-=PCTechTalk=- Back ups - They're not just for breakfast anymore.

Just how much of 'who you are' is on your hard drive somewhere?  What would 
happen if you suddenly lost everything that's on your hard drive?  I mean, 
all of your email messages - GONE!  All of the tech info you've collected 
over the years - WIPED OUT!!  That incredible image library you've 
painstakingly build since your significant other bought you that awesome 
digital camera 4 years ago - SORRY ABOUT YOUR BAD LUCK!!!  And how much 
other stuff is in there that you'd never be able to replace again?

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Now that I've got your attention, let's talk about backing up your important 
files.  Before we can get into any serious discussion about this most 
important topic, you'll need to decide why you're backing up your stuff. 
Here are a few of the more common scenarios to consider.

Reason #1.    You're a bit nervous about all of the viruses, worms, trojans, 
malicious scripts, etc. that permeate the internet and/or the inevitable 
eventual failing of your hard drive and simply want to safeguard against 
losing your important data to some catastrophic event beyond your control.

Reason #2.    You'd much rather keep your multimedia files (MP3s, images, 
theme collection, screensavers, etc.) on CDs or DVDs to free up hard drive 
space or to protect the files from others (or others from the files) who use 
your PC.

Reason #3.    You need to back up critical customer data for your business 
so you can store it offsite (somewhere other than your business' building) 
in case of fire, theft, flood, etc.

Reason #4.    Any other reason you can think of is a good reason for backing 
up your data.

It is the combination of your reasons for backing up and your level of 
comfort with the procedures outlined below that will dictate the approach 
you decide to take.  Regardless of your reasons, it's imperative that you 
understand that all hard drives will eventually fail and sooner or later, we 
all get hit with some sort of malware that penetrates our computer's 
defenses and could bring down the entire system, taking our precious data 
with it (yes, even the most tech savvy among us is not completely immune). 
It's also important to note that a lot of what you've saved to your hard 
drive is not easily replaceable, if it's replaceable at all.

************************************************************

The next step is for you to determine just exactly WHAT you need to back up. 
Again, that depends on the type of backup you choose to follow.  If you 
choose to go with creating an image of the partition in question, then 
you're choosing to back up the entire partition, regardless of the 
individual file's importance.  All other methods will need a detailed plan 
to make sure you get everything you want into the backup.  With that in 
mind, here are suggestions of some of the things you'll want to back up. 
This is by no means a comprehensive, all inclusive, no need to look for 
yourself kind of list.  It's only meant as a starting point.


    1.    Email. This includes not only the files that constitute your 
messages, but also your settings (email accounts, filters, signatures, 
stationery, address book, etc.)

    2.    Multimedia.  Any images, sounds, themes, wallpaper, cursors, 
icons, fonts, movies, etc. that you've collected over the years.  This stuff 
is too difficult to replace!

    3.    My Documents.  You created everything in this master folder.  I 
can only imagine you'd want to back up the entire thing.  Of course, if 
there's stuff in there you really don't need anymore, trim the fat before 
you back it up.

    4.    Documents and Settings folder (specifically the ones that are 
named after each username and the All Users subfolders).  This is a 
depository for most of what constitutes your identity on that computer. 
While some of it would easily be replaced with a reinstall of Windows, none 
of the personalized stuff would remain.

    5.    If you purchased your system from a major PC maker (Dell, Gateway, 
Alienware, etc.) and they only gave you a Restore CD/DVD or set, look in the 
C:\Windows\Options folder and subfolders and see if there are a bunch of CAB 
files in there.  If there is, chances are pretty good that this folder 
contains the files you would need to reinstall Windows without all of the 
stuff the manufacturer added (which most folks would rather NOT have on 
their systems).  If they're there, go ahead and back them up, too.

    6.    Favorites (saved bookmarks).

    7.    All downloaded programs.  Most folks like to download trial 
versions of software they wish to try out on their systems before purchasing 
them.  Some actually follow through and buy the full version or a license to 
enable all of the full options and functions of the software.  These should 
definately be backed up along with any registration info or keys the company 
sent to you.  This is part of what will enable you to get your system back 
in case of emergency.

    8.    QuickLaunch, Desktop, Send To, etc. folders.  If you store 
frequently used shortcuts (online &/or offline) or other important files in 
any of these, you'll want to save them, too.

    9.    Saved games.  If you play computer games, chances are you're in 
the middle of one and wouldn't appreciate having to start over.  Most games 
save your place in the game in a folder inside the game's installed folder. 
Look for a subfolder called 'Saved' and back them up if you're planning on 
reinstalling Windows and all of your software.  Once the game has been 
reinstalled, you can copy the Saved folder back to where it belongs and you 
can usually pick up right where you left off the first time you play it.

    10.    All privately owned Certificates, DRM licenses, etc..  This is 
very important if you belong to a music subscription downloading site such 
as Napster, ITunes, etc..

    11.    Your contacts, chats, conversations, etc. from any instant 
messenger apps you use.  It's a real bear trying to reconstruct these things 
if you don't have these.  There are programs designed to save this stuff for 
some of them that make it much easier than doing it manually.

