Tech-Tamer

Making the Web Work for You

Backup ABC’s

Published

Introduction

Most people keep stuff they care about on their computers — emails, addresses, photos, music, letters, and so forth. This stuff (technically known as, yes, “data”) is stored in files on the computer’s hard disk. In order to understand why it is so important to backup, consider the following.

Mechanical hard disks contain one or more metal platters spinning at speeds of up to 10,000 RPM while a small device, the “head,” sweeps across each platter, hovering a few nanometers above the surface, detecting or changing the magnetic status of embedded particles invisible to the naked eye or even to conventional microscopes.

In other words, although hard disks are nearly miraculous, they are complex and fragile, and they DO fail. In fact, it’s not a matter of “if” your hard drive will fail, it’s a matter of “when.” And when your hard drive goes belly up, your data — all that personal stuff — is gone. GONE. (Well, if you’re willing to spend several hundred to a few thousand dollars, you can try a high-end data recovery specialist, but there’s no guarantee of success….)

You may use an SSD instead of a mechanical hard drive, and think, “aha, I’m invulnerable.”  But, sadly, SSDs fail too.

Other bad things can happen to your data, too. The most common is human error — you make a mistake and erase or copy over the wrong document. Less common but still a real threat, your computer could become infected with a virus that changes (“corrupts”) or erases your files. And of course major disaster always looms, remote but possible — if your house is struck by lightning, it will really put a crimp on the operational efficiency of your electronic equipment!

So, to keep your data — all that personal “stuff” you care about — safe, you need to have backup copies of your files stored somewhere else. There are an endless number of approaches to backing up, but in the end, the backup scheme that works for you will depend on how important the data is to you and how much trouble you’re willing to take to make sure that it is backed up. The approach below is designed for the average home computer user. It is our attempt to balance convenience, cost and the relative importance of the different kinds of data that most people keep.

A word of warning:  backup is NOT a one-time thing.  The approach below suggests ways in which you can make regular backup as easy and automatic as reasonably possible, but no matter how automatic it is, you have to check it regularly to be sure that it is still working.  We regularly run into clients who have lost important stuff for the simple reason that their backup had stopped working, and they had not checked, and had not noticed.

What do I need to back up?

When we think about backup, we divide it into three categories. The first category is the data that changes almost every day—email, your calendar and address book, and documents that you are working on currently (like spreadsheets, presentations, or word processing documents). Let’s call this “daily data.”

The second is important data that changes infrequently—photos, music, home movies and documents that you need to keep for a long time (like tax returns, your will, your great American novel, etc.) Let’s call this “archive data.”

The third category is everything else—the operating system, the programs you’ve installed, and any tweaks you have made to make your computer work the way you like it. For simplicity, let’s call this “system data.”

All you really need to back up is your daily and archive data. System data is replaceable, because you can always re-install your programs and re-arrange your desktop. But since most people would strongly prefer a root canal to reinstalling Windows, it makes a lot of sense to back up your system data as well.

The only tricky part of backing up your daily data and archives is making sure you find and copy all of your important files. (See “Where is my data?,” below) Luckily, there are many user-friendly programs, both free and commercial, that will help you hunt down the right files and automatically create a backup on a regular schedule of your choosing. In short, there is no excuse for not backing up your data. Really, it’s not that hard. And boy, will you be glad you’ve done it when your hard drive crashes.

How often do I need to back up?

In an ideal world, one would simply back up everything all the time. But here in the real world, that’s rarely practical — or necessary. So we compromise.

The key is to back up your files frequently enough to ensure that you don’t lose a significant amount of data if your computer fails between backups, but not so frequently that backing up gets in your way and you stop doing it. Different types of data usually require backing up at different frequencies. Daily data should probably be backed up, well, once a day, but since relatively little changes each day, it’s quick, painless and easy to schedule to happen automatically. Archive data should be backed up when it changes, for most people somewhere between once a month and once a year, depending on how many new photos, videos, songs or other important documents they routinely create or acquire. System data does not need to be backed up very often — generally only after you make significant changes to your PC such as installing major new software or hardware.

OK, enough theory, tell me what to do!

The following approach is by no means perfect. It is not intended to be used by a business that would fail if it lost any data. It is just a reasonably easy and inexpensive approach appropriate for the average home user.

