A backup is a backup is a backup....or is it?

In the early days of personal computers, the first thing a new owner would do (I never did but my detail oriented husband, Rick, did) was to back up his or her entire computer on a series of floppy disks. That's what the manufacturer recommended.

These days, people would never think of backing up their entire computer on floppy disks, not when there are writable and re-writable CDs and DVDs available. You can even get external hard drives with 80 Gb of storage for less than $100. If you're interested in remote storage right off the bat, you can find services on the Internet that offer to store your backups for you. Before you back up ANYTHING, you need to decide what media you're going to use to store the backup. The question is: Do you still need to back up your entire hard drive?

This is when you need to decide what's important to you. Generally speaking, you do need to back up the files you've created (documents, pictures, audio, etc). I know the heartbreak of losing pictures because I didn't have them stored on a CD before I reinstalled my operating system. Along with those things, you also probably want to save your personal registry settings (this controls the look of your desktop, etc) and your e-mail (not me...I always need to clean mine out anyway...). Luckily for you XP users, there's a back up function that's a part of your operating system. If you're using Pro, it's already there and ready for you to use. If you're using Home, you'll need to install it from your Windows CD.

Before you do a backup, you want to make sure your system is "backup ready" by checking out a few things:

• If you use a third party software program, test it to make sure it works by backing up some unimportant files, deleting them from your C: drive, then trying to restore them from backup.


• Where do you plan to store your backup? If it consists of REALLY important files (geneology, for instance, is VERY difficult and time consuming to gather), you might want to make a copy of your backup on CD or DVD and keep it in a different location from the original backup.


• If you use your computer for business purposes, you should probably back up weekly. Personal users may want to do a monthly backup. Just decide on a regular schedule and stick to it!


• RUN A VIRUS SCAN AND AN ADWARE/SPYWARE SCAN ON YOUR COMPUTER BEFORE YOU BACK UP.....need I say more????


• Don't backup stuff that's not that important. There's no need to back up your entire computer (even though you may be tempted) since new computers come with restoration CDs these days to help you get your computer back up and running in the event of a system failure. Besides, can you imagine how much storage you'll need for that?

The Backup feature of Windows XP does allow you to choose what files/folders you want to backup. Personal users are generally covered if they back up everything in the Documents and Settings folder since that's where My Documents, your personal registry settings and your e-mail is stored.

If you have any questions about backing up or if you have any topics you'd like to hear Steve, Marty and me discuss on Rolla Mornings Live, just send me an e-mail. Check out the stream if you're not in our viewing area. My mom listens every time I'm on the air (and even other times, Steve). She tells me it sounds great. Until next time, plan those backups and git 'er dun!