Backing Up Your Data

[Ray]

In the course of a year I see quite a few home computers, and the one thing that never ceases to amaze me is that almost none of the owners have made any arrangements to back up their precious data. Whether it be a hand full of letters and a few photos of Auntie Ivy, or a lifetime's research into your family tree, nearly everybody has something on their computer that they would not like to lose, it may only be the score sheet to that addictive game you play or all your email addresses.

Backing up is quick and easy, and in the event of a catastrophic failure of your computer's hard drive, you will find that it is invaluable.

Not so many years ago because of programs being simpler and the data generated being smaller most people could backup to half a dozen Floppy Disks. This was eventually superceded by the use of CDs and Re-writable CDs, If a CD was left "open", it could be written to several times before it became unusable, usually through the File allocation Table (FAT)becoming full.

Now, the quickest and simplest method for anyone having a lot of data, especially those who are saving their MP3 music files and/or digital photos on their computer is to purchase an external Hard Drive, these are now priced very reasonably, although any of the previously mentioned methods are still OK so long as you have the means to use them, and your files are not too big. I say this, because many newer computers are not being supplied with Floppy drives.

Once upon a time, Windows was supplied with a Backup program which allowed you to select what files and folders you wanted backed up and how often. Now it appears you must find your own program, or work out what you want saved and merely Copy and Paste them to your media via "My Computer or Windows Explorer. This last method is easy if you only have a few Folders to back up, but if you want to save everything you can it is very easy to miss things.

The most important thing is to get a routine in place to ensure that in the event of a disaster, you lose as little information as possible.

When you do back up your information, store it somewhere well away from your computer, do not leave your valuable backup device plugged into your computer,... one lightning strike could fry the lot.

[utegirl70]

I have been given some good advice for future times now..but yes, I will be looking into getting someone to show me how I should go about backing up photo's etc I have stored on the computer.

It was a traumatic episode, for sure... it's like losing photo albums or precious mementos like that. I can never get that back.  

[Ray]

I lost my family tree when I only had 360 people in it, (18 years ago) and it took forever to find all the info and re-enter it. I "got religion" regarding backups from that day on.

When I'm working on my tree I backup every 10 minutes or so, other than that, whenever I change any details. I have multiple copies on a memory stick, and three hard drives, two of which are removable.

The things most people forget are simple things like emails and email addresses, also i always backup all of my Drivers with DriverMagician http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/downloads/Driver_Magician_Lite_39037_p/ A freebie,...of course.

It saves a lot of faffing around especially if some of your hardware (printers, scanners etc) have had upgraded drivers installed.

[utegirl70]

You'd be pleased to know, that I went and got myself a USB thingy today..(note the brilliant techmalogical talk & stuff I know so much about!!!).. 4GB.
Got it from Mr Richard Smyth's... for $33.
And I was a good lil' Utegirl, and transferred all my stuff from my puta, onto said USB thingymajig.    *preens*

[adminer]

Well Done utegirl70! 

[Ray]

Good Girl!  Hopefully you will never need it, but if you do, It'll be worth it's weight in gold.

Just keep an eye on it, being so small I've lost one already. I've prolly left it somewhere.

[utegirl70]

Yes, they are rather small. Mine came with a strap, that I suppose they expect you to wrap around either your wrist, or your neck!

Don't fret.. it shouldn't get lost..it's in with all the other computer related things...a little red box. Methinks I may need to set up a proper storage area for all disc's etc.

[adminer]

Bought an 8Gb USB Flash Drive (thingamejig) for $30 a couple of days ago. Notwithstanding the terrible US$ to A$ exchange rate ATM, they are still getting cheaper. 

[Ray]

I ordered another memory stick from the Post Office last week, and haven't had the chance to go and pick it up as yet, it was supposed to arrive last Friday, I'll go and check this morning.

Our Post office is the only place that stocks them, and it seems they are having trouble keeping up with demand. I don't think the prices are as good as yours Adminer, but I don't mind paying a little extra just to have the service, plus the owners of the PO are really nice people and will go out of their way to help.

[utegirl70]

Bought an 8Gb USB Flash Drive (thingamejig) for $30 a couple of days ago. Notwithstanding the terrible US$ to A$ exchange rate ATM, they are still getting cheaper. 

Ooooh! You got a waaaay better deal than I did on the USB Thingy!! 

[utegirl70]

I ordered another memory stick from the Post Office last week, and haven't had the chance to go and pick it up as yet, it was supposed to arrive last Friday, I'll go and check this morning.

Our Post office is the only place that stocks them, and it seems they are having trouble keeping up with demand. I don't think the prices are as good as yours Adminer, but I don't mind paying a little extra just to have the service, plus the owners of the PO are really nice people and will go out of their way to help.

Hey Ray...who's the current owner of the PO? Is it the same ppl who were there when we were?

[Ray]

No, it has changed hands, I'm guessing that it was David and Tony when you were here, Tony went into business for himself and died not long after, and David sold out about 18 months ago. They were a great team, but it guess it got too much for David on his own,  now we have a young husband and wife team with a young family, they have made a lot of changes, moving the counter back about 3 metres and now stock a lot more of the standard Australia Post items and gifts etc.

They are really nice people. (As were David and Tony)

[Ray]

I have been given some good advice for future times now..but yes, I will be looking into getting someone to show me how I should go about backing up photo's etc I have stored on the computer.

It was a traumatic episode, for sure... it's like losing photo albums or precious mementos like that. I can never get that back.  

Well, the first thing to simplify your backing up is to try and have all of the programs that you use save their output to a single Folder which can then be further sub divided as you wish. For persons using Windows XP or later, most of this is already organised for you, with your My Documents Folder, which in turn contains such folders as My pictures, My Music, etc.

By doing this you do not have to set your Backup software to hunt all over your Hard drive after data, but simply backup My Documents

The next thing is to determine what sort of media do you wish to backup all of your info to. Most persons these days will find that the amount of data that they have will be far too great to consider using Floppy Disks, which leaves you with the various types of CD or DVDs. These are relatively inexpensive, but can become a pain if you want to backup regularly.  

Which raises the question, "How often should I back up my data"?  How long is a piece of rope?  The answer is simple, in the case of your data, "How much can you afford to lose"?  One days worth, a week, a month?  Personally I backup every day to an external Hard drive, it's quick and simple usually only taking a few seconds.  This copy is then completely separate from your working copies on your C: drive or wherever,  and is safe from a catastrophic failure of your hard drive, but little else, unless you only use it for your backup storage and then switch it off or remove it immediately you have finished. In which case you should also be safe from a rogue Virus or Trojan that might get past your Anti Virus software.  If this external drive is then stored in a fireproof safe or taken away to another building it is safe from fire and if stored securely as in a safe  it is further safe from theft.

 In progress.......

[Ray]

After having said in the thread on my new Music Server, that I would explain the dust on my desk, this is what caused it all.

When I recently repainted the room, I originally wanted to remove the old disused chimney in there, but was told by a local builder that it was not advisable as the mirror image chimney on the other side of the wall in the next room had been removed nearly 30 years ago and if we were to remove this one it would significantly weaken the wall.

So, the next best bet was to see if I couldn't use it in some way, and eventually settled on building a fireproof safe in to the hole, as the 50cms or so of brickwork surrounding it on all but one side would give it a lot of extra heat resistance. So after emptying and moving an old cupboard, this is where we started out.

   
   
 
It's far from perfect, but it is very handy to have a secure place to put my backups, not much more than an arms reach from my 'puta.

[utegirl70]

Ooooh, looks good! You've a clever man.