . dbx folders and copy those to your backup media .
* Your address book - if using Outlook Express go to File>Export>Address Book . It is also a good idea to search for the * . wab folder and copy to your backup media .
* Your favorites or bookmarks for the internet - do a search for Favorites (it will be the Shell Favorite Folder), usually held in the Windows folder . Netscape equivalents will be held in Program Files>NetscapeUsers .
* Cookies (which may hold passwords) - do a search for Cookies, usually held in the Windows folder
* The installation files for those neat programs that you downloaded from the internet (consider saving them to a separate dedicated disk or with your patches, drivers, updates, etc) .
* Game and program patches, drivers and updates downloaded and saved (consider saving them to a separate dedicated disk or with your downloaded programs) .
* Your templates, macros, customised program settings (eg Word's Normal . dot and Excel's * . xlt files), etc .
* Registry settings in case your registry becomes badly corrupted - see the Registry FAQ for details on backing up the registry .
* Saved ICQ contacts, conversations, etc - look in ICQ's help for information on where these are stored .
* Anything else important to you and not easily replaced .

Programs already installed do not get backed up . If your hard drive fails programs will need to be reinstalled from their disks or from the installation files that you downloaded from the internet . If you have a CD writer the installation disks may be copied separately to CDs in case the original disks suffer damage and cannot be used .


2 . KEEPING IT SIMPLE

If your backup routine is not kept simple you will be less inclined to bother with it . Investing time in organising your hard drive in the first place will pay dividends later .

* Keep your files organised within folders in My Documents .
* Consider moving your Favorites folder to My Documents .
* Consider moving your Outlook Express (or other email) message store to My Documents - create a new folder "Outlook Express" in My Documents, open the Outlook Express program, go to Tools>Options>Maintenance>Store Folder>Change and locate the new folder in My Documents . Click OK all the way out .
* Make sure your word processor/spreadsheet/database program saves your files into My Documents by default if it doesn't already .


3 . MEDIA TO BACKUP TO

CD-R and CD-RW disks
For most home computer users backing up to CD-R and/or CD-RW disks with a CD writer is probably the quickest and most reliable method . CD writers are far more affordable than in the past and are a good investment for new and not so new machines and CD-R disks are now very cheap compared to in the past .

CD-R disks can only be written to once - when the disk is full it cannot have any more data added . CD-RW disks can be written to many times over, just like a floppy disk, and is very suitable for data backups . For music files CD-RW disks can usually only be played on the CD writer or on some of the latest CD players . For this reason music files are better transferred to CD-R disks .

Floppy and Zip Disks
If you have no CD writer then floppy disks would be better than nothing but they hold very little and you will need a lot of them . They are also prone to failure and have a limited life span .

A Zip drive is an option for those who cannot install a CD writer - they are more reliable than floppies and hold much more, but still nowhere near as much as CDs which are much cheaper .

Second Hard Drive
Another option to consider is installing a second hard drive . This is a viable option in case the primary hard drive fails but if you do not also backup to external media such as CDs then it will not be of much use if your computer gets stolen or in some other disaster .


4 . HOW TO BACKUP

With your files neatly organised on your hard drive all you need to do is copy the My Documents folder and the small number of other data files located elsewhere to your backup media . Of course, with humongous hard drives these days not everything will fit on one floppy, zip disk or CD so some organisation will be required . If you have My Documents well organised this will not be a problem . Your music files will be backedup/transferred to CD-R disks as required so do not include them in this routine .

CD-R and CD-RW disks
For CD writers that come with Nero, you can use the included InCD program to write to CD-RW disks or use the Nero Wizard to write to CD-R disks . Nero does not compress files so if you wish to do this you will need to use a compression utility such as WinZip to do this before running the Nero or InCd programs .

To backup to CD-R disks with Nero run the program's Wizard and choose "Compile a new CD">Data CD>"Compile a new data-CD"(for a new disk) . After pressing Finish you will have the opportunity to drag and drop your files from My Documents until the disk is full before "burning" the files to the CD . If you wish to create a multi-session disk you need to choose the "Continue an existing data-CD" option from the menu .

If you have Nero/InCD installed in your Startup folder it will run when you insert a CD-RW disk in the CD writer . A new disk will need to be formatted before use and InCD will not let you use the disk until this is done . It usually takes around 20 minutes depending on your writer's speed . Once this is done you are able to drag and drop, copy and delete your files from hard drive to CD within Windows Explorer just like using a floppy disk . Do note that CD-RW disks appear to be unreadable in CD-ROM drives and in some other writers different to the brand used to record the CD . For this reason, if your entire computer is destroyed or stolen do not rely on CD-RW disks to restore your data to another machine . If your data is important, back it up to CD-R disks .

Floppy and Zip Disks
Compressing your files with a compression utility such as WinZip will enable you to fit more onto the floppy and then you just need to drag and drop from your hard drive to the floppy disk .

Zip drives come with their own easy to use backup program which includes a compression utility .

Backup Programs
There are lots of dedicated backup programs available available on the internet, many of them shareware so that you can try them out to see if you like them before purchasing . See below for the link to some backup utilities . With backup software, once you select your data's location and choose its destination, backing up can be done automatically with the click of a button . Do a search for "backup software" in a search engine .

