Backing Your Computer

BACKING UP YOUR COMPUTER

Recently in the timespan of two weeks I was asked three times something that led to a discussion of how to backup a computer. This is something that needs to be done on a regular basis. There is a place located in the control panel of the computer that will automatically backup the contents of the computer. While this seems to be a logical place to go and activate the action I have some problems with it. My problem with the program is that it seems to backup everything that needs to be backed up PLUS a tremendous amount of information that is not necessary. Specifically it will backup the programs that people have on CDs, like Quicken, Photoshop, Corel, Greeting Card Maker, etc. Plus it makes copies of the games that people have loaded from CDs that they have in their possession. Since the computer may want to backup weekly it quickly requires a tremendous number of Gigabytes or a large number of CDs to hold all the information. Also I was saying that the computer did not ever delete any files to clear the space for future backup.

I want to feel that the information that I provide here is both correct and as complete as I know how to make it. So with that in mind I sent an e-mail to a person that I would guess forgets more each week than I will ever know. But on another hand I also think that he likely learns a lot more new things in that week than he forgets. His name is John Abbott and he lives in Bentsen Grove where I have spent the last three winters. My e-mail to him follows.......

Hi John

One of the things that I have promoted in the computer sessions and advocate when I talk to people is backing up their work. When I am talking about this I am meaning to back up the pictures, the word documents, PDF files, or in other words any document, form, or picture that I have actually created myself. As I see it there are CDs that have the operating system, games, programs, etc and they can be used if necessary.

It seems to me that when the computer backs up on it own it backs up a lot of things that would normally be on external CDs. In the last two weeks I have been asked by three different people about this. One of them was being asked to burn over a dozen CD-RWs and still had a long way to go. Another had 60 gig on an external drive that was a redundancy of programs that were on the computer. I told all three that they should backup as I indicated above.

Right or wrong please give me your opinion.

Doug

I got the following response back from John and felt a lot better about the advice that I was giving. I will point out here that I think that John has great writing style and he will write more complete than I do. There is a lot of information about the pro and cons that I would never have verbalized. That I believe is good. I have changed his font to emphasize what he wrote. I will have a further note about my opinion after his e-mail to me.

Greetings Geeks and almost Geeks.

In a conversation with Doug Peace we agreed on a couple of backup policies. I agree totally with Doug that backing up your entire system is ludicrous. Just backup your personal data! If you properly store the original disc that your OS is on, and any application or program you have purchased, then backing them up is meaningless. I operate Linux exclusively so I'm not concerned about virus and worms and such. I am worried about hardware failure, lightening strikes, house fires, hurricanes, flooding - etc etc. Here is my thinking on backing up and protecting data.

Protecting Your Data

Emergencies can happen anytime, anywhere. This is why it is important to be prepared at all times. At Emergency Essentials, we seek to give people the information and supplies that will aid them in surviving such a situation. We want to encourage people to prepare by obtaining food storage, water storage, shelter, clothing, warmth, and other necessary items such as first aid and medication.

Securing important information is an additional topic that we urge you to address as part of your emergency preparedness plan. Whether you have priceless memories captured in a photo or journal entry, important legal and informational documents, or irreplaceable data files for your computer programs, safeguarding these assets from the unexpected is of extreme importance. Photos, videos, documents, and data files are commonly destroyed by natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and tornadoes. These items can also be stolen or lost due to a house fire or computer malfunction.

Insurance policies protect assets in the event of a disaster; however, we often overlook insuring our valuable information. With current technology, many pieces of our lives are either already in or can be easily converted to a digital format. We encourage you to back up this information immediately and often as new and changed files are added.

As you develop your data backup plan, keep in mind the principle of backing up to a remote location. If a disaster threatens your digital information and if your original and backup files are stored in the same location, loss of both copies is possible. For example: A fire would destroy the computer as well as the backup if they are stored in the same building. In addition to using a remote location, regular backups are also important. Photos are continually added to your collection, and changes to files occur often. A backup is only as good as the last time it was executed.

