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Computer Backup and Recovery Strategies for Home
Users - Backing Up Locally
With technology
today, you have a variety of options of backing
up your data. This section will cover all the
options that are local to your computer. By now
you have created an inventory of your data and
you know the locations and size of all your
data. Please note: The tips/advice here are
for backing up user/data files and not for
backing up system/Windows files. With that in
mind, here are your options:
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A Word About Windows XP
Backup
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How to Get the Data?
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Save to Floppy Disk
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Saving to a Zip Drive
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Saving to CD
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Saving to DVD
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Saving to USB Flash Drive
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Saving to Another Disk
Drive
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Saving to Tape
A Word About Windows XP
Backup
As you read through this
information, you will notice that much of this
is “old school” back-up processes. I have used
Windows XP backup but I prefer writing my own
batch files and creating my own process as I
believe this is cleaner for what I need. For
example, in Windows XP backup, when you create a
backup of several files, Windows XP backup,
backs them up all into a single file. My method
simply copies the files to another location,
file by file, which means you are not later
dependant on any Windows software for restores.
Now, please know, that the Windows XP backup
utilities are full of cool features, it is just
I prefer to have more control over what I am
backing up.
How to Get the Data?
You are now ready to backup
where data? But wait, my data is spread out all
over my hard drive. Is there an easy way? Yes,
there is. My method may not be the best way, or
most slick method, but it works for me and has
saved me many times. I write a batch file using
the old dos command (xcopy) and copy my data
from all the different locations on my hard
drive into one central location. I can then
save this folder to CD/DVD/etc. To improve
speed, I use the command line options to copy
only new files or files that have changed. The
batch file has several lines like this
xcopy c:\pictures\*.*
d:\backup\pictures\ /e/s/h/c/d
xcopy c:\mydata\*.*
d:\backup\data\ /e/s/h/c/d
xcopy c:\mydocu~1\*.*
d:\backup\data\ /e/s/h/c/d
etc
I now have all the data I
need in one main folder
Saving Data to Floppy
I feel silly even
mentioning this option, but it is still an
option if you need to back up a few very small
files and bring them with you somewhere. Please
note, most computers today do not even come with
floppy drives making this option all but
obsolete.
Saving to a Zip Disk
A Zip Disk is much like a supercharged floppy or
external hard drive. It is just another form of
media that you can use to store data. While
quick and simple, in order to restore to another
computer, it has to have a zip drive attached,
or you need to bring your actual drive with you
Saving to a CD
Most computers today come
with a CD drive that has write capabilities.
What this means is you can save your data (up to
about 700 Meg) to a CD. This option is more
than adequate for the majority of computer
users. Each CD drive has its own set of
software that enables you to do this, so you
will have to refer to your own
manufacture/software instructions for details.
Saving to a DVD
If you have more then 700
MB of data, you may want to consider getting a
writable DVD drive for your computer. While you
may think of DVD’s for movies, the reality is a
DVD is just another form of media for storing
data. The movie is nothing more than zeros and
ones. The advantage of the DVD is that a DVD
can store up to 4.7 Gig of data. That is
considerably more than a regular CD. Of course
you will need a DVD writer. Fortunately, they
are not that much more expensive than a CD
writer. If you are buying a new computer, you
should consider the DVD burner option. Like a
CD, instructions for copying data to a DVD
differ by the software being used.
Saving to a USB Flash
Drive
Flash drives are now at 2
gigs of data and will soon be more. A flash
drive is a small device you connect into a USB
port. It is somewhat like your computer memory
except it does not lose data when the power goes
out. These handy little devices are becoming
more and more popular as a quick and easy way to
get data from one computer to another and have
basically replaced the floppy drive. They can
be used to back up your data, but you will only
have the most current backup, and of course you
are limited to the data storage limits of the
device.
Another Disk Drive
Got tons of data, get
another drive. My preferred method of backing
up data is to another hard drive. This is
perhaps a little overkill, but it works. I back
up all my data (many, many gigs of data) to
another hard drive in my computer. This is
quick and fast. It is also rather expensive and
does not solve the off-site problem, so still
need to save data to DVD’s. But this method
allows me to incrementally backup my data at any
give time, and allows me the options to create a
permanent backup at a later time. The advantage
was clear when I had to rebuild my computer.
Once the OS was installed and patched, I simply
attached my backup drive, and presto, there was
ALL my data. No restores, no waiting around, it
was just there. Had I had to rebuild my
computer due to viruses or other issues, I may
not have been able to do this because my files
on my backup drive could have also been
infected. So be careful when using this
strategy. You can purchase external
hardrives for this type of activity.
Saving to Tape
It is unlikely that you
will want to save your data to tape if all you
have is a personal computer or two. Tape drives
are expensive and the tapes for the drives are
expensive as well. Tape backup does make sense
in large data centers or file servers as this
method provides a good alternative to backing
large amounts of data day after day. It also
provides a good back tracking record as tapes
are usually rotated on some sort of schedule.
If you have a home business with several
computers, a few file servers, and gigs and gigs
of data, then a tape backup may be the thing for
you.
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