+Tech tips: computer backups

Tech Tips: Computer Backups

Backups? We don't got no stinking backups! Sounds foolish not to back up your files, right? Of course.

Sure, you know all about how important it is to back up your files. After all, your business relies on the data you have on your computer. That's why you have a tape drive, piles of floppies, a CD-writer, and hundreds of dollars worth of zip disks. Pretty proud of yourself, aren't you? And rightfully so. But...

Unless you work in a big data center, your backups are only partial measures.

What happens if someone breaks into your place of business? Steals your equipment? The IRS is known for doing just this! So are other government agencies, as well as your garden-variety thief. Suppose your building gets flooded, burns down, or gets hit by a tornado or hurricane?

Hmm. You're probably starting to think about how smart you'd be to have a remote backup, and you are right! The problem with remote backup is the cost. It's always been so expensive--but my, how things change!

How To Build Your Own Data Center

Erect a structure with thick cement walls and bullet-proof glass
Build a moat around it.
Install vehicle traps around it.
Hire security guards.
Install an expensive lightning protection and grounding system.
Install backup diesel generators and pay someone to test and maintain both the generators and the fuel.
Conduct regular fire drills and maintain your fire protection system.

Today, you can back up your system for free. Well, you can do that on an introductory basis. Then you pay a nominal fee. You'll go from losing sleep over potential data loss to losing sleep over the guilt of getting so much for so little, but which way would you rather have it?

Here's a good way to ensure you have a solid backup plan:

Back up your most critical files locally, whenever you change them, using a single medium that you keep writing over.
Back up all your important files to 3 media, marked A, B, and C. Rotate, so you have copies going three generations back.
Sign up for a remote backup service.
As an alternative to #3, create your own data center. See the sidebar to understand how to do this.

Why remote backups?

It works automatically every day.
You don't need extra hardware or devices.
You don't need to remember to backup.
You always know where your backup files are.
@ Backup is Y2K compliant!
It's easy to restore files.
You can use it while you travel.
It's inexpensive.

Even with backups, you can still have problems. And you may still want to recover what's on a failed drive. Check out these guys:

Data Recovery
http://www.vantagetech.com
Professional data recovery, disaster recovery, and file recovery services for all types of disk, tape, flash, and optical computer storage media.

Computer Resource Quicklinks

Click here for: computer prints, photos, and posters.
Click here to see all of our books on computers.
Click here to see all of our DVDs on computers.
Do you need to get in shape after spending too much time at the computer? Click here.

Working the Windows Desktop

The whole desktop approach ignores the fact that a computer's hard drive(s) are the electronic version of a paper filing cabinet. It also ignores the fact that people store a huge amount of files in that system. And it ignores a few dozen other facts relevant to using a computer. It's just a bad approach.

The desktop assumes you don't care what files you actually work on. It opens apps, not files, and this is the pathway to problems. You can inadvertently be revising the wrong thing, if you can even find it in the first place.

What you should do instead is use Windows Explorer. Microsoft tends to hide this, but it should be your standard interface with your computer, unless you don't mind working blind.

You can always right mouse click the Start button to invoke it, but you should add Windows Explorer to your Quick Launch bar and several other menus in Windows.

The default settings for Windows Explorer defy logic. Change these so you can actually see what files you are looking at. Enable it to show you the file extensions (unclick the insane "Hide extensions" box that is, stupidly enough, checked by default though actually there is never any reason to ever check this box). Select the option to show details. Now, you will be able to see your file size, file date, and other useful information. If you right click around a bit, you can find quite a bit of functionality in Windows Explorer.

If you haven't been using this interface previously, make a point of using it now. If you always open files from within Windows Explorer, you will always be able to see all available files and select the right one.

Use Windows Explorer to set up your filing system as if it's a paper filing cabinet. Save all files either on the data drive (dual hard drive machine) or in a folder on a single hard drive machine. Do NOT save files to the default locations. These never make any sense. They are typically within your applications, which is a dumb place to save them. That's how you end up with corrupted data files and it also makes file backups difficult.

For single-drive users, an easy solution is to create a folder called 0files as your top-level data folder. The zero means it will show up at the top of your file list, making things easy for you. Below this folder, create you filing structure. Never store anything at the root of this folder. Think of it as the shell of a five-drawer filing cabinet and don't toss stuff in the bottom. Always put files in folders that are in drawers.

With a good filing structure in place, you will always be able to find your files by simply clicking right to them. So think this out as you go and follow a good taxonomy. It's a much more effective way to work than how the zombies at Microsoft envision people working.

Recovering hard drive space

Even with today's huge drives, people sometimes run out of hard drive space. The steps below can recover wasted space.

Do a search for *.tmp files. Delete all of them. Then defrag your drive.

Do a search for *.bak files. Delete all of them. Then defrag your drive.

If you have any *.bmp files, change the format to *.jpg. This will result in radically smaller files. You need an image tool for this; if you don't have one installed already, then skip this step.
Set the Properties for the drive to compress files. In Windows Explorer, right mouse click the drive name. Then select Properties. Then select Compress to Save Drive Space. This could take a while, so unless you want your machine tied up for a few hours do this process one folder at a time and then do it for the whole drive.
If this issue is for your programs drive, then remove any programs you aren't using. Go to Control Panel | Remove Programs.
On your data drive, zip files you aren't using.

There are other steps you can take, but if, at this point, you are still low on disk space you really need to add another hard drive or upgrade one that's in your system. Or, another very cool option, is to add a My Ditto system. See our Review of the Dane my Ditto network server.