In general, there are four methods you can use to back up your data: USB Flash Drive, CD/DVD, External Hard Drive, and an on-line backup service. We recommend utilizing more than one of these backup sources.

USB Flash drive

A USB Flash drive is a convenient, quick way to back up your data.

PROS: Flash drives are small and can easily be transported. They are relatively simple to use and have a data retention span of up to 10 years.

CONS: Due to their small size, flash drives have a limited amount of storage space and often get lost or damaged. Flash drives are typically kept in the same location as the computer source, violating the principle of backing up to a secure remote location. Flash drives generally do not have a way to perform regular backups without human intervention. Some experts also warn that using USB flash drives as a main source of backing up critical information can expose you to reliability issues.

CD/DVD

CD/DVDs are small, stack-able disks that allow for hard copies of your data to be stored easily. Depending on the manufacturer of the CD and the humidity and temperature where it is stored, the shelf life of an unscratched CD or DVD can reach 20 to 100 years (exceeding our life span considerably).

PROS: CDs and DVDs are convenient ways to back up data because most people know how to use them and how to keep them from being damaged.

CONS: CDs and DVDs have limited storage and often require multiple CDs/DVDs to complete a full backup of all your data. CDs and DVDs can also become corrupt from damage and degradation over time. CDs and DVDs are typically kept in the same location as the computer source, violating the principle of using a secure remote location. Back ups generally are not automated and require human intervention.

External Hard Drive

External hard drives are essentially a second hard drive that is not internally located in your computer They typically attach to your computer through a USB port for backup purposes.

PROS: External hard drives allow you to back up all of your data onto one drive. Essentially all you do is drag and drop from the hard drive on your computer to the external hard drive. This differs from the USB flash drive and CD/DVDs because you can keep all of your data in one storage drive.

CONS: External hard drives are more delicate than a flash drives and CD/DVDs. They aren't very shock resistant and require more care when being transported. External hard drive also have a higher chance of getting corrupted from bad sectors in the data or by close contact with an electromagnetic field that could potentially destroy all data on the drive. Like flash drives and CD/DVDs, unless a diligent person remembers to keep this additional drive in a separate place, the principle of a secure remote location is violated.

On-line Backup

on-line backup is a relatively new backup technique that has grown in popularity in recent years. You install the backup provider’s software onto your computer, set up the configuration, and backups run automatically; the on-line backup software takes care of everything else. Your data is usually encrypted when sent over the Internet so it can’t be seen by others.

PROS: With the rise in popularity and availability, the cost of backing up on-line has decreased. An on-line backup is a fairly easy method to back up your data. Many on-line backup services automatically back up your data as new items are added and existing files are modified, meaning you don’t need to remember to perform a backup. The servers, where your data is stored, are typically kept in temperature-regulated, tamper-free rooms, where data is highly unlikely to become corrupted or stolen. on-line backups also follow the principle of using a secure remote location.

CONS: Typically there is a monthly or an annual fee associated with the on-line backup, Depending on the provider, some fees can be high. Also, your on-line backup is dependent upon your Internet connection. A slow or nonexistent connection can affect your ability to perform and have access to your backups.

Recommendations

It is a best to utilize a couple different backup methods in case one fails. While flash drives, CD/DVDs, and external hard drives can be valuable secondary backups, we recommend that your primary backup be an on-line backup. Backing up on-line ensures that your most vital data is off-site, secure, and the least prone to common backup problems. If a disaster occurred in your home, all other forms of data backup could be lost, while an on-line backup keeps your files secure.

If you have a trusted friend, you might want to consider having them exchange backups with you. This friend would be out of the immediate area so that a natural disaster would not effect both of you. I started thinking this way when faced with having to generate a Disaster Recovery program for the bank where I was IT and responsible for the data. Banking law requires off site backups so we simply rotated the information between branches. You can do the same with a group of trusted friends. Just a thought.

But no matter which of the methods you chose - use more than one - and do it routinely.

If I have created questions - good! Send me an email and lets discuss it!!