Remember the three types of data — daily, archive, and system? We’re going to advise you how to handle each one, but only you can decide which type to start with, or even whether you’ll do all three. WE STRONGLY ADVISE all three, but hey, you’re the decider. If your highest priority is your digital photo or music collection, then start with archive data; if you are less concerned about fire or flood but have personal or business documents that you really can’t afford to lose, perhaps you should start with daily data. If you’re ready to repent and commit wholeheartedly to backup, you can do all three at the same time reasonably easily. Here goes.

DAILY DATA

The main goal of daily data backup is to protect you against hardware failure. So, the answer is to duplicate the hardware. Purchase an external hard drive either online (try Amazon, NewEgg, TigerDirect, etc.) or at a local Staples, Best Buy, or other store. If possible, buy one that is at least twice the size of all the data currently on your PC (open “My Computer”; you should see the size of your “C:” drive there, if not, right click on “C:” and choose properties to get a pie chart showing how big your main hard drive is and how much free space you have.)

Now choose a backup software program. Many external hard disks come with a stripped down version of a heavy-duty commercial backup program. We’ve had mixed success with these—some do a nice job of simplifying the task of identifying the data to be backed up and setting up a backup schedule; others are complex and painfully slow. If you have a new operating system–Windows 7 or Mac OS 10.5 and up–your computer has competent backup software built in.  As third-party alternatives, we like Cobian Backup and Syncback, both free, but there are lots of other choices (see here), and paid software may make life easier.

There is another daily data option that you should know about, though we won’t go into detail here. It is possible, every time you save a file, to keep a copy of the original that you are replacing using “versioning” software. Many regular backup programs include versioning options, and there is at least one capable free program called File Hamster.

Your next step is where it can get a little tricky (but not too bad, honest): you need to tell the program which data to backup (see here) and how often to back it up.

With most backup software (but not Cobian or Syncback), the data you back up is stored in a special format to save space and time.  This means that you usually need to use the original backup software to get your files back, which can be awkward if your computer is kaput.  Any decent backup software will offer you the option to make a “rescue” or “restore” disk–MAKE THAT DISK AND KEEP IT SOMEWHERE SAFE!

Last, you MUST CHECK THAT THE BACKUP WORKED by trying to recover some of your data.

ARCHIVE DATA

If you have room on your external hard disk, you should include your archive data when setting up the backups for your daily data. If this results in backup taking too long, most backup software will let you set up a separate schedule to backup selected files less frequently.

External hard disks do not protect you from the risk of theft, fire, flood or storm unless you are willing to buy two, store one outside your house (at a neighbor’s house, perhaps), and switch them periodically. We recommend using DVDs as a means of storing archive data cheaply in a form that is easy to store outside of your house—in a safe deposit box, a relative’s kitchen drawer, or anywhere else you can think of. CDs can be used for the same purpose, but they store much less data (regular DVDs hold about 7 CDs worth of data; double-sided DVDs can double that) and are reputed to be somewhat less durable. DVDs are also handy if your archive data is so massive (as home videos and photos often are) that it fills up your external hard disk, preventing you from backing up data that changes more often.

We assume here that your computer has a DVD drive that can create (burn) CDs and DVDs, as most recent computers do. CD-burning software is built in to all current versions of Windows.  DVD burning software is built into Windows Vista and 7 and the newer versions of the Mac operating system.  You may also have a copy of DVD-burning software that came with your PC (probably Nero or Roxio). If none of this avails, download and install a free copy of CDBurnerXP.

From a practical standpoint, consistently backing up your archive data is the hardest part of a backup plan (because it requires some regular action on your part), but it’s also the most important. Put a note on your calendar, remember to do it when you file your taxes, whatever. Losing an important business document may be costly, but the funny pictures of your kid’s second birthday party are, as the ads say, priceless.

SYSTEM DATA

Last is system data. If you have a large enough external hard drive, then the easiest way to back up your system data is to save a complete disk image to that hard drive. Newer versions of Windows have the ability to create a system image built in (a “system image” in Windows 7, a “Complete PC Backup” in Vista), and the Mac Time Machine backs up system data along with everything else.  An alternative solution is to download and install a free copy ofDriveImage XML and follow the prompts to make a complete image of your hard disk; or, if you’re willing to spend $50 or so, buy a commercial program like Acronis True Image that will be faster and have an easier interface (and will take care of your daily and archive backups, too). In all events, be sure to create and keep the “rescue” or “restore” disk.

