When was the last time you backed up your data?

It is funny, but when I ask that question most people look at me and giggle. However, when I ask it of a customer that just brought in his dead computer for repair, they usually aren’t giggling.  About 4 or 5 times a year we get someone who tells us not to worry about what is on the hard drive, because they have a back up of everything.  However, about 4 or 5 times a week we have people tell us they have never backed up their hard drive and they are concerned that they may lose all their data.  I hear things like “My whole life is on that thing!” or “That is the main computer for my business, I am completely shut down and I have no idea how I would recover if you can’t save my data!”

This week an associate of ours called and his main computer was down, this guy has heard me rant endlessly about the importance of backing up his system, but, he had not.  When I talked to him about it, he said, I really just don’t know how to do it.  It occurred to me that something so simple to me is by no means simple to many users.  So I want to take this time to review backup methodology with all of our readers. 

First we have to plan our backup strategy

“I want to backup everything”

No you don’t.  Do you really need a backup of the uninstall routine for Microsoft update KB873339?  I don’t think so.  Moreover, program files, in general, can not be restored from backup, they must be installed from the original disks.  What you want to backup is your data, your pictures, Word documents, Excel files, music you’ve downloaded, and so on.  You need to know what those things are, and where they are.  Most files are automatically stored in your My Documents folder, and in the My Document folders of the other users of your computer (if any).  However, you may have a special bit of software you run that keeps its files in an unusual place.  So you need to pay attention when you click save, so you know where you saved it.

“I don’t know what to back up!”

A few weeks ago a lady told me she absolutely had to rescue data from a program that she uses for work.  I asked her what program she used and she said “the blue and white one”.  You can’t see the colors of your icons, unless your computer is working.  Stop, think, pay attention to what is important to you and make sure you know how to locate those files.  If you truly don’t understand, then come to us and let us help you.  By the way, yes, I saved her data.

“There’s nothing on the computer that is really important”

The customers that tell me that usually change their mind when I ask about pictures or music.  We had a customer recently that paid us over $400 to recovery a massive amount of music from her hard drive.  She told me it was less then a third of what they had paid for all that music when they downloaded it.

“I’ll just burn it to a CD”

That’s fine, but will you really do it?  How often will you do it?  How long will it be before you get busy and forget?  The only way to be really safe is to automate your backups so that they happen on a regular basis, whether you remember or not. 

“How often should I back up?”

You should back up according to how you use your computer.  In other words if you use it everyday, you need to back up more often then someone who only uses it once a week.  Consider how much data you can afford to lose, if you lost all the work you did on your computer this week, could you recover it?  If so then once a week might be enough, if not then you should do it more often.

OK, let’s move on to the method:

We’ve already decided an automated backup would be better then a manual one.  We have also decided that we don’t have to backup the entire hard drive.  Computer storage systems are so cheap today that you usually won’t need to worry about the size of your backup media, just buy more then you need.

Speaking of media, let’s talk about our choices here.  Of course you’ve all heard about tape backups, but the truth is tape is an older method that is usually limited to large business machines these days, and the expense is very high.  For home computers, the cheapest method right now is an external hard drive.  Typically we recommend buying two of them, and we do not recommend using the backup software that comes with them.  The “One Touch Backup” that they advertise has cost many people a loss of data.

If you are running a business, it may occasionally be necessary to restore a file that got deleted or damaged a few days back.  In that case, external hard drives are not your best bet, and you should call us to investigate removable media backups like tape drives or Iomega REV drives.  But for most of you, two external drives would be used, one is attached to your computer and does the daily backup, the other is at an offsite location.  This protects you if there were a disaster, a flood, a fire or a lightening strike that could destroy both your computer and your backup drive.  Once a week, you swap drives, one drive with the other.  This way you will never lose more then a weeks work, even in the worst possible case.

How do you automate the backup?

The business versions of Windows come with a backup program built in, but we’ve found the process of using that software and automating it to be cumbersome.  The home versions don’t even give you that option.  So we recommend downloading Cobian Backup , it is a free utility that can be easily configured to back up your files automatically.  Just install the program and then click on TASKS, then New Task.  In the windows that opens click each icon on the left in turn to select the files you want to back up, select the drive to backup to, and setup a schedule that fits your daily routine.  For most people the advanced settings are not necessary. We have provided detailed instructions on installing Cobian version 9 here. We have provided detailed instructions on using Cobian 9 here. Obviously if this intimidates you, we will be happy to come out and set it all up for you.

All done?

Not quite.  No backup is complete until you have tested it.  Setup the schedule and let it run, then go back, and open the external drive up in My Computer.  Explore the files and make sure the things you need are there, open a few of the pictures, songs or documents and make sure they are functional.  Now wait a few days and check it again. 

If every thing is working, you just need to start the rotation with the second drive, once a week or so, and then check the backup again once a month.

Now you can rest assured that your data will be with you, long after your computer has failed.

~Steve