| Backing Up your
Systems Data |
One of the most overlooked items to new
computer users is a data backup. Even simple back up actions
can and often do save hours of file rebuilding and in some
cases loss of data you cannot replace. You should attempt to
at least maintain a basic back up of your personal
information and data which can often be done with little work
and minimal media resources. Ideally of course more extensive
backups are even more ideal however even a simple back up of
a few critical files can often make getting your machine back
into operation a far easier task. Lets review what the
basics. If you are not used to operating programs such as
Windows Explorer or Zip Utilties I would suggest you review
the pages on this site that pertains to the operation of
those or pages on the www.nhyrvana.com page that cover these
topics before you proceed.
Simple Data Backup
While this is not the most extensive it can be very helpful
when you attempt to restore your system.
- Using Diskettes or CDR media and a program such as
Winzip, make zip files of any password lists you may have
as well as account URLs for email and webpage addresses.
It is also not a bad idea to include any phone numbers
for your ISP dial up and login information that may be
required. Remember to try to keep these files up to date
as settings change.
- Save any documents or templates you have made with/for
Word Processors, Spreadsheets, Databases. If you have
some of these with critical information such as income,
tax, legal, content you may wish to make sure you retain
a copy of those as well.
- Back up any address book entries for mailers, and if
you feel you must also any emails. You may also wish to
look at your favorites/bookmark lists on your browser.
Most mailers and browsers have provisions listed under
FILE on the top left of the screen to do an Export or
back up of these lists. Save them to a common format such
as TEXT, HTML or RTF in most cases is the best
choice.
- If you have not done so, it is often a good idea to
make a list of any software keys/ product numbers for
programs you have bought / installed and save them to a
Text or common format file that is easy to restore. Even
printed copies of some items are a good idea. If you
loose the keys for some programs you may find it
nessesary to re-purchess software without keeping your
key / product code.
- Check to make sure you have program CDs in tact and
stored well. I generally suggest you keep hard copies of
programs you download and use on a removeable media. If
you lack a CD Burner, you may wish to look at adding a
partition to your hard drive to store such program
install files if possible. While this second option is
not perfect it is far better than no attempt to back up
such files at all.
Complete System Back up.
- This is the more extensive backup process. It simply
means, using the Back up provision in Windows or some
other makers software, a total copy of the hard drive is
compressed onto a removeable media such as Diskettes,
tape, or CDs. These back ups often take some time to do,
and should only be done when you are sure your system is
free of viruses or other possible problems ideally just
after you get it set up correctly with your sottware
choices installed. This way you can go back to that state
on your system in most cases even if you have to have a
major repair to your computer.
- It is also a good idea if you are handling data that is
critical to keep to maintain two copies of back ups and
if you are using a rewriteable media such as tape to only
overwrite one at a time.
- If you are always changing data, or need to be
completely up to date with a back up you may wish to look
at installing a RAID type back up system as well which
makes mirror copies of hard drives on more than one
drive. This way if one hard drive fails the next one
should have a copy of the data.
- On Windows ME and XP systems there is a registry
rollback point that can be set and you should be able to
roll your system back to that point in some cases as a
type of back up. You may also set back up points as you
wish. ( see your instructions for this function within
your Windows Help Files ) For those with Windows
95/98/NT/2000 you can likely do the same with the use of
GoBack software by Roxio if you wish to use this type of
backup. Keep in mind this is not a full back up of data.
You may still loose information or software with this
type of system back up. Also these functions are often at
the cost of system speed. ( your computer will be slower
)
- Beware of CDRW media for back up. While CDRW (
rewriteable CD Rom media ) is a good back up choice for
many, just be aware CDRW media does not always transfer
well from Windows 9x system back up or data to Windows NT
type operating systems. So if you are using a CD burner
and rewriteable media, with Windows 95/98/ME do not
assume you can do a data transfer to a system which is
running Windows NT/2000/XP which uses a slightly
different format for the CDRW type media. You may wish to
just consider using standard CDR media for this task as
these will transfer data to most systems without a
problem. ( except for some very old CD drives which may
have problems with a given CD color due to low laser
output in older CD Drives. )
I recently come across a program that may also be helpful that is supposed to back up the Windows drivers for your hardware currently in use on your computer. Some may find this helpful to retrain a copy of hard to locate drivers on their computer. It is avaliable in freeware and professional versions. The freeware version is a 2.44 mb download. ( found below )
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