FAQs - Backups

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Why do backups? What should I backup?

Why do I need to backup?
What should I backup?
How do I backup?
Where do I backup to?
How often should I backup?

Why do I need to backup?

What if tomorrow, you needed to use your computer, to do one of the following	BUT....
	The disk drive could not be accessed The Computer would not start The computer was stolen or in a fire your notebook has been physically damaged
Check your emails or send an email	Your Email system would not start or was corrupted all your Emails were lost Your address book details were lost
You needed to do something online via Internet Explorer or another browser	The disk drive could not be accessed
You needed to access, print or update a Word, Excel or PowerPoint document on which you had spent a great deal of time	The document was corrupted The document has been deleted
You wanted to view or print off photos which you had downloaded to your computer from your digital camera	The photo files were corrupted or deleted
You needed to reference or update your MYOB or Quickbooks system	The Data files could not be read by the accounting program
You needed to use your computer for your job or business	Any of the above occurred
You need to reinstall important software from a CD or DVD	The DVD/CD is damaged or missing

You may be delayed, inconvenienced, or may never be able to do what you want depending on the extent of the "disaster".

You have temporarily or permanently lost

Family Photos
Important Business/Tax Records
Important business Documents
Email addresses and/or business and family Contact details

What should I backup?

You nee to backup anything and everything that

you cannot easily recreate or reload on your machine or a different temporary or replacement computer,
anything that you will need quickly without the inconvenience of being unavailable for a period of time

The following is not a finite list but meant a starting checklist for your backup purposes. The location guidelines should be used only a a guide as locations will vary of different machines and under different operating systems. Guidelines are only provided for Windows systems. The onus is on you to ensure you have clobbered everything you need to backup.

Files on Your PC	Typically File Extensions	Typical Locations	Comments
Photos and other images	JPG JPEG BMP (etc)	\Documents and Settings \(username) \My Documents \My Pictures or wherever your digital camera or mobile phone software has placed them	Do a Windows File Search
Music Files	MP3 WPA WAV	\Documents and Settings \(username) \My Documents \My Music
Video Files	MPG WMV AVI	\Documents and Settings \(username) \My Documents \My Videos
Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other business application files	DOC XLS PPT PPS (etc)	\Documents and Settings \(username) \My Documents	or wherever you have saved them
Outlook Files containing your emails, calendar, task and contact details	.PST	\Documents and Settings \(username) \Local Settings \Application Data \MicroSoft \Outlook	To be able to view the "local Settings" folder You may need to adjust your system to be able to view hidden files. Also Check out these MS Outlook How-to Articles
Outlook Express Files containing your emails, calendar, task and contact details			Refer to this article Also Check out these MS Outlook Express How-to Articles

How do I backup?

Manually copy the files using COPY and PASTE or Drag-and-drop facilities within Windows Explorer
Use CD/DVD Burning programs to copy files and folders to a CD/DVD
Use Windows Backup to copy files to another location
Use any of a myriad of commercial backup programs to do the same - A very good one is "Second Copy"

refer also to Microsoft Knowledgebase

Where do I backup to?

Possible Destinations for your backups:

A different folder on the same computer - on demand
a USB Memory Stick - Limited by Size r - on demand
A USB External Hard Drive - large capacity and more useful if kept offsite r -as required
Another computer on the same home or office network r - on demand
Burned to CD or DVD - Onsite - batched with other files and folders
Burned to CD or DVD - Offsite - batched with other files and folders
An Online Service (e.g. Xdrive) - for a price - Slower - potential privacy issue

	Suitable
	Suitable but may be limited by capacity
	Suitable if not kept at same location
	Not Suitable

You may find the following useful bt is prented as a guide only.

To Protect against	Different folder on same PC	Networked Computer (same location)	USB Memory Stock	USB External Hard Drive	CD / DVD Onsite	CD / DVD Offsite	Online Service
Accidental Deletion
Corruption
Disk Failure
Computer Failure
Fire, Theft, Damage

You will need to decide on the level of recovery and/or risk you wish to take.

How often should I backup?

This really depends on

how often you update your files
How much effort you are prepared to make to recontruct your data files up to the point of loss
If it is possible to reconstruct things at all

Business should really do this each day. Domestic users may get away with weekoly or monthly, depending on the number and type of files that are invvolved and thir imortance.

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