Ryan's District Boards

Back It Up!




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As most of you

know, I recommend backing up your computer on a

regular basis. Since I'm always harping

about it, I thought it might be a good idea to

actually explain how to do this!


/>First, what exactly does it mean to

"backup" your files?

To

backup simply means to copy files to another

disk. This can be in the form of using a program

designed to do backups or just doing a straight

copy from your computer to a floppy (probably a

lot more than one floppy), a zip disk , or CD-RW

.

For a zip disk, just copy and

paste the files you want to save onto the disk.

For a CD-R or CD-RW, use your CD burning

software. (Note that most CD burning software

and Zip drives come with some kind of backup

utility you can use if you like).

If

all your files will fit on a single CD or Zip

disk, then you're in good shape just

copying your files straight to it. If your files

are too large, you're probably better off

using a backup utility, since they can

"split" your files up automatically

and most can even compress them.


/>That's really all there is to it. You

just take the files you want to be sure to save

and copy them to a disk or CD.

Now,

here's my advice for easier backups:

/>
One question that seems to come up all

the time is. "If I do a re-format and re-

install every year or two, how can I be sure I

get all my important files?"

I

use to have a terrible time with this one. I

would hunt through every folder on my hard drive

searching for my data. I would still miss stuff

and lose it.

Well, a long time ago,

I decided to keep any file I create (documents)

or want to save (i.e. downloaded software) in

the My Documents folder. Then when I go to

backup my info, I know it's all in one

place. I back up My Documents and it's a

done deal. I have it all.

I also

advocate putting sub-folders into the My

Documents folder. You can do this from most

"Save As" dialog boxes by clicking the

â€Ã...“New folder " icon. You can also do

it from Explorer by opening the My Documents

folder, right-clicking on a blank area, then

selecting New, Folder from the resulting menu.



Make sure you backup your e-mail and

Favorites too! You can set current versions of

Outlook Express (and many other e-mail clients)

to save your e-mail to a specified folder, like

the My Documents folder. Doing that will insure

you at least keep your e-mail.

As

for the Favorites, those you'll have to

work a little harder at. They are usually found

under your C:\Windows folder. XP users will

find them under the Documents and Settings area.



Now, here's a tip-in-a-tip:

/>
I didn't know you could do this -

kind of found out by accident- but you can

actually drag your Favorites folder to your My

Documents folder. I tested this on Win 98/ME/XP

(I'm sure it'll work on Win 2000, not

sure on 95). Each time, it worked perfectly.

Explorer didn't "lose" any of the

favorites and since they are in the My Documents

folder now, it makes for MUCH easier backups.



What about program files?


/>My advice on backing up programs is not to -

as long as you can re-install them. I personally

back up just the stuff I have "made".

You know, things like documents, web pages,

pictures, graphics, etc. If I had to take time

to make it and save it, I'll back it up.



If it's a program I can

reinstall, then I don't back it up. After

all, if I lose it, I can always reinstall

Besides, many programs have files in locations

other than their own directory - so it makes it

hard to find everything.

Oh, and if

you're backing up because you're doing

a reformat of your hard drive and a reinstall of

Windows here's something else to consider -



If the reason for the reinstall is

poor system performance, you don't

necessarily want to copy old files to the newly

formatted hard drive. Sure, most of them would

probably be OK, but what if you're

transferring a file that was causing some of

your bad performance? It's kind of like

getting a new car and putting used parts on it.



Of course, there's not any kind

of "fixed" rule for backing up or not

backing up your program files, so use your best

judgment

One final idea for our more

advanced users:

If you find yourself

doing the re-format thing fairly often, you may

want to partition off a section of your hard

drive for your data. If you keep all your

information on a separate drive, you can re-

format your Windows drive all you want and your

data stays safe on the other drive partition.



A word of warning though. If you

decide to do this, only keep data (documents,

spreadsheets, pictures, etc) or downloads on the

drive. If you install programs to it, you may

find that when you re-format you need to re-

install those programs anyway because they had

DLL files that were living in the Windows System

folder.