Backup - something you just have to do

Backup - something you just have to do

OK, you have decided to backup your computer, but what do you backup and how?

What Do I Backup?

The easy answer is everything, but that means taking a copy of Windows whilst it is running and that can be tricky, not to mention the size of your collection of goodies. To make backups easy you need to be organised so that you can backup the important files that you use everyday (mail, accounts, shopping lists, etc) independantly of the things that don't change very much (MP3s, downloads, program configuration, etc). To be really effective you need to start by partitioning your disk before you load Windows, but who's that organised?

These are the things you need to find before you start a backup.

My Documents - where most of your documents are stored, hopefully.
Favorites - favourites.
Mail - can't do without that.
MP3s - who needs mail?
Pictures - I must get a digital camera, just after I buy that new DVD burner.
Program Configuration - email accounts, chat, ISP details, wallpaper, etc.

What Do I Use To Backup?

Software, of course. Unfortunately you need several pieces of software for an effective backup, one for your email, another for program settings, a different one for documents and one to gather it all up and put it somewhere. Some of these things can be done with one program, but there is no one program that easily does the lot - I may be wrong about this, but I haven't found one yet.

Software you can use

Windows Explorer - makes a copy of the data on disk or CD, but not much more.
A zip program - makes a copy and compresses the data to save space, generally doesn't write to CD/DVD.
A backup program - makes a copy to CD/DVD or disk, compresses the data and keeps track of the files it has saved.
Program specific backup - copies your data (e.g. mail and settings) to a single, easy to find location. You may then need a backup program to put the data somewhere other than on C:.

I really like Nero BackItUp because it does images of Windows on the fly, backs up your data and has a nice scheduler, but it isn't free - unless it came bundled with that new DVD burner. See the list of backup software for other options.

What Media Do I Use?

The gold standard is to use media you can store away from your machine - doesn't get stolen with the PC or fried in the lightning strike. There are two basic media types, CD/DVD and hard disk, both of which can be stored somewhere else. CD/DVD is the easiest to hide away - you can throw them in the car and take them round to Mum's if the data is really important.

Hard Disk

Hard disks are fast, efficient and relatively cheap, but connecting them to the computer can be tricky. To allow you to store them away from the PC you need a USB 2, eSATA or Firewire caddy - which may mean adding a USB 2 card to older machines. Even better is a Network/USB caddy, which allows you to leave the Hard Disk on the network in a discrete location away from your computer, then plug it into the USB port if you need to recover information. You can take the slightly more risky approach of adding it as a second hard disk, which gives you speed and convenience, but you must resist the temptation to use it as extra storage. You also have the minor inconvenience of losing your backup if your computer is stolen.

CD

Hardly seems worth it if you can only get 600MB on the CD, but if your backup program compresses your data, you should be able to fit all of your documents and mail on a single disk. Then you can use another (several) for your MP3s, and a couple more for downloads etc.

DVD

Now we're talking, 4.3GB plus compression, easy to hide away, cheap these days - oh, yes, you don't have a DVD burner! Maybe it's time you spent $30 to safeguard your data - it may even come with a copy of Nero BackItUp. I reckon it's cheap insurance, and you can now burn some movies to watch as you are relaxing, safe in the knowledge your data is backed up.

You can have multiple backups on a hard disk, CD or DVD. It is probably best to only use CD/DVDs a few times, just in case your burner decides to chuck a wobbly. CD/DVD media is very cheap, especially compared to the value of your data.

Backup Types

There are two basic types of backup, full and incremental. Both should be used as part of your backup regime.

Full Backup - this backs up everything and marks the file(s) as backed up using the file attributes.
Incremental Backup - this only backs up files that have not been backed up before (new or modified files). The files are then marked as backed up using the file attributes.

How Do I Do It

You need to decide how often you are going to backup the different things you have. For most people you should backup your personal data once a week, things you don't change much can be done once a month and maybe Windows at the same time - you don't want to download all those updates again if you have to re-build your computer. Programs are best kept on the original CD and ones you download only need to be backed up once.