Now if your hard drive fails, you can restore a working copy from your backup and be up and running in minutes or hours rather than days. You won’t need to repeat this image process again until you undertake a major reconfiguration of your computer, though the more recent the image, the more seamless the recovery will be.

Belts AND Suspenders

There’s one last strategy that everyone should at least consider: an online backup service like Carbonite or Mozy. All of these services will back up your data (safely encrypted) on an ongoing basis without you having to do anything, and several offer a good chunk of storage for free.

In fact, if you really like the online idea, you can pay for more storage and back up both archive and daily data. This approach means once you’ve set it up, you don’t have to do anything, which is wonderful, but you should be aware that the initial backup will take a long time (weeks, literally), that you may need to order DVDs of your files to recover from a major disaster, and that your entire backup will be in the hands of an undercapitalized, likely unprofitable Internet startup (although Mozy now belongs to EMC, so that risk has largely passed). In other words, you may want to think of this as additional insurance rather than your only approach.

OK, I get it. But I still don’t want to do it!

Right. Well, neither do we. But we’ve helped enough clients rescue all… or most… or just some of their data to know how miserable that experience can be. Think about all those magnetized particles embedded in platters spinning at 10,000 RPM with heads hovering nanometers above them. Those particles are your files. Do you still want to close your eyes and pretend that hard drives only crash for other people? We didn’t think so.

Appendices

Where is my data?

Some software will go out and search for your data, but if you use free software, you’ll most likely have to tell it exactly what data you want to back up. On a Windows computer, most data will be in the “My Documents” folder (there is one for each user, plus there is a “shared” folder accessible to all users which often has pictures and music). Since many people store at least a few documents on their desktops, you may also want to back up C:\Users\[USER]\Desktop (C:\Documents and Settings\[USER]\Desktop in Windows XP). Internet Explorer “favorites” are right nearby, in C:\Users\[USER]\Favorites (C:\Documents and Settings\[USER]\Favorites in Windows XP), so grab those too. (Firefox users should export their bookmarks to a file and back up that file.)

Email can be tricky, since older versions of Outlook and the now defunct Outlook Express (which is not available on Windows 7) seemed to be designed to frustrate the unwary. By default, Outlook (at least through the 2007 version) stores email in files ending in “.pst” that are stored in C:\Users\[USER]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook. In Windows XP it’s the same, except that “Users” is called “Documents and Settings.”  Outlook Express normally stores your email in a series of “.dbx” files in a folder called … wait for it … C:\Documents and Settings\[USER]\Local Settings\Application Data\ Identities\{[GIBBERISH]}\ Microsoft\Outlook Express. Outlook Express usually stores your address book as a “.wab” file in C:\Documents and Settings\[USER]\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book. (If you use Outlook Express, you may want to read the Microsoft article on this topic). The new version of Outlook, Outlook 2010, stores email by default in a folder under your “My Documents” folder, which is great, and easy to back up.  But the replacement for Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, stores email in another difficult-to-reach location: C:\Users\[User]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail.

If you use web-based email, like Gmail, Yahoo, MSN or Hotmail, your email is stored somewhere in “the cloud,” a popular way of referring to the vast server farms maintained by major internet companies. To back up email from a web-based service, you need to actually download it using an email client program (Thunderbird, free from the makers of the Firefox web browser, is an excellent alternative to Outlook and Outlook Express), and then back up that program’s data.

To add to the fun, older versions of Quicken (and newer versions that are upgrades of older versions) store your financial data by default in C:\Program Files\Quicken, or a “data” directory in the Quicken folder. Photo and camera software can also store pictures, catalogs and albums in idiosyncratic locations. It’s worth opening the C:\Program Files folder (and, if you use a 64-bit version of Windows 7, your C:\Program Files (x86) folder), looking through the programs you have installed, and asking yourself whether they have data that might be stored somewhere other than My Documents. Older programs are particularly likely to hide your data from you, but most will have a back up or export option. Find it and use it.

What software should I choose?

Free is always a great price, and there are many very able programs available that may suit your needs. On the other hand, paid software often comes with better support, more features, and an easier user interface. The choice is yours.

Freeware

Commercial Software

Data Backup Software Reviews, from toptenreviews.com. This site provides a very useful feature chart for 10 popular and robust backup software packages.

Services

Easy Online Backup Roundup (PC World, May 2010)