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Depending on the type of work that you do on your computer, whether you have a home office, or just a personal computer, the data can be priceless. From digital pictures of cherished family events to years of financial records, you could lose everything with just one hard drive failure. Sure, it'll be relatively inexpensive to replace the hard drive, but how will you replace the data that you've lost?
In fact, backing up the data on your computer is something that you should start immediately. After all, a power surge or failure could happen at any time, and this is a good way to be prepared. When you consider that 22 billion dollars will be lost due to data failure each year, having a good, solid backup seems like a good idea. Businesses that suffer severe data loss usually go out of business within the next year – up to 70% of them!
Besides immediately, when should you back up your data? The answer is “as often as is necessary.” If you add or update a lot of data every day, then you should probably be making a small backup of that information at the end of the day, and then doing a major backup at the end of the week.
If you have a small personal computer and you do not do very much each day, then your backup schedule does not have to be as strenuous. In that case, you may only need to back up the entire computer once a month, though you should always make sure that you have an extra copy of any new files when you add them to your computer.
What types of backup materials are best for you? This depends on how large your system is, and what you intend on backing up. CD-Rs can be good for short-term, or for backing up smaller files. These are very inexpensive discs, and you can fit 700MB of data on each one. However, if you are going to be backing up larger files, then you should look into another method. DVD+R and DVD-R discs are good for backing up files up to 4.7 GB. You can also use DVDs for backups that are up to about 8GB if they are dual-layer and you have a dual-layer DVD writer.
Another popular option includes external hard drives. The benefit of these is that they are relatively quick to write to, and can be up to 500GB in size and are highly portable and efficient as a means of data storage.
Finally, you can also back up your data online if you have a high speed internet connection and can afford to purchase an online data backup service.
Depending on the type of backup you're going to make, you may need backup software. This software is designed to back up everything that you need backed up and is the ideal way to make a full system backup. Just make sure that you are close enough to switch out discs if you are saving your data to CDs or DVDs!
Do not wait until it is too late! It is very easy to save your data. Making CD or DVD backups of your most important data can be done for a few dollars and in a few minutes. This is definitely a good time investment!
"Your backup is as important as your data and your time?because that's what it's going to cost you if you lose it," says Cheryl Frogley-Rawson, an IT consultant with Helpin' Out, a computer support company for small businesses and individuals. "Even if you have hard copies, it's going to cost you time to enter the information again."
?Back up regularly, back up often. It is important that you get into the habit of backing up your files on a regular basis. Just having things stored on your hard drive is not enough. A computer crash, a virus, or a hard drive failure can wipe out everything. Don't make this simple mistake! Back up everything at least once a week. Daily is better. If you use your computer daily, it is best to back up important files daily and other data weekly. At the absolute minimum, back up your files monthly.
?Keep several backup copies. Never back up over a prior backup copy - keep several copies over time so that you can back up more than one version if necessary. Remember, a problem that is backed up will remain a problem when restored!
?Be selective. You don't have to do a total system backup. In fact, why waste your time backing up all those executable program files when you can easily re-install them from the original media in case of a problem. Just back up your important files. Backing up the entire hard drive is time-consuming, not practical, and should not be done. A backup of specific data files is the way to go.
?Know what's really important. The most important things to copy are files you create yourself. Be they text documents, e-mail messages, pictures, or game saves, if you made them, be sure to keep their current backup handy. Beyond that, it's helpful to back up the configuration settings for any programs you use, along with critical Windows data such as the registry.
?Organize your folders. Backing up is easy if you set your folder structure properly. It's faster and easier to back up if all your files and subfolders are in a single folder, rather than having your documents scattered across the hard drive. The My Documents folder is a good place to store files on any Windows computer. When all your personal files are in one place you are less likely to forget a file when you back up. Organization can be the key.
?Use backup software to automate your everyday backup tasks. You don't have to copy your files manually. You can accidentally omit something, or simply make a mistake. A decent backup program creates the backup of your data reliably and automatically, and it will notify you in case of any problem, and will log the backup activity in detail. In addition, there are a lot more useful features, all usually for a very low price.
Willson Peterson is computer expert and network engineer. He is the author of
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Copyright 2005 Willson Peterson. This article may be reprinted if the resource box is left intact.