Backing Up

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Hard Drives fail, computers get stolen, it's a fact of life. So it is just plain silly not to have some kind of backup system if you work with any kind of data which would cause great pain at it's loss.

But what kind of backup system should I use?

It is important first of all to understand the difference between Backing up and ARCHIVING:

Archiving
Archiving is where; when you have finished working on a particular project; you don't really need it any more on your computer. But, would like to have access to it if necessary in the future. An example of this may be an article you have written. Once written, you do not need to edit it any more. It is essentially finished work. In this case the best thing to do is make a copy of it on to a particular media, label it, and put it somewhere safe.

A CD writer is the ideal archive tool. But NOT so for Backup (see below)

Backing Up
Backing up is all about protecting data that you are NOT finished with. Emails; regularly used documents; unfinished documents; all fit into the category. But of course THIS data is constantly changing. So it simply makes NO sense to burn a new CD every day to take account of the changes. If you do so, you will pretty quickly have a huge pile of CDs on your shelf. In addition, how do you copy your emails onto a CD? No, a CD writer is not an efficient way to back up.

In years gone by, the most common way was to use TAPE backup systems. However. these were (and still ARE) expensive. In my view they were also not reliable.

For many years I was looking for a solution to the backup conundrum. For there just was not any cheap and efficient way to do it. But about a year ago I finally came across what has since proved to be an IDEAL solution.

There are three components required for backing up: Suitable Media, Good Software and a sensible regime.

Suitable Media
The good news is that with advent of cheap portable external Hard Drives (which connect either via USB or Firewire), we have now the perfect solution for backing up incrementally on a day to day basis. There is simply no point in backing up your operating system, for you would still need to reinstall it if your hard drive failed in any case. Likewise with your programmes. So all you need to backup is your data. But the question that often arises is "where is it?" I am afraid that the answer to that question will vary according to your computer, operating system, and the kind of data you work with. It is simply not possible to detail here all the possible locations for your data. Of more use here is to consider just how much data you have and what SIZE it is. For this will dictate the size of the Backup hard drive you need. And so for instance, if you only want to backup documents, emails and the like; almost ANY drive will be more than adequate. However, if you are heavily into downloading music, video, and/or are involved with high end graphics programmes (such as Photoshop); then you may well need a large capacity backup drive.

Cost: As a rough guide, starting from about £100 upwards to £250 max. depending upon capacity.

Physical dimensions: This is one huge advantage. For you can now get very small drives indeed. Enabling you to pop them in your pocket (see below on regime)

Software
One of the reasons why it took me a long time to find a suitable solution to the backup conundrum, is because MOST software written for backup was; and is still; designed to backup to a non-standard file format. The problem with this is that you THEN need to have THAT software installed on a machine in order to restore your backup. I have always thought that was silly. Why not simply backup your data AS IS? And so you have all your files and folders on the backup EXACTLY as they are on your computer. Rather than ONE enigmatic file called "Backup2764839379.dat" or some such.

I have now found two pieces of software which do just that.

1. Backup Magic for PC. Cost: About £20
2. Tri-Backup for Mac. Cost: About £40

Both these packages not only MIRROR your data. By that I mean (once setup properly), it will ADD, DELETE and MODIFY and changes you have made to your data since the last time the Backup was run. In addition, they are BOTH extremely fast and well written. However, I should point out that BOTH these packages need to be correctly setup in order to ensure ALL the correct data is being backed up. If you do not know where your data is, then I recommend you get a professional to set this up FOR you.

Both programmes can ALSO be set to run automatically at predetermined times. However, I don't recommend this. And for the simple reason that as we know, things go wrong with computers all the time. So how do you KNOW if the backup is working as it should? It is also often a case of "Out of sight, out of mind!" No, I recommend that you should have to click on an icon on your desktop at the end of each working day, and then you will KNOW the job was done. Both programmes also generate a very simple LOG text file, which you can check from time to time for errors.

Sensible Regime
Here is a list of the most common causes of data loss, with the MOST likely at the top:

1. Hard Drive failure Note: 70% of the time we can save your data
2. Laptop Theft/or lost (statistics say 20% of all laptops get stolen)
3. User Error (i.e. Accidental delete or just simply LOST somewhere)
4. Letting some one else onto your computer with bright ideas (as they say, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing). Advice: say NO!
5. Technical support helpline suggests you do a full system restore (NEVER agree to this). It usually involves formatting your hard drive
6. Virus damage
7. Break in to your home or Office

If you consider all of the above, it simply makes no sense to HAVE a backup system and NOT use it regularly. Similarly, if you have a backup drive for your laptop and you carry it around in the same bag as your laptop - well that's just plain silly. :) The same thing applies to your home/office computer. What use is it in leaving the backup drive attached to your computer while you are not there? If someone steals your computer, they will take the backup drive as well.

Here's what you SHOULD do…

A) consider how important to you the data you are working on IS to you in terms of the time you have put in. This will determine how often you should back it up. For most people a DAILY backup is sufficient. Say at 5 pm when they stop work or 11pm when they go to bed. Make it the last thing that you do. But if you are working SOLIDLY on say a book or project; why not backup every few hours? It is just a single click on your desktop and will usually only take a few minutes at most.

B) Once you have finished for the day, un-attach the backup drive. If you are in an office, TAKE IT HOME WITH YOU. If you are at home - well then it's okay to leave it attached overnight. But when you go OUT, and PARTICULARLY if away for the weekend, put it somewhere SAFE. I usually recommend somewhere SILLY. (i.e. Somewhere no-one would LOOK for stealable stuff. Like in a food cupboard behind the Baked Beans). :) Just don't do what my Mother used to do: Put it somewhere that is SO safe she could never find it again.

C) When you un-attach the drive ENSURE you EJECT it (for Mac) or STOP it (for PC). If you don't do this, you can damage the data. So don't just pull out the plug

D) About once a year you should reformat the Backup drive.

That's it. Feel free to email us or call for further advice.

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