Save all your downloaded programs in one place, maybe C:\DOWNLOADS\PROGRAMS. These can all go on one backup.
Move all your documents off your desktop and into My Documents. This is data you cannot replace.
Move all your pictures into My Pictures - under My Documents.
Move all your Music into My Music - under My Documents.
Backup your mail / browser using specific backup software. Put it somewhere easy to find, like C:\BACKUP.
Collect your ISP, mail, chat, etc login details, and Windows key and store them together in a password protected store in My Documents.

If you don't remember the passwords or key, use the utilities in Favourite Software.

Your First Backup

The first backup you do must be a full backup.

Backup My Documents using your favourite software to the media you have decided to use. Include your mail / browser backup directory.
Backup your downloaded software to a different CD/DVD or file. This data does not change very often so it is best kept separate.

Your Second Backup

Now you can split your backups into chunks to avoid duplicate backups and wasting hard disk space or CDs. This is where an incremental backup is useful.

Mail / browser data should be backed up weekly using specific backup software. This will result in one large file which can be copied directly to your backup media.
My Documents should be backed up weekly using your backup software. Do not include My Pictures or My Music in this backup. Perform a full backup if the data is relatively small, less than 500MB. If you have a large amount of data, more than 1GB, you can perform an incremental backup every week and a full backup every month. This will save a fair bit of space or CD/DVDs.
Music, Pictures and downloads only need to be backed up if you added or download more software. An incremental backup is all you need for this data.

Subsequent Backups

You should do a full backup every 6 months or so. This will put all your data together, rather than have it spread out over lots of disks. It also helps if there is a problem with one of the backups you have performed earlier. Windows should be backed up after major program or update installation. You have to judge when is a good time to back this up.

Program Specific Backup

Outlook Express

Visit Inside Outlook Express for backup software and general tips.

Internet Explorer

BackRex will collect all of your IE settings

Thunderbird / Firefox

Moz Backup does both TB and FF.

Desktop and Favorites

Desktop and Favorites live in “Documents and Settings”, usually on your C: drive. You just need to backup the “Desktop” and “Favorites” folders themselves.
To see where these folders are on your PC, click Start | Run, type explorer %homepath%

Microsoft Office

MS Office saves all files to “My Documents” by default.
Personal dictionaries and Templates are saved in different locations depending on the program.
Look under Tools | Options to find the location of the various files.

Windows

Windows is harder to backup because it is running and holds files open whilst you are trying to backup. Luckily Windows XP has a new feature called Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), which allows backup software to take a snapshot of the Windows data and copy that to your media.

Nero BackItUp has an image backup that copies a running Windows system to bootable CD or DVD, making restore a snap.
Norton Ghost, ditto.
Image for Windows by TeraByte Unlimited also does this.

Unfortunately all of these are commercial programs, but none is very expensive and if they save you from data loss, are worth every cent.

Partition Your Disk

This provides the best method of organising your backup because you separate Windows from your data. Then if Windows goes pear shaped, you can just restore the Windows image and your data will not be affected.

Starting From Scratch

Use this method if you do not have Windows loaded on your computer, or you have a new hard disk and want to load afresh.

Boot from the Windows CD.
When Windows asks if you want to partition your disk, create 2 partitions.
The first, C:, only needs to be 30 - 50GB, the second, D: uses the remaining space.
Load Windows onto C:.
Start Windows Explorer, right click on “My Documents” and select Properties.
In the “Target” field, change the C: to D: and click Move.
This will move “My Documents” to D:.
Load all of your programs onto C: as normal.
Create directories for your email backup etc. e.g. D:\Backup
And for downloads. e.g. D:\Downloads

Split Your Existing Disk

This can be a little tricky and is best performed after you have a good backup.

Boot from a CD containing the re-partition software
Reduce the size of your partition to 30 - 50GB, if possible.
Create a new partition using the rest of the disk and format it - NTFS is the best type.
Re-boot.

You should now have a C: drive containing Windows and your programs, and possibly data. You need to move “My Documents” as described above, then move any other data you have to D:.