I always hear about backing up your system. I don't have a lot of things to
back up. However, I would like to know if there is an automatic way of
backing up files. If not, what is the best way to do a back up?
Here's my standard post on backup:
First of all, almost everyone should be backing up regularly. It is
always possible that a hard drive crash, user error, nearby lightning
strike, virus attack, even theft of the computer, can cause the loss
of everything on your drive. As has often been said, it's not a matter
of whether you will have such a problem, but when.
Essentially you should back up what you can't afford to lose--what you
can't readily recreate. What that is depends on how you use your
computer and what you use it for.
It takes time and effort to backup, but it also takes time and effort
to recreate lost data. If you back up daily, you should never have to
recreate more than one day's worth of last data. If weekly, there's
potentially a lot more to recreate. You should assess how much pain
and trouble you would have if you lost x days of data, and then choose
a backup frequency that doesn't involve more pain and trouble than
that you would have if you had to recreate what was lost.
Some things (photographs, for instance) can never be recreated, and
more frequent backup may be wanted for them.
At one extreme is the professional user who would likely go out of
business if his data was lost. He probably needs to back up at least
daily. At the other extreme is the kid who doesn't use his computer
except to play games. He probably needs no backup at all, since worst
case he can easily reinstall his games.
Most of us fall somewhere between those extremes, but nobody can tell
you where you fall; you need to determine that for yourself.
Should you back up Windows? Should you back up your applications? Most
people will tell you no, since you can always reinstall these easily
from the original media. But I don't think the answer is so clear-cut.
Many people have substantial time and effort invested in customizing
Windows and configuring their apps to work the way they want to.
Putting all of that back the way it was can be a difficult,
time-consuming effort. Whether you should backup up Windows and apps
depends, once again, on you.
How to backup? What software to use? There are many choices, including
the Windows-supplied backup program. Which choice is best for you
depends at least in part on the answers to some of the questions
above.
Finally what backup media should you choose, and how should it be
stored? There are many choices, including CDs, tape, zip drives, and
second hard drives.
I don't recommend backup to a second non-removable hard drive because
it leaves you susceptible to simultaneous loss of the original and
backup to many of the most common dangers: severe power glitches,
nearby lightning strikes, virus attacks, even theft of the computer.
In my view, secure backup needs to be on removable media, and not kept
in the computer. For really secure backup (needed, for example, if the
life of your business depends on your data) you should have multiple
generations of backup, and at least one of those generations should be
stored off-site.
My computer isn't used for business, but my personal backup scheme
uses two identical removable hard drives,I alternate between the two,
and use Acronis True Image to make a complete copy of the primary
drive.
I also use a pair of 1GB thumb drives for making more frequent backups
of my most critical data (like financial information). For that I just
drag and drop.
