Ways and Devices To Backup Your PC
These days, with digital media and other forms of data being the norm, backing up your computer has become more critical than ever in order to preserve your precious content. In order to backup your data you can ether drug and drop or copy and paste it somewhere else (we’ll discuss it just in the moment) or use backup utility. Windows XP and Vista have built-in backup utility that enables PC data backup and their restore. Windows XP Professional has this program built-in ready to go but XP Home Edition has it on an instalation CD and here is the Microsoft guide how to install the backup utility from the CD-ROM in Windows XP Home Edition.
However, windows backup utilities are much worse compare to third-party backup software like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image Home 2009 . Windows XP doesn’t use disk image technology but has rather very limited backup utility. While Windows Vista is much better in this regard than XP using full image-based backup technology (except Vista Home Edition that has only basic functionality and Vista Starter that doesn’t have backup feature at all) it still has some limitations.
However, in order to backup an exact image bit by bit of an entire partition or a hard disc and be able to fully restore it to the original state you have to use disc-imaging solution like Acronis True Image Home 2009 or Norton Ghost which today are leading backup programs in the market. Acronis cost less and more user friendly than Norton Ghost and supports Windows XP, Vista, XP 2000 and does an exceptional job of backing up, restoring, recovering, cloning, and has additional tools to keep your PC safe. Acronis has 15 days trial program that has the same features as the paid version.
Let’s take a look on ways of backing up your treasures. storage devices
External Hard Drives
This is a very popular method of backup. It is very simple to use, offers a vast array of capacities and is relatively cost effective. Just as an internal drive, an external hard drive is connected to your PC usually using USB and is seen by Windows or your operating system as a Mass Storage Device. This allows you to drag and drop your files onto the external unit or use backup software to make a full data backup or create a hard disk image. Some models also come with their own software that enables either one touch or automated backups that can be scheduled to meet your needs.
The adventage of using external hard drives is that you can move it away to another place in case of major desastor so that your data can stay always safe and you can retrieve it at any time. A portable external HDs can be very small in size and big in capacity up to 1 TB (1000 G), it is very comfortable to take it with you wherever you go.
Internal Hard Drives
As an external hard drives additional internal HD can serve as a backup as well. It is placed inside of Desktop computers and is basically very similar to an external hard drive except that it is in the fixed position inside of your PC and is connected through IDE or Sata connectors that makes communication and data transfer much faster, therefore a backup and its restoration process is much faster than through USB connection. Actually it is the same as your main system hard drive.
Media Backup
Since today’s computers are predominantly equipped with DVD writers, one can also easily back up their data to DVD or CD media. Furthermore, the cost of media has severely decreased through the years, making this a good and inexpensive form of back up. However there are some limitations as per the size of the files a single disc can accommodate and this makes it less than ideal for larger files such as digital video. A single layered DVD disc will contain 4.7GB of data, enough to back up 3500 high definition images or 1000 MP3’s. Coupled with good DVD creation software such as Nero or Easy DVD Creator, this is a good way to back up your data frequently.
USB Keys
While most of us use USB keys to transport data from one computer to another, the recent price drops have made it possible to use them as backup tools. Paired with increasing drive capacities, this is quickly becoming an ideal way to backup smaller files such as work or school documents that are often modified. For example you could use an 8GB stick to back up current photos and work in progress.
RAID
This is a more complex way of backing up your data, but it has the advantage of being self operated once you set it up. RAID is a technology used by storage firms to replicate or couple drives to increase safety or performance. In this case what we need is 2 identical hard drives as well as a RAID compatible motherboard or RAID controller. This is an expensive setup but it is nearly fail-safe, except in case of natural disaster. Another inconvenient of RAID is that it is not fail proof against human error. So if by accident you erase a file, you also erase the backup. Therefore we recommend RAID to be used in conjunction with another type of backup.
Online backup solutions
This is a wildly growing backup solution. As most of us increase our use of the Internet, some of us use it to remotely back up our data. Some tools allow you to simply back up your data while other more complex and feature filled application based services such as Acronis True Image back up your entire PC, including the operating system and user settings. Most online services charge a monthly or annual service fee that varies greatly depending on the features and storage capacity.
Network Computer
This is another very convenient way to backup your PC if you have a network of two or more PCs. You can choose specific computer as a backup place and store there all PCs in the network. Whatever trouble you have you always can restore your data or whole PC using a network.