What is a Backup, Anyway? Why Do I Need to Backup My Files? Top 10 Files to Backup. Why Do I Need to Backup My Files?

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1 What is a Backup, Anyway? To back-up means to make spare copies of files and store them separately to the originals. In this way, if your computer crashes or is infected with a virus that results in a loss of files, you will still have access to your files on backup disks or whatever other backup program you choose to use, such as online backup. You can then restore your files to your computer from these backup sources. Why Do I Need to Backup My Files? Don't fall into the old paradigm of "it will never happen to me." While there is certainly a chance that you will never have a need for the backups you make of your files, if something does happen to your computer you will certainly be glad that you have them. You do not have to backup your entire computer, although this is certainly something that many people do, but only the files that are of the most importance to you. Why Do I Need to Backup My Files? Some things are easily replaced, and there is no need to backup these sorts of things, but those irreplaceable documents or files that are yours and yours alone should be saved in a place where they cannot be damaged. That way, no matter what happens to your computer, you can have security in the fact that all of your files are available in backup. How Often Should I Backup My Files? How frequently you back up will depend on how often you use your PC and what you use it for. The average home user will probably just have to back up any important files as and when they are changed, and do a full back-up once a week/month (depending on PC use). When PCs are used in a home office scenario then backing up should be done more frequently. One rule of thumb would be if your important files change daily, back-up daily, if they change weekly, back-up weekly, and so on. 1 Top 10 Files to Backup Pictures - When people are asked what they would grab from their home in the event of a fire, one of the most common responses is the family photo album. Think about how many digital photos you have uploaded from your camera and don t have anywhere else but on your computer. 2 Music - Let s face it, your extensive music collection would take forever to try and recreate. You ll never find that random copy of the Womble song, let alone find time to reorganize your library 1

2 3 Videos - whether they re backup copies of your video collection, home videos, or just uploaded video camera footage, you re really not going to want to lose it. 4Documents - between thesis papers, business documents, and maybe even a copy of your will or a personal diary, you don t want to lose your documents. Examples of documents people have wished they had another copy of :- my diary, a spreadsheet with a list of wedding invitees, and my sister s Final year English papers. Templates - Especially don t forget to backup any custom document templates you ve downloaded or macros you ve created. 5 Health and Financial Records - if you keep a budget, your financial documents, or important health records on your computer, don t forget to back them up. 6 addresses, folders, and even s - unless they re all hosted online (and even then,) you ll probably want to keep track of these; it s a pain to try and track them all down again. Same goes for your cellphone; if you can backup your contacts, you should 7 Internet bookmarks, shortcuts, etc. - You ve spent a good deal of time customizing your browser experience and saving your favorites/bookmarks/shortcuts. To make recovering that info a cinch, back it up 8 Downloaded software - So many programs and applications are downloaded online. If you ve obtained software online (and especially if you paid for it), don t forget to save a backup copy 2

3 9 Drivers - They may come in small installments, but chances are that you ve got a ton of drivers, updates and patches for software/hardware/applications that you d be hard pressed to have time to find again. 10 Game Saves - Playing the game was a hoot, but playing it AGAIN just to get back to the point that you were at?; Worthy of controller throwing! Where to Back Up? Duplicate Copies On Your Hard Drive Save a and b versions of each file. Save files more than once (use different locations) Copy complete folders to another location Duplicate Copies On Your Hard Drive Better than no backup at all. Unlikely to accidentally delete 2 files. No additional hardware necessary. Will still lose data if the hard drive dies. Task 1 Open a Word document (or any other type of file that is important to you). Just double-click on the icon to open it in it s native program. Save it again using Save As but this time slightly alter the filename e.g. add a b Now save it again but in a different location e.g. on the desktop 3

4 USB Flash Drives (memory sticks) Backing up a folder to a USB drive Open MyDocuments and Restore Down to a window size Open your USB drive and Restore Down to a window size These fantastic little devices are great for backing up your data, although not as reliable for backing up as a CD or DVD on which the data is physically "burnt", USB flash drives provide a quick and very easy way to backup your files. Their storage capacities range from around 1GB (GigaByte), up to 16GB (GigaByte) and beyond. The low cost of USB flash drives also makes them an inexpensive way to store fairly large amounts of data. Backing up a folder to a USB drive Select a folder and drag it into the other window. The folder appears in the other window TASK 2: Backup a folder to a USB CD Writers/DVD Writers With CD/DVD writers becoming ever more commonplace, they are ideal for making backups of large amounts of data. A typical CDR disk (blank CD) holds up to 800MB of data and costs pennies, a typical DVD disc can hold up to 3.4GB of data. CD/DVD writers are also very easy to use. The software that comes with them is normally very straight forward and can create back-ups of your data in minutes. Adding Files to a CD/DVD Insert a CD and select Burn files to disc Select Like a USB flash drive Wait while the disc is formatted 4

5 Open MyDocuments and Restore Down to a window size Restore your CD Window Down to a window size Copying may take a few minutes Drag a folder from one window to the other The folder appears in the CD Window TASK 3: Backup a folder to a CD External Hard Drives 2.5 inch External Hard Drives 2.5 inch Small and relatively cheap Tend to be lower capacity than 3.5 inch drives 5

6 External Hard Drives 3.5 inch Larger but generally cheaper Tend to be higher capacity than 2.5 inch drives (Terabytes) TASK 4: Backup a folder to an external hard-drive Online Storage Online Storage Livedrive : - Unlimited Online Backup - Install in minutes, easy to use. Unlimited space approx 3.95/month! Paper Backups If all else fails printed text can ultimately be typed or scanned (using OCR) back into the computer. Printed text will often outlive a CD or electronic copy. 6

7 How Much Space Do I Need To Backup All My work? Right click on your My Documents folder. Select properties. Look at the Size on disk entry. Types of Automatic Backup Software CD R/W Software (e.g. Nero) Windows Software (XP / Vista / Win7) Nero Backup Software 7

8 Windows 7 Backup Software Windows XP Backup Software Before you can back up important information using Windows XP, you must install the Backup utility. The Backup utility is included on the Windows XP Home Edition CD. Backing Up Contacts Insert your Windows XP CD into the CD drive or DVD drive of the computer. Click Exit. Locate the Ntbackup folder on the CD. Double-click Ntbackup.msi to install the Backup utility. Export your contacts lists as a.txt or.csv file. These can be Imported later on or when you change your program / ISP provider. Screenshot of Googl Export Task 5 See if you can export your contacts (or s) from your own webmail site If this is not possible use one of the following practice accounts: - Google Mail Accounts littleham.user1@googl .com littleham.user2@googl .com littleham.user3@googl .com littleham.user4@googl .com Password obedience1 obedience2 obedience3 obedience4 8