QMusings

For many of us, backing up our computer files is like exercise: we know we should do it but we don’t.

We’ll start … someday.

Then we have a heart attack (system crash) and now exercise (backing up your system regularly) is really important.

My mom’s PC crashed a few months ago. My mom is a typical PC user: she can email and use Internet Explorer and she can generally figure out how to use most programs.

For someone who’s creeping towards 70, she’s less typical in that she is computer literate. She is very typical for a person her age in that she’ll call her child (me) for computer help.

I’d been meaning to back up her system but when it comes to how she organizes her files it’s utter chaos: filenames with spaces, long filenames, little use of folders to organize.

I knew that burning CDs as back up would take me all day. One headache-producing day.

Well, that day came when her system crashed. I ended up going to her place and working with Dell Support to try to get the system working enough to save off her data. I have to admit, Dell support was very impressive. They were also really patient with my mom as well as very nice.

As nice as they were, I really don’t want to go through that stress again.

I also would like to prevent you from going through data-loss stress.

I’m not going to describe how to back up your system, as there are plenty of articles out there.

I’ll include a few links to get you started.

3 Very Basic Backup Tips

1. You should have a back up schedule.

If you create a lot of new files, you might have to have automatic daily back up. The types of data you store as well as its importance are a couple of variables that will determine your backup schedule. I do CD backups quarterly and have purchased an external hard drive for a daily back up.

2. You should have an offsite backup of your most important information.

What do I consider your most important information? Financial information.

Think about losing your house and having to create your financial picture from scratch. Talk about stress!

Burn a CD or DVD of everything you would need to recreate your financial life. This would include:

• Last 3 months of statements from financial institutions (banks, credit cards and brokerages)
• Contact information for your insurance companies.
• An ASCII file containing account numbers, user names and password. ASCII means you can read the file using a basic editor like Notepad. These are files that end in .txt. Note: I am not a security expert. It is up to you to protect this file.

If you have a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) save a backup. I have a Palm Zire 72 and export my Memos, Addresses and Calendar into the Palm custom file format (.aba files) as well as the more readable CSV (comma-separated-values) format.

I am fairly cautious about my personal information and use a crosscut shredder on anything with my name on it. However, I do keep an ASCII file containing account numbers, user names and passwords. I save this information in ASCII format so that I am not dependent on special software to read it. I save emails and my blogs in ASCII for the same reason. Editors come and go and I’d always like to be able to read certain documents like old emails and my writing.

If you decide to create this ASCII file containing your account numbers, user names and password, be sure to secure it in some way. You can secure the file via encryption and adding password protection. If you store it on a remote server, be sure to change the file permissions. I add basic security by compressing the file and adding a password.

If you don’t have a remote server or offsite location for your backup CD, you might store the file in a free email account. This way you could access from anywhere.

3. Backup-backup-backup!

Think about how much information you store on your computer. Think about if you lost it all.

Additional Resources on how as well as what to back up on your computer:

• Argentum has several documents on how to back up a Windows system. They break down the back ups into: Documents, Outlook, Registry, Email, Messenger and System.
• Microsoft has an article about how to back up your Windows XP system.
• PC World has an article with backup tips. It was written in 2005 so some of the recommended software has changed but the tips are still relevant.

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