Backing up your data

**Anilrgowda** · 25-Dec-2006, 09:12 PM

I hardly need to tell you why it's important to backup. Everyone has had his or her computer rendered inoperable at one point or another and a good number of you may have lost some stuff that you really valued. If you haven't, you're lucky, but now that we're in college we have work that we must safeguard.
Let's start by looking at the causes of data loss:

Viruses/Trojans/Spyware - This is the #1 cause, no doubt in my mind. Either the virus is intended to corrupt the system or the system becomes unstable as a result of all the bad software. Almost everyone can tell you a story about how they lost something because one day their computer wouldn't boot because of a virus.

User error - Either you or a family member accidentally deleting something. I know I've done it on occasion.

Computers just being computers - Sometimes the Operating System will just mess itself up, forcing you to do a recovery or format. Nothin' like waking up one morning to a nice BSOD.

Hard drive failure - Hard drives, being a mechanical component of the computer, are most prone to failure. If it fails, then you'll have to replace it. (There are certain businesses that do data recovery on broken HD's, but it is VERY expensive.)

Before I discuss the mediums which you can use to backup stuff, I must mention what you may want to backup. There's the obvious stuff, like your music, work and pictures. Then there is some stuff that I know I regretted not backing up the first time I formatted.

Favorites/Bookmarks, which are stored in different locations depending on your browser.

Saved Games, which are usually in the same folder as the game.

P2P Program - wherever you have your P2P program store downloads. I also like to backup the in progress downloads.

Passwords - sometimes the convenience of an auto-save password feature in a program might make us forget what the password is.

Programs - anything that you use that isn't on a CD.

Wallpapers, themes, etc.

Drivers - unless your drivers install with the recovery CD, you need to back them up.

Backing up the Operating System (Windows, OSX, Linux, etc.)
Now this is a little tricky. You can't just backup your Windows directory and expect to just copy it back if everything gets erased. Even if you could copy it, it wouldn't work anyway. If you have a recovery Windows or OSX installation CD, just use that. If you don't, I suggest you get one or make one while you can.
Disk imaging software exists where basically a complete copy of the hard disk is made, allowing you to restore it at a later point. Restoring an image is faster and sometimes easier than reinstalling the Operating System, but if you create an image of the drive you risk backing up the very problem that lead to the inevitable failure. The point of the matter is this: keep your recovery disks and don't bother backing up your Operating System.

Now that you know what you want to backup, it's time to look at the options of what to use to save all the data. Partition the hard drive:
You can take one hard drive and split it into logical partitions or sections, saving a copy of your data on one partition while keeping everything else, including the operating system, on the other. The advantage of this is you don't have to buy any new equipment. All the is required is a program like Partition Magic to do the work of splitting it. Partitioning the hard drive saves you if the Operating System crashes on you and you need to reinstall. However, if the hard drive itself fails or if you get a virus, you can still lose all of your data.
External/Extra Hard Drives:
You can buy another hard drive to put in the computer or USB hard drive for backup purposes. This protects you from everything except viruses since viruses can spread and delete stuff on external hard drives.
Network resources:
You can store your data on the home drive on Binghamton servers if you wish. The problem with that is it is a little more difficult and the space is very limited.
CD-RW/DVD-RW:
You can store your important data on CDs or DVDs if you have a burner and writeable CDs/DVDs. This protects you from viruses, as long as you don't have a virus during the time you are burning your important data. Unfortunately, CDs/DVDs can scratch, deteriorate over time and it's difficult to keep updated data.
Memory Sticks:
Easy and portable, they work like external hard drives, but are susceptible to the same pitfalls and have much less space.

Preventing and Detecting Hard Drive Failure The hard drive failing is one of the worst disaster situations, but fortunately do occur with warning in most cases. I think it's safe to say that all hard drives of today come with S.M.A.R.T. technology, which is on the hard drive and alerts the system if the hard drive is about to fail. The warning usually comes as a BIOS alert message when the computer is first booted.
If confronted with such an alert, turn off the computer immediately and make emergency plans to backup the data on it. The nice thing about S.M.A.R.T. is that it gives you warning enough so that you can backup, but only if you take the alert seriously and waste no time. Make plans on purchasing a replacement hard drive, for obvious reasons.
To prevent hard drive failure, handle your computer with care. If the hard drive itself is hit hard enough, it will break. It does not take much force to kill a hard drive. The habit of letting a laptop drop an inch to the desk will eventually kill the hard drive, as will bad packaging when you move your computer.

