Backups and Archiving

1) Plan your backup
The first step is to determine what needs to be backed up. How and what to backup are personal decisions based on how you use your computer. The following are some examples.

• Basic system: Data only Do you use your computer for personal use with its original factory configuration and perhaps an additional program or two? Consider a Data Only Backup Solution. Frequency of Backups would depend on how often information is added or changed. The more often you add or change files, the more often you should back them up. For programs like Outlook and Quicken, where it's not obvious where their data are kept; their help files usually describe how to back them up.
• Complex system: Hard drive imaging plus separate data backup Do you have a large number of programs installed and/or complex configurations that would take many hours to recreate? Would you or your business suffer if you had to take the time to set everything up from scratch? Consider a disk imaging solution. A disk image, created with a program such as Symantec's Ghost, is an exact copy of an entire hard drive. Create a new disk image every time a major system change is made. Then Backup your data as needed.
• Business system: Automated, complete system backup Does your computer contain real-time business data that changes frequently? Consider an automated software backup solution and redundant hardware systems. Implement a backup media rotation system and rotate a set off site. Super critical systems warrant complete backup computers and even entire off-premise facilities, called hot-sites.

Things to consider
Try to implement the simplest plan possible, which will still accomplish your goals. The less effort it takes to back up your computer, the more likely you will have a current backup when you need it. For example: configure your applications so they keep their data in a central location. By doing this, a backup can be accomplished by simply copying that one folder to a blank CD.

The programs and operating system on your computer are interconnected. A portion (Just the OS or a single Application) will not function apart from the whole. Data files on the other hand, are portable. Backup (and restore) either the entire computer or just the data; anything else won't work. In addition, operating systems are unique to the machine on which they were installed. If you restore an OS onto a different computer, it most likely will not work. There are ways around this problem, but they are difficult to implement. If you are dealing with irreparable or stolen hardware, your most straightforward option is to install your programs onto a replacement computer and restore only data.

Even if you choose a complete disk backup solution, not all the files need to be backed up. Some commercial music or video files are encoded so they will only work on the unit where they were originally downloaded. Whether they can be used on a different or recovered system depends on the Digital Rights Management (DRM) scheme used. Also, things like the Internet Cache and temporary files folders have no value. Backing them up will only waste your time and space on your backup media.

2) Determine if backup software is necessary
For most basic backups, simply copying the files to external media is adequate. For more complex situations, backup software can provide added flexibility. Backup software allows you to specify what parts of your computer you wish to include and exclude from the backup. They allow you to make Incremental or Differential backups, where only the files that have changed since the last backup session are copied, speeding the backup process. Most programs also have a timer, which can perform the backup after office hours. If the selected media cannot contain the entire archive, most programs allow backups to span multiple pieces of media. The resulting media can contain the following: Plain files (copy), disk images (Ghost), and archive files (backup programs). Everything except for the plain file copy requires using the creating program to restore files. In order to restore a backup, you need a functioning computer. Most backup programs come with bootable disks, which will allow you to use a computer with a corrupted (non-bootable) operating system. Many programs even allow restorations over network connections.

3) Select where you are going to put your backup
Once you know what needs to be backed up and how you can select appropriate media. Some things to consider include the following. Will the media hold the entire backup, or will you have to baby sit and swap in blank media as needed? How long it will take to run the backup? Do you want multiple sets of backup media to rotate offsite? The latter would be difficult with an external hard disk drive and easier with tapes or recordable DVDs. Some people opt not to use removable media at all and instead synchronize their data across multiple computers, home and office for example. Others choose on-line data warehouses on the Internet where they can store their backups. And still others put their trust in redundant (mirrored) drive systems. In the end, it’s up to you to decide what’s right for you.

4) Make a recovery plan and recovery kit
The best time to determine how to restore a system is not in the middle of a crisis. Consider making a written plan of the steps necessary to restore your computer before it is needed. Keep this plan updated and, if possible, test it to make sure it works. In addition, test your backups, making sure the media is readable and that it contains everything it is supposed to. Be aware that viruses and other malicious programs are just files on the hard drive and can inadvertently be included. A comprehensive antivirus package should be used on every computer.

Create a recovery kit and keep it in a secure but accessible location. Your recovery kit should contain the following:
• An up-to-date copy of your recovery plan
• Operating System or restore CDs and product key
• All application installation CDs and their product keys
• All programs needed to recover the backup data
• Anything else needed to make this or another computer functional.

Windows includes a backup utility that can save your files to removable media, a different hard drive, or a network drive. It does not directly support burning to recordable CD or DVD media.

Backup 2.0.2 is available to .Mac members by selecting the Backup icon on the .Mac website and via Automatic Software Update to .Mac members who have already installed a previous version of Backup.

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