How do I 'backup' my computer?


huntinsonovagun

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Re: How do I \'backup\' my computer?

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I got a ton of pictures and a few papers save on my computer, and I feel I need to backup my computer. What's the best way/how do I do it? Do you suggest deleting everything I don't plan on using after it's backed up?

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You can use a flash drive ...you can just copy the folder they are in and then move them...Burn them to CD ...

When I upgraded to Windows XP Pro I burned all my info that I needed to CD and when the upgrade was done. I pulled it off the CD with no problems. It took about 15 min.

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Re: How do I \'backup\' my computer?

Here ya go,, these are just a few options.... wink.gif

What You Need to Know About Choosing a Backup System

What’s the most valuable component of your company’s computer network? The software, the data, or the server? Pat yourself on the back if you answered “data” because that’s where you’ll find the most value in any company network. The time and money spent to recreate lost data can cost far more than the price of software or a server, so it makes sense to put some effort into protecting that data.

Fortunately, backing up your company data isn’t as difficult as you might think. While there are plenty of options, one or two methods still stand out as the best. Here I’ve compiled a list of the five most popular backup methods along with the strengths and weaknesses of each.

CD-RW / Zip: Rewritable CD and Zip drives provide an easy way to backup relatively small amounts of data, but they’re not usually the best choice for companies with more than a handful of files requiring backup. With capacities of just 750 megabytes (or less), CD-RW and Zip media just aren’t big enough to store the complete contents of a typical desktop or server PC. However, these kinds of media are relatively inexpensive and small enough to carry in your pocket or send through the mail. Many business managers also find CD-RW and Zip media useful for archiving small groups of project-related files in order to free up storage space on a desktop or server computer.

Rewritable DVD: With capacities up to 4.7 gigabytes (4700 megabytes), rewritable DVDs are a nice alternative to CD-RW or Zip media. But for complete backups of company data, most IT managers recommend something with more capacity.

Portable Hard Drives: On the surface, a portable hard drive sounds like a great idea. For a few hundred dollars, you can buy one big enough to back up two or three computers. Just plug it into the USB or FireWire port on your PC, run a backup, then cart the drive home for safekeeping. File recovery couldn’t be easier either, since you can attach it to your system and use it just like a regular hard drive. But to see why portable hard drives aren’t practical for business backups, it’s important to consider the reasons for backing up in the first place.

While we all recognize the risks of theft, fire, and mechanical failure, the less-obvious and more common risks to data are things like computer viruses and human error. Viruses and mistakes aren’t confined to everyday files, though. They often affect important data that we don’t use as often, so we might not notice right away if an important file were to suddenly disappear. Herein lies the problem.

Imagine that you’ve spent a long day working with your accounting software to prepare for the year’s end. You save the file at the end of the day and backup to your portable hard drive. But guess what? The file was corrupted when it was saved, and you just wrote over your only good backup with the corrupted version of the file. Sounds like a disaster, huh? To avoid that kind of disaster, it’s important to keep multiple backups for as long as possible. For this, portable hard drives just aren’t practical.

Online Backup Services: Some companies (including mine) offer a compelling alternative to traditional hardware-based data backups. Online backup services allow users to automatically send encrypted backup data to an offsite storage facility at preset intervals. Multiple copies of the data are kept over a period of time, reducing the chance of losing important data due to an overwritten backup. However, a potential drawback to online backup services is that most subscriptions limit use to single-user computers with fewer than 10 gigabytes of data.

Tape Backup: Backing up data to tape is one of the oldest and best methods for businesses with large amounts of data. Modern tape media comes in a variety of capacities ranging from 2 gigabytes to more than 320. With the lowest cost-per-megabyte of any popular backup media, tapes are a good value, too. The low price keeps long rotation cycles affordable, avoiding the problem of prematurely overwriting backups.

Considering the hassle and expense of recreating lost data, a solid data backup plan should be a high priority for every business manager. And while some backup methods are certainly better than others, any backup is better than no backup at all!

I run 3 seperate very large hard drives in my system, and just drag and drop the files that I want to keep onto one of these drives..... I also burn CD's for files that I like to trasnport for use in other locations....

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Re: How do I \'backup\' my computer?

Flash/ jump drives are awesome! I carry a 250MB around with me all the time. I move files with that thing almost every day.

I personally wouldnt back a computer up with one, if you lose it your shot. Also, you couldnt free up drive space on your Jump/ flash drive.

Copy over everything you want to back up on a CD. If you dont have a CD burner head to walmart. They have a jump drive (256mb) for $20. The 500mb are around $34. Copy over everything and then head to someone that has a burner. Im sure there is someone in your dorm. If you cant find anyone Ill be more then glad to burn them for ya bud. That CD will last a LONG time and is easy to get files from.

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