Restoration If your operating system is no longer... operating for whatever reason, then it's time to do a restore. This is done by taking the installation/recovery CD, putting it in the computer and having the computer boot from it. After the computer boots from the CD and loads the installation program, opt to format the drive and install. This is challenging to someone who hasn't done this sort of thing before. If you need help, ask for help and watch them do it.
If you partitioned the hard drive, you must format and install on the partition that does not have your backed up data. Failure to do so will result in a concussion from banging your head on the desk.
After reinstalling, you can just access the backup medium and begin copying everything back.

Synchronization Let's say you backup the MyDocuments folder. That's a folder that has the contents changed around constantly. It's also probably the folder with all your work, music and a mighty number of pictures. To keep manually keep your backup of the MyDocuments folder in synchronization would mean deleting and adding the folder in the backup again and again, which is just too time consuming. There are, however, programs that make keeping your backups in sync much easier. The synchronization tool I will be demonstrating to you is DSynchronize. It is free and it works quite well. There are plenty of other Synchronization tools, but they cost a great deal of money and work just as well.
If you are interested in trying it out, test it first! Make your own folder, put a bunch of stuff in it, then make another folder and try out synchronizing your stuff to it. I'm very sure you don't want to end up accidentally deleting all your precious documents because of a few errors in the settings you made. The best way to find any errors is by testing it first.

Above is the Dsynchronization window. If you right click in the sources window you will get a menu that allows you to add, delete and change folders that the program will synchronize. After you click the "add new..." button, you can enter the path manually or click the browse button to look through the folders until you find the one you want to synchronize. You will notice another empty line appearing on the right under "Destinations". Double click that line to enter the folder that you want the data backed up to. Entering in the paths is a bit unorthodox, yes, but it is free.

DSynchronize has a lot of settings you can adjust. If you hover over a setting it will give you a breif description in the form of a popup. I recommend you have the settings that I set, but what you do is up to you. DSynchronizer also has the ability to start automatically at specified time intervals and start with your computer, which can make your backups automated!

The above is an example of the filter. There might be a folder in the folder you synchronized that you don't want synchronized. Say, for example, that you have a folder called "Garbage Pictures" in your MyDocuments folder that you don't want synchronized. You can add "Garbage Pictures" to the filter and DSynchronize will ignore it. Now say you don't want any file with the extention .xls synchronized. All you have to do is add *.xls to the filter. Note the semicolon ';' that is used in the example above.

Disaster situations I didn't get drivers when I should have and now I'm stuck with hardware not working!
If you have internet access, then you can still download the drivers from the internet. If you don't have internet access (likely due to the lack of drivers for the network card), then find someone who can download them and put them on a memory stick or CD. Downloading the right drivers is important and that can only be achieved if you have the exact model # of your computer. The most likely place to get drivers is the vendor site (if you got a Toshiba computer, go to the Toshiba website).
I accidentally formatted a drive/partition I should not have. What do I do?
Recovery software exists, but work best if you do nothing else to the drive that you formatted. Ask a friend who has recovery software for help.
A hard drive with important stuff on it died on me.
If you think it's worth it, you need to take it to a computer shop and have them do data recovery. Just make sure that the hard drive is actually dead. Common signs are clicking, sounds of it "revving up" and then shutting off and getting frequent disk read errors.
A virus rendered my computer inoperable. What do I do?
Some virus scanners come on CDs that you can boot from and do a scan. Use that to scan whatever you backed up to ensure that there is not a virus on your backed up stuff. Otherwise you will reinfect yourself after restoring data. After that, reinstallation of the Operating System is usually necessary.
My recovery CD does not work or I don't have one!
Call up your vendor; they usually give replacement CDs for a price. Before you call, ensure your computer is physically with you so you can give them the information they need. If you don't have that option, you need to go out and get an operating system CD, such as Windows XP, Windows 2000, Suse Linux, etc.