During the four and a half years that we have been traveling full time on the road we have seen one park model and two motor homes burn, plus we parked by one new motor home that was purchased because the owners motorhome also burned. To be sure we have seen many thousands of motor homes and park models that have not been burned. The percentage of ones that burn may be small but it does happen.

Whichever method you use, BACK UP your personal information, your pictures, and anything else that you do not have a CD to reload with. In addition make sure that you have a backup of some sort several miles away from your computer that will be safe from a fire, flood or tornado or thief if one hits your house. I personally have an external hard drive in case the computer crashes, CDs in case the computer and external hard drive both crash and CDs in New York in case my motor home becomes totaled. I will say that I need some more CDs sent to New York.

This is what I would suggest--Insert the connection of some sort of external storage device into a USB port. Open "Windows Explorer". There are several ways to find it, one is to go to --"Start" -- "All Programs" -- "Accessories" -- "Windows Explorer" --all with left clicks. Down towards the bottom of the window you will find "Computer", left click the triangular arrow to the left of the word Computer. This will display the external drive in the list. It will be called "Removable Disc (f)" or perhaps "The brand of thumb followed by a letter which could be "(e),(f),(g),(h)" The computer determines the letter according to the sequence in which the USB ports are used. Whatever the name assigned it, "Right click it and you will see a drop down box, choose "New" -- "Folder". This will create a folder on a thumb, or external drive that you can name something like "01 Backup Files 04-15-2009". The "01" will put this folder at the top of the list of contents and keep the files in order of age. (See further down in the instructions) The "Backup Files" tells you what is in the folder. The "04-15-2009" (or whatever date you choose) indicates the day that you created the folder.

Now you have a folder to use for backup purposes. Be aware that you can open TWO or more "Window Explorer" windows. I usually do just that. Now with a click and drag and drop between the two "Windows Explorers" you can COPY files from one location to another. When you click, drag and drop from one drive to another drive you will create a new copy of the data. When you click, drag and drop WITHIN a drive you only move the location that the information is located and you do not create a copy. Into this folder I would suggest that you copy the following folders, "Documents", "Videos", "Pictures", "Music". If you are like me anything that you write, photograph, or save from the Internet is somewhere in those folders. By right clicking any folder and selecting properties you can see the size of contents of the folder.

When you have copied, with click, drag and drop all you need to backup into the folder described on the external drive check the size of it with the sub-folders inside with right click and properties. Knowing this will give you a handle on the number of times you can backup your data before you will run out of space.

In a month, or sooner if you like, follow the same procedure again, but this time call the folder "02 Backup Files 05-15-2009" This folder will be next in the list to the original backup folder. In another month create "03 Backup Files 06-15" At four month create "04 Backup Files 07-15-2009" Each succeeding backup has every change that you have made in the month previous. Thus the newest folder has any corrections you may have made, plus any new data or picture you have created. When your external storage device is getting full you can safely delete the oldest backup folder. It is the most incorrect of all the backups. When backing up do not replace old files. When replacing files the first thing that is done is that the old file is erased and then the new file is created. If by any accident you should have a power spike or failure it is possible to lose information. I believe that has happened to me. I was lucky to have an older backup to save my cookies, so to speak. Actually it saved my pictures.

One exception that I do in my backups is this. I have a large number of pictures that have been taken prior to 2008 that have been backed up several way, CDs in New York, CDs in storage and on an external hard drive. I will absolutely never change these pictures or add to them. New pictures will be added to 2009 and 2010 folders. Since I will not change the labels on those pictures or add to them and I have redundant backups I do not backup those every month. But also I will not ever delete the old backups of pictures prior to 2008 and next year prior to 2009 etc. This saves a lot of time required to do a back up.

Please backup your data and pictures in some manner as described here. I have talked to several people who lost a lot of information when their computer crashed. It was their stuff that was lost but it hurt me to hear about it. In the 2008-2009 season at Bentsen Grove I know of four computer crashes with loss of information. Remember that it is not a question of "Will my computer crash?", but "Will I be prepared to recover my information when my computer DOES crash?" It will crash sooner or later whether it is ten days from now or ten years from now. Lets hope for the ten years and be prepared for the ten day.