How
to Backup Your Computer Files by Christian Carvajal
As I write this, it's early December, and
try as I might, I can't remember what my new year's resolution was last
time around. One thing I can say with near hundred percent certainty is
that whatever it was, I failed to keep it. Maybe you're the same. Maybe
you resolved to quit smoking, lose weight, or read more. We all make
promises with ourselves, then fail to keep those promises. Worst of all,
those promises might be exactly what we need most. Consider this: When was
the last time you backed up your computer files? Last month? Last year?
Never?
Let's make a new year's resolution
together, you and I. Let's promise to back up our computers. It's
important, I promise. Just yesterday the automatic backup feature in MS
Word saved me about an hour's work when my computer froze up. Given that I
haven't backed up my computer in almost a year, I can't even imagine how
much data I'd lose if I suffered a power surge or hard drive failure. It
can happen to the best of us, and often does. Even high end hard drive
manufacturers report an average failure rate of between five and eight per
thousand every year. That may not sound like much, but let's face it,
somebody has to be those five to eight people. Feeling lucky? There are
about 185 million household PCs in the U.S., according to Computer
Industry Almanac, so that means about 150,000 hard drives fail each year.
But even if your drive stays intact, about a tenth of all computers suffer
minor data loss in any given year. A power surge, the magnets in your home
stereo speakers, or even an accidental nudge can affect data storage.
According to a report from the ONTRACK data recovery
service, data loss
can be caused by natural disasters (3% of cases), computer viruses (7%),
software problems (14%), and plain old user error (a whopping 32%). Now,
I'm sure you never hit a wrong keyboard button, but do you have a button
on your computer that prevents a bolt of lightning? I didn't think so.
WHEREAS our data is important, and disaster
can befall even the most noble and undeserving of us, BE IT RESOLVED that
you and I shall back up our computer files forthwith.
Amen, brothers and sisters. Now, where and
how do we start?
STEP ONE: Choosing Favourites
Not all files are important enough to
preserve for posterity. The most critical files on a computer are its
operating system files. If you're a good little consumer, you bought the
operating system and kept those CDs handy and secure from data loss. If
you're not, then remind yourself to go stand in the corner later. The
drones at Microsoft did not work for years just to watch you steal their
work. It's people like you that keep Bill Gates from buying his second
planet. Now that you've been suitably chastised, either go buy a legal
copy of the operating system, or include the necessary files in your
"must back up" list.
The same principle goes for software
applications. Maybe you bought an ad and spyware blocker you really like,
but the company that coded it has since gone out of business (perhaps
because other consumers weren't as scrupulous as you). If so, include the
files you need to run the app in your must list.
Now it's time to look at the remaining
files on your computer and prioritize. If you're not a digital packrat
like me, it may be possible to save everything. If so, congratulations. I
don't have ten gigabytes of portable media at my disposal, so when I back
up my computer, I'll be leaving a few gigs of MP3s and questionable
Windows Media files at risk. One of the first things I will save is the
folder I use to save my writing assignments, because that data represents
money in my pocket. I'll back up my email address book, plus my digital
photography and fiction writing efforts. I can live without
"Milkshake" (what was I thinking?), but the guitar piece my
friend recorded and sent to me is going on the list. Your results may
vary.
STEP TWO: In Which I Tell You Where You
Can Put It
That's right, this is the section in which
I'll tell you where to store your data. It's not a good idea to put backup
files on another drive on the same computer. That defeats the whole
purpose. Duplicating your files on another computer in the same LAN is
almost as risky, because computer viruses can spread as fast as an
imaginary Anna Kournikova JPEG. You need to find a portable storage medium
that can hold all the files on your must list. Your options include floppy
diskettes, portable hard drives, optical drives, tape drives, and remote
servers. We'll look at each in turn.
Hard diskettes, the old familiar 3.5"
squares, hold up to 1.44 megabytes of data. They're cheap, but 1.44 MB is
less than two percent of the ten gigs of data on my hard drive. Even if
each of those files were smaller than 1.44 MB (and each weren't), I'm not
keen on the idea of buying, labeling, and storing fifty diskettes. Next
idea, please.
