atmo's quick and dirty guide #1. Backups.

[Atmo]

Too often i see threads on forums like this with people asking "i just accidently formatted my hard drive, how do i get my files back?" or "help, my hard drive just died and i lost all my files, is there any chance of recovery?". Although there is software available which may let you get your files back after they've been deleted or the drive formatted, and there are companies which specialise in data retrieval from dead/damaged drives, these options aren't usually cheap, and there's no guarantee of success. If your pc or laptop has been stolen, then your chances of getting your data back are virtually nil unless it's recovered (and even then the files may have been erased).

Everyone should keep a backup of any important data, most people know this, but whether it be through laziness or ignorance, most people don't. There really is no excuse, so dont come crying to me if you dont backup and you lose all your data.

There's many different ways to backup your data, some are quite reliable, others aren't. These are the most common options:

1. Running a RAID1 array (or other array that uses mirroring). I don't consider this to be a backup option at all. If the files are deleted, corrupted or the drives are formatted, then having them mirrored wont make any difference. If they're gone from one, they're gone from the other/s. This will only save you if one drive dies.

2. Creating a copy of the files on another folder or partition on your hard drive. This method will save you if you accidentally delete the originals, but if the hard drive fails, or all the files are corrupted, then you're no better off.

3. Creating a copy of the files on another hard drive. This is a better option than copying to another partition, because if either hard drive dies or the originals or copies are deleted, you'll have the data on the other, but if both fail at the same time (I've seen it happen), or if the files on both drives are wiped out or corrupted by a virus etc. then you're still no better off.

4. Creating a copy of the files on a removable external hard drive or on a networked pc. This is a reasonable option if you have a large amount of data to backup, as transfers to an external hard drive connected via firewire or usb2.0, or across a 100mb/s network connection will still be fairly quick. It's still not foolproof though, the other pc could become infected with a virus or the files could be corrupted in some other way, and if you leave your external hard drive plugged in all the time, then it's no different than if it was an internal drive.

5. Creating a copy of the files on removable media such as DVD+/-R/RW or CD-R/RW. Not as fast as transferring to an external drive or networked pc, but unless the discs are lost, damaged or stolen then you'll be able to get your data back. In terms of cost per MB of storage space, you cant beat single sided DVD+/-R at the moment. Forget about floppy discs, they're just not reliable enough.

There are other options such as transferring to tape drives or to an FTP server on the net, but these options can be slow or expensive and aren't a great option for home use.

I'm sure some of you are thinking "hey, I've got a 200gb drive, backing all that up to CD/DVD etc. would require many discs and would take ages". Well, you'll probably find that less than 1/4 of the data on your drive really needs to be backed up, and not all of it needs to be backed up often. Also note that once you have a backup, you don't have to backup everything again, just the files created since your last backup.

I generally find a combination of methods works best.

For irreplaceable files (such a photos, work files, basically anything you've created), i recommend making a copy of all new files on another hard drive, external drive or networked pc once a week or so (or as often as you want to), and do a backup to a multisession CD or DVD once a month. If you don't have another internal or external hard drive or another pc on a network, then just backup to a multisession CD or DVD once week instead. In the event of a hard drive failure or file corruption on your primary hard drive, the most you'll lose is a week's worth of files, and if the other hard drive, external drive or networked pc fails at the same time, you wont lose more than a month unless you also manage to lose, damage or have you backup disks stolen. This would only happen if your house catches fire or have everything stolen, so keeping an additional copy of those files on a CD or DVD at a friends or relatives house and updating it occasionally isn't a bad idea, or if you have a fireproof safe you could store them there.

For files that are replaceable but may prove difficult to replace (installers for old software, downloaded pictures, music, movies etc), i prefer a backup of new files to cd once every few months to CD/DVD (if the amount of data isn't too large) or to an, external drive or networked pc, or a combination of all (small files to cd/dvd, larger files to another drive/pc). You can do this once a week, but it's probably overkill.

For files that are replaceable or aren't particularly important, but are convenient to keep after a hard drive format and reinstall of the operating system (drivers, installers, music ripped from cd's you own, game saves and so on), i prefer to just copy to another partition, internal drive, external drive or networked pc before formatting and reinstalling.

Operating system and program files etc. don't need to be backed up. These are all stored on your install discs, so backing them up is just a waste of space. Keeping a drive image of your OS install (when it's fresh) can be handy though, particularly if you find yourself reinstalling your OS often.

If you follow a schedule like that, you'll probably only find you need to spend a few minutes each week backing up your irreplaceable files, then a little more time once a month or so burning to CD or DVD.

What software do you need? Well, Just using explorer and nero or another burning program will do, or you could use microsoft's backup software which is installed by default in Windows 98, 2000 or XP pro. If you use Windows ME or XP home, the backup installer is on the cd, but isn't installed by default and isn't in the add/remove windows components options either.

To install it using Windows ME see here: http://www.helpwithwindows.com/windowsMe/tip-0006.html
To install it using Windows XP home see here:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/backup_f...me_edition.htm

There are many third party alternatives, far too many to cover here, that may have features to make it easier or faster for you to get your data backed up. Some are free, some aren't. Some are worse than the standard backup software that microsoft provides.

Anyway, i hope after reading this you'll implement a backup schedule (if you don't already), and hopefully I wont see anymore threads about lost data.