-=PCTechTalk=- "Back ups - They're not just for breakfast anymore"
- From: "Puter25" <Puter25@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:39:24 -0700
Hey Christy, Could this be one of the "backup" emails from Gman you were
talking about??
Deane
| From: "GuitarMan" <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
| Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Back ups - They're not just for breakfast anymore.
| Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2006 02:12:00 -0500
|
| 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?
|
| ************************************************************
|
| 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 compromise
| 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, 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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