Most computer experts rely on removable
hard drives for memory backups. The most popular of these drives are the
Zip drive from Iomega and the ORB drive from Castlewood. They're
relatively inexpensive and hold up to two gigs of data. Basically, you'll
save your data on a Zip disk, then transfer it from the disk to the
portable drive. The catch is that removable drives fail about as often as
regular hard drives. They may even be more susceptible to damage from dust
and rough handling. A sub-option here is to use a permanent hard drive as
a removable drive. At up to two hundred gigs, conventional hard drives are
bigger than removable drives, and prices have dropped enough in recent
years to make this idea practical. Whatever kind of hard drive you decide
to use, make sure to keep it isolated from dust, magnetic charges, and
static electricity.
Optical drives use a laser to store
information, rather than a magnet. Even if you're not a tech junkie,
that's probably enough information to give you a clearer idea what we're
talking about: namely, CDs and DVDs. Less common are EO (erasable optical)
and WORM (write once, read many) media; they're less common because they
cost over $1000 per drive. CDs, on the other hand, cost less than a buck
and can hold up to 650 megabytes. DVDs hold up to five gigs and cost about
fifteen dollars apiece. Most computers nowadays have either a CD or DVD
writer (or both), but write times can be slow. My CD writer, for example,
works best on the 300 kilobyte per second setting-if then. I'll be using
the remote server option. At $250 and up, tape drives are more expensive
and slower than hard drives or optical media, hence less common, but also
extremely reliable.
Remote servers are third party companies
that store data online for a fee. This is a great option for broadband
Internet users, especially people like me who don't own a reliable data
writer. SkyDesk runs Backup.com, Back-Up Solutions maintains
BackUpHelp.com, and Iomega hosts iServer (Iomega.com/iStorage). XDrive.com,
once a free service, now charges ten bucks a month for up to five gigs of
storage. Promotions and other rates change, so it's a good idea to shop
around before selecting a remote storage service.
STEP THREE: Git 'er Done
Now it's time to put the files you want to
save on the storage medium you've chosen. There are several ways to do
this. Your CD writer, for example, may come with proprietary disk writing
software. That application may even include a backup option. If it does,
and you're more familiar with that software than Windows features, then
that's the way to go. Otherwise, backup is still relatively easy on all MS
operating systems since Windows 98. Windows 98, Windows ME, and Windows XP
Professional include a built-in Backup utility. To run it, just click on
Start, then Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, then Backup.
How easy was that? If you're using the XP Home edition, you may need to
add the utility manually. If so, insert the Windows XP CD into your disk
drive and wait for the "Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP" screen.
(You may need to double-click the CD icon in My Computer.) Then click on
Perform Additional Tasks and Browse This CD. In Windows Explorer,
double-click the ValueAdd folder, then Msft, then Ntbackup.
Double-clicking on Ntbackup.msi will install the utility. Once it's
installed, you can also run the program by clicking Start and Run, then
typing msbackup.exe (Windows 98 and Windows ME) or ntbackup.exe (Windows
XP) in the Open field. Click OK, and you'll be off to the races.
Incidentally, the Windows XP Backup utility
also includes a bonus application called the Automated Recovery Wizard.
This creates a bootable floppy that initiates backup if the hard drive
must be replaced. Other options for "disaster recovery" include
BackUp MyPC from Stomp (StompInc.com, $79) and Norton Ghost 9.0 from
Symantec (Norton.com, $69.95). Ghost actually allows users to duplicate
the contents of their computer over the Internet. Both have earned stellar
reviews from top PC magazines.
Don't let another month go by without
protecting the files you value most. My girlfriend justifies her messy car
by saying she "lives out of it." Well, I live out of my
computer. It's not just my office; it's the home of cherished memories in
the form of pictures, MP3, and other data files. I'm resolved to keep it
safe.