Windows also comes with its own Backup tool but I personally do not favour this as I have read files can sometimes be unrestorable . If you wish to use this utility read its Help files for more information . Microsoft Backup is not installed automatically with Windows ME or XP . It needs to be extracted from the CD . More information on this is available from these links:
Install Backup from the CD-ROM in Windows XP Home Edition: . microsoft . com/default . aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q302894" target="_blank">support . microsoft . com and
Microsoft Backup Tool Is Not Installed by Windows Millennium Edition: . microsoft . com/default . aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q264541 . " target="_blank">support . microsoft . com Thanks to Jen C for this info .


5 . WHEN TO BACKUP

Make a backup schedule based on how often you alter files . If you constantly update work or make major changes to your files or system settings, you may want to back up your system every day, every other day, or once a week . If you don't use your computer often or if your files don't change significantly from day to day, you can afford to go longer between backups .

It is also very wise to backup your data before installing new programs or adding/changing hardware on your machine .

Backup routines usually go in a circle:

1) A full backup which includes all your data files should be done fairly regulary depending on how often you alter files .

2) Subsequent incremental backups include just the files that have been added or altered since the full backup to CD-RW, floppy or zip disks .

3) The full backup is performed again after the last incremental backup, but using a new set of disks .

4) Subsequent incremental backups are performed again using the disks from #3 .

5) The full backup is performed again after the last incremental backup, but using the set of disks from #1 . And so on .

For manual incremental backups you are able to use Windows Find to locate files that have been added or altered since the last backup .

For files such as Cookies, normal . dot, etc you are able to type such a list into the Find search box and save the results to use again next time . Just type in the files' names separated with a comma (no spaces) for a one-hit search and drag the results to your CD-R or CD-RW disk .


6 . RESTORING YOUR DATA

If you have backed up your data manually as detailed above, restoring it is just a matter of reversing the process, whereby you now look through the list of backed up files for the one you want and choose its destination on your hard drive . It is just as simple restoring just one or two files as it is an entire backup .

One point worth mentioning is that files copying back to the hard drive from CDs may now have the Read Only attribute which means that documents are unable to have data added to them . To remove the read only attribute just right click on the file in Windows Explorer, choose Properties and remove the tick from Read Only . If you have many file to convert right click on the folder containing them instead of each file and follow the above procedure .

To restore data using a backup program most backup software walks you through moving a file from the backup device back to your hard drive, or, in many cases, you can do it manually by dragging and dropping files back to your hard drive .


7 . BACKUP TIPS

* No matter which backup strategy you finally pick, just do it . Backing up your data is essential . You may think a disaster won't strike, but a virus, a major crash, or even a power outage can wipe your hard disk and your data will be gone forever .

* Test the restore process for your backups . Most backup software walks you through moving a file from the backup device back to your hard drive, or, in many cases, you can do it manually by dragging and dropping files . This is the backup process in reverse, only now you look through the list of backed up files for the one you want and choose its destination on your hard drive . Don't wait until your original data has been destroyed to find out you can't restore your backups .

* Have at least two backups of your data and store one set off-site in case of burglary, fire, flood, etc .

* Ghost: People who install and uninstall programs often or like to fiddle with their computers may wish to backup their entire computer as an image, or "Ghost" it for quick and easy restoration when things get very messy . Nero provides this option but unless you have a reasonably small hard drive or partition you will need a lot of CDs to be able to do this . An alternative is to use a program such as Ghost to create the image to a second hard drive or partition .


8 . OTHER READING

* This thread ( . co . nz/thread . jsp?forum=1&thread=25353&message=88043" target="_blank">pressf1 . co . nz) contains some ideas of other people's backup routines .

Good links on the PC World site: submitted by Graham Petrie

* Data Saviours ( . pcworld . co . nz/PCWorld/PCW . nsf/UNID/5EABB8204F2ECC83CC256C2200161260?OpenDocument" target="_blank">www . pcworld . co . nz) - an article from August 2002 PC World reviewing various backup devices .

* Backup Utilities ( . pcworld . co . nz/PCWorld/pcw . nsf/UNID/98564573D6B0AAFFCC256B180000BC14?OpenDocument" target="_blank">www . pcworld . co . nz)

* Hassle-Free Backups ( . pcworld . co . nz/pcworld/pcw . nsf/UNID/09119A2852D481ACCC25698F0001F3F7?OpenDocument" target="_blank">www . pcworld . co . nz) . This is an excellent resource although prices and PC specs are a little dated .

* Tools for Trouble Free Computing ( . pcworld . co . nz/PCWorld/PCW . nsf/ArchiveDate/06C92F1CF40CCF18CC256BC6007BDF25?OpenDocument" target="_blank">www . pcworld . co . nz) Not entirely backup related but useful nevertheless .

* Brainless Backups for Win 9x ( . pcworld . co . nz/PCWorld/tipworld . nsf/UNID/D9DFB27C942BFCD2CC25699000022F3C?OpenDocument" target="_blank">www . pcworld . co . nz)

* Brainless Backups for Win2000/NT ( . pcworld . co . nz/PCWorld/tipworld . nsf/UNID/C83B8A2D1D6BF1C8CC2569A600734B33?OpenDocument" target="_blank">www . pcworld . co . nz) 		Susan B (19)
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