25-Dec-2006, 09:12 PM	#1 (permalink)
Anilrgowda Administrator Posts: 18,702 Join Date: Jan 2006 Rep Power: 10 IM:	Backing up your data I hardly need to tell you why it's important to backup. Everyone has had his or her computer rendered inoperable at one point or another and a good number of you may have lost some stuff that you really valued. If you haven't, you're lucky, but now that we're in college we have work that we must safeguard. Let's start by looking at the causes of data loss: Viruses/Trojans/Spyware - This is the #1 cause, no doubt in my mind. Either the virus is intended to corrupt the system or the system becomes unstable as a result of all the bad software. Almost everyone can tell you a story about how they lost something because one day their computer wouldn't boot because of a virus. User error - Either you or a family member accidentally deleting something. I know I've done it on occasion. Computers just being computers - Sometimes the Operating System will just mess itself up, forcing you to do a recovery or format. Nothin' like waking up one morning to a nice BSOD. Hard drive failure - Hard drives, being a mechanical component of the computer, are most prone to failure. If it fails, then you'll have to replace it. (There are certain businesses that do data recovery on broken HD's, but it is VERY expensive.) Before I discuss the mediums which you can use to backup stuff, I must mention what you may want to backup. There's the obvious stuff, like your music, work and pictures. Then there is some stuff that I know I regretted not backing up the first time I formatted. Favorites/Bookmarks, which are stored in different locations depending on your browser. Saved Games, which are usually in the same folder as the game. P2P Program - wherever you have your P2P program store downloads. I also like to backup the in progress downloads. Passwords - sometimes the convenience of an auto-save password feature in a program might make us forget what the password is. Programs - anything that you use that isn't on a CD. Wallpapers, themes, etc. Drivers - unless your drivers install with the recovery CD, you need to back them up. Backing up the Operating System (Windows, OSX, Linux, etc.) Now this is a little tricky. You can't just backup your Windows directory and expect to just copy it back if everything gets erased. Even if you could copy it, it wouldn't work anyway. If you have a recovery Windows or OSX installation CD, just use that. If you don't, I suggest you get one or make one while you can. Disk imaging software exists where basically a complete copy of the hard disk is made, allowing you to restore it at a later point. Restoring an image is faster and sometimes easier than reinstalling the Operating System, but if you create an image of the drive you risk backing up the very problem that lead to the inevitable failure. The point of the matter is this: keep your recovery disks and don't bother backing up your Operating System. Now that you know what you want to backup, it's time to look at the options of what to use to save all the data. Partition the hard drive: You can take one hard drive and split it into logical partitions or sections, saving a copy of your data on one partition while keeping everything else, including the operating system, on the other. The advantage of this is you don't have to buy any new equipment. All the is required is a program like Partition Magic to do the work of splitting it. Partitioning the hard drive saves you if the Operating System crashes on you and you need to reinstall. However, if the hard drive itself fails or if you get a virus, you can still lose all of your data. External/Extra Hard Drives: You can buy another hard drive to put in the computer or USB hard drive for backup purposes. This protects you from everything except viruses since viruses can spread and delete stuff on external hard drives. Network resources: You can store your data on the home drive on Binghamton servers if you wish. The problem with that is it is a little more difficult and the space is very limited. CD-RW/DVD-RW: You can store your important data on CDs or DVDs if you have a burner and writeable CDs/DVDs. This protects you from viruses, as long as you don't have a virus during the time you are burning your important data. Unfortunately, CDs/DVDs can scratch, deteriorate over time and it's difficult to keep updated data. Memory Sticks: Easy and portable, they work like external hard drives, but are susceptible to the same pitfalls and have much less space. Preventing and Detecting Hard Drive Failure The hard drive failing is one of the worst disaster situations, but fortunately do occur with warning in most cases. I think it's safe to say that all hard drives of today come with S.M.A.R.T. technology, which is on the hard drive and alerts the system if the hard drive is about to fail. The warning usually comes as a BIOS alert message when the computer is first booted. If confronted with such an alert, turn off the computer immediately and make emergency plans to backup the data on it. The nice thing about S.M.A.R.T. is that it gives you warning enough so that you can backup, but only if you take the alert seriously and waste no time. Make plans on purchasing a replacement hard drive, for obvious reasons. To prevent hard drive failure, handle your computer with care. If the hard drive itself is hit