    12.    Anything else that you consider important to preserve.  A lot of 
programs save stuff in their own folders and subfolders and you'll lose them 
if you don't know where to find them.  I strongly suggest that you open up 
Windows Explorer and go through every folder looking for anything you might 
wish to backup.

************************************************************

Below, you'll find several methods of backing up that data so you can 
quickly restore it any time you see fit.

Method 1.    Copy of all of your important stuff to another partition or 
hard drive (an external drive works great for this because it can be 
disconnected easily from the system and stored wherever you want).

Method 2.    Burn the data to CD-R/RW/DVD or some other medium that will 
preserve the data while still allowing you quick & easy access to it.

Method 3.    Create a single 'image' file of an entire partition

Method 4.    Use a 'back up' program to collect and compress the data. 
Since everything ends up compressed, retrieving a single file or folder is 
much more involved if the need should ever arise.

Method 5.    Upload the stuff you don't want to lose to an internet upload 
storage service.

If you'd like more details about how to accomplish any of these methods or 
just have some questions about them, just ask.

************************************************************

In the meantime, here are my recommendations for which method or methods 
should be used for the scenarios described earlier.

Reason #1.    You're a bit nervous about all of the viruses, worms, trojans, 
malicious scripts, etc. that permeate the internet and/or the inevitable 
eventual failing of your hard drive and simply want to safeguard against 
losing your important data to some catastrophic event beyond your control.

My Suggestion:    As long as you know that Windows has not been comprimise 
by anything malicious, your first line of defense could be to first create 
an image of the entire C: drive.  If something should happen that hoses your 
system, just restore the image and you'll be right back where you are today 
(minus anything you change between now & then, of course).  If you're able 
to store them on a separate partition or hard drive, create a new one about 
every 3-4 months and be sure to label them with the date they were created 
to minimize confusion.  If you don't have the room or there's only one 
partition on your system (and you don't want to partition that drive or buy 
a second HD), you'll want to burn the image onto a CD-R/RW or DVD instead. 
If you choose this solution, be sure to label it with the date and then keep 
it with all of your other important disks & info (manufacturer's driver 
disks, emergency startup floppy &/or CD, serial numbers for purchased 
software, etc.).

Next, you should create a folder somewhere easy to find and call it 
something like Backup.  Inside this folder, create additional subfolders as 
needed to duplicate the folder structure of the things you wish to back up. 
If you have a bunch of pics in a folder residing at 
'C:\Multimedia\Images\Family', create a folder called 'Multimedia' and then 
open it.  Inside it, create another called 'Images'.  Go inside that one and 
create one called 'Family'.  When you're finished, go into the original one 
and select all of the files you want to keep.  Right click on one of them 
and select Copy from the context menu.  Now, go into the new Family folder 
and right click on a blank area.  Select Paste from the menu this time. 
Repeat this for everything you wish to save until you're confident you have 
a copy of everything that matters to you (that won't be restored by 
reinstalling the programs, of course).  When you're finished, you'll have 
everything already in its proper folder structure so if you ever need to 
restore it, you'll know exactly where the file or files came from.  Finally, 
burn this entire folder structure to CD-R/RW/DVD for safekeeping.

NOTE #1:    If you are able to create the new folder tree structure on a 
separate partition, you can save a lot of work by just dragging the files 
from the original folder into the new backup one.  Dragging a file from one 
partition or drive to another will automatically Copy the file rather than 
Move it, which is what happens if both folders are on the same partition or 
drive.

NOTE #2:    My tutorial for organizing your hard drive will show you how to 
make this part of backing up MUCH, MUCH easier.  I'll update and post it 
shortly.

**********************************

Reason #2.    You'd much rather keep your multimedia files (MP3s, images, 
theme collection, screensavers, etc.) on CDs or DVDs to free up hard drive 
space or to protect the files from others (or others from the files) who use 
your PC.

My Suggestion:    Get them as organized as possible and then burn them 
directly to CD-R/RW/DVD as data (as opposed to music, audio, slideshow, 
etc.).

**********************************

Reason #3.    You need to back up critical customer data for your business 
so you can store it offsite (somewhere other than your business' building) 
in case of fire, theft, flood, etc.

My Suggestion:    Use a good backup program to create archives of everything 
in your data store (these customer records should always be on a different 
partition or hard drive already).  Once the Full backup set has been 
created, instruct the software to do Incremental back ups.  This way, future 
back ups will only include new files or ones that have changed since the 
last backup.

If you don't like using backup software, you can always burn the entire data 
structure to CD-R/RW/DVD disks instead.  This is the method I prefer.

**********************************

Reason #4.    Any other reason you can think of is a good reason for backing 
up your data.

My Suggestion:    Forget about reasons and just do it!  Nothing beats 
knowing that all of your important stuff is safely tucked away someplace 
where the baddies can't get to it.  It's good for your data and it'll allow 
you to sleep well at night.

**********************************

You may have noticed that I didn't endorse the use of any internet storage 
options.  That's because I see them as being of little use unless we're only 
talking about a couple of files.  Personally, I don't trust the idea of my 
files being on someone else's server.

I know I didn't give much in the way of details here, just concepts.  If you 
need help choosing, setting up or using one of these methods and their 
associated programs, give a yell and we'll open up a group discussion about 
it.

Peace,
GMan

"The only dumb questions are the ones that are never asked!"

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