Today we'll talk about one of the most important subjects every computer user should pay attention to: BACK UP YOUR FILES, BETTER STILL BACK UP YOUR ENTIRE HARD DRIVE, SO THAT IF IT FAILS, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO RECOVER EVERYTHING, INCLUDING ALL YOUR INSTALLED SOFTWARE PROGRAMS AND YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM, 100%.
First things first: in order to have a complete and safe back up of your hard drive, it is obvious that doing the back up in a separate folder in your hard drive is not the way to go; why? if your hard drive fails, there goes your back up too.
So, what should you do?
Get an external hard drive or another internal hard drive that you can install in your computer. The first option is by far the best because all you have to do is connect it to your computer via an USB terminal.
The second option, with due respect, can be a little difficult for those who are not very familiar with the computer internal components.
External drives are not expensive anymore. You can buy a 500 GB external drive for less then $100.00, (they used to cost #200.00/$300.00 in the past), and it is an absolute must to have.
How to do a complete back up? it is not that difficult. If you have Windows 7, it is really quite easy.
Click Start, go to control panel/ system security/backup and restore.
This will open a window, "Backup or Restore your Files". There you will be able to set up a schedule for regularly back up you files, (I am nor going into details, just read the instructions), but before you do that I strongly recommend that you create a system repair disk and a system image of your hard drive. All you have to do is click each title on the left column of the window and follow instructions.
A system image is an exact copy of a drive. By default, a system image includes the drives required for Windows to run. It also includes Windows and your system settings, programs, and files. You can use a system image to restore the contents of your computer if your hard disk or computer ever stops working. When you restore your computer from a system image, it's a complete restoration—you can't choose individual items to restore, and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced with the contents of the system image.
Although this type of backup includes your personal files, we recommend that you back up your files regularly using Windows Backup so that you can restore individual files and folders as needed. When you set up Windows Backup, you can let Windows choose what to back up, which will include a system image, or you can select the items that you want to back up and whether you want to include a system image.
If your computer contains several drives or partitions, you can create a system image that includes all of them by following the steps in Back up your programs, system settings, and files.
There is a very good free utility that does all this, perhaps more efficiently : Macrium Reflect Free Edition. You can download this very good program by clicking the following link:
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
I think I have given you plenty to work with for the week-end. Of course I am talking to those of you who do not yet have taken care of your computer back up procedures. I hope most of you have already done it if so great.
See you soon.
George Freire
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