hard enough, it will break. It does not take much force to kill a hard drive. The habit of letting a laptop drop an inch to the desk will eventually kill the hard drive, as will bad packaging when you move your computer. Restoration If your operating system is no longer... operating for whatever reason, then it's time to do a restore. This is done by taking the installation/recovery CD, putting it in the computer and having the computer boot from it. After the computer boots from the CD and loads the installation program, opt to format the drive and install. This is challenging to someone who hasn't done this sort of thing before. If you need help, ask for help and watch them do it. If you partitioned the hard drive, you must format and install on the partition that does not have your backed up data. Failure to do so will result in a concussion from banging your head on the desk. After reinstalling, you can just access the backup medium and begin copying everything back. Synchronization Let's say you backup the MyDocuments folder. That's a folder that has the contents changed around constantly. It's also probably the folder with all your work, music and a mighty number of pictures. To keep manually keep your backup of the MyDocuments folder in synchronization would mean deleting and adding the folder in the backup again and again, which is just too time consuming. There are, however, programs that make keeping your backups in sync much easier. The synchronization tool I will be demonstrating to you is DSynchronize. It is free and it works quite well. There are plenty of other Synchronization tools, but they cost a great deal of money and work just as well. If you are interested in trying it out, test it first! Make your own folder, put a bunch of stuff in it, then make another folder and try out synchronizing your stuff to it. I'm very sure you don't want to end up accidentally deleting all your precious documents because of a few errors in the settings you made. The best way to find any errors is by testing it first. Above is the Dsynchronization window. If you right click in the sources window you will get a menu that allows you to add, delete and change folders that the program will synchronize. After you click the "add new..." button, you can enter the path manually or click the browse button to look through the folders until you find the one you want to synchronize. You will notice another empty line appearing on the right under "Destinations". Double click that line to enter the folder that you want the data backed up to. Entering in the paths is a bit unorthodox, yes, but it is free. DSynchronize has a lot of settings you can adjust. If you hover over a setting it will give you a breif description in the form of a popup. I recommend you have the settings that I set, but what you do is up to you. DSynchronizer also has the ability to start automatically at specified time intervals and start with your computer, which can make your backups automated! The above is an example of the filter. There might be a folder in the folder you synchronized that you don't want synchronized. Say, for example, that you have a folder called "Garbage Pictures" in your MyDocuments folder that you don't want synchronized. You can add "Garbage Pictures" to the filter and DSynchronize will ignore it. Now say you don't want any file with the extention .xls synchronized. All you have to do is add .xls to the filter. Note the semicolon ';' that is used in the example above. Disaster situations* I didn't get drivers when I should have and now I'm stuck with hardware not working! If you have internet access, then you can still download the drivers from the internet. If you don't have internet access (likely due to the lack of drivers for the network card), then find someone who can download them and put them on a memory stick or CD. Downloading the right drivers is important and that can only be achieved if you have the exact model # of your computer. The most likely place to get drivers is the vendor site (if you got a Toshiba computer, go to the Toshiba website). I accidentally formatted a drive/partition I should not have. What do I do? Recovery software exists, but work best if you do nothing else to the drive that you formatted. Ask a friend who has recovery software for help. A hard drive with important stuff on it died on me. If you think it's worth it, you need to take it to a computer shop and have them do data recovery. Just make sure that the hard drive is actually dead. Common signs are clicking, sounds of it "revving up" and then shutting off and getting frequent disk read errors. A virus rendered my computer inoperable. What do I do? Some virus scanners come on CDs that you can boot from and do a scan. Use that to scan whatever you backed up to ensure that there is not a virus on your backed up stuff. Otherwise you will reinfect yourself after restoring data. After that, reinstallation of the Operating System is usually necessary. My recovery CD does not work or I don't have one! Call up your vendor; they usually give replacement CDs for a price. Before you call, ensure your computer is physically with you so you can give them the information they need. If you don't have that option, you need to go out and get an operating system CD, such as Windows XP, Windows 2000, Suse Linux, etc.

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