How To Backup Data

Backing up your important data is an essential part of your everyday computing life. Taking us backup is very important to save you from the data loss due to an unexpected hard disk crash. Simply copying all the files onto a secondary storage media isn’t the most efficient and intelligent way of backing up. Here we will look at the options that one has to make the process much more efficient.

Here are a couple of things that you need to have in hand before you begin backing up your data.

• A secondary storage media( preferably hard disk)
• Third-party software (Not necessary but make job easy)

The size of the secondary storage media depends on the amount of data you want to backup. If you have large amounts of data then install a secondary hard disk in your PC or attach an external hard disk.

If you are a Windows XP user then follow the following procedure (using unbuilt utility) :

Step 1: Launch the Backup utility

If you are using the Professional version of the Windows then the utility comes pre-installed. But if you are using the Home version or any other then you need to install it from the installation disc. After installing it launch the utility by navigating to Start Menu>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Backup.

Step 2: Navigate through wizard

After launching the utility you need to navigate through the wizard and choose “Backup files and settings” option on the second page.

Step 3: Select files and folders

You will then be presented with four options to choose which range from backing up just the My Documents folder to backing up everything up apart from selecting custom files and folders. So select the appropriate option and click Next.

Step 4 : Choose backup location and backup

You then need to select the location where the backup file will be saved. Select the secondary storage media as the location and choose an appropriate file name and click Next. It will then show you your backup preferences, click on Finish to start the process.

Backing up when using Windows Vista (inbuilt utility) :

The process is pretty much similar to what has been described for Windows XP. The only difference lies with the backup utility n question. All editions of Windows Vista have the Automatic File Backup utility to carry out the operation.

But if you happen to be using either of Business,Ultimate or the Enterprise editions of Vista then Microsoft equips with another powerful tool called Windows Complete PC Backup which can create images of your complete PC to be used in case of a hard disk failure.

Using third-party backup softwares is recommended due to the ease and functionality they offer to make the process simple. They even offer differential backups which save you time and space. They are full of options to customise your backup to the extreme. But none of the good backup softwares come as freeware, so you need to cough up few dollars to acquire a license.

Here are some of the popular third-party backup softwares :

• Acronis True Image Home
• NovaBackup
• SyncBackSE
• Symantec Backup Exec.
• Backup Platinum