Backing Up Your Computer

We can help you gain peace of mind by setting up a backup system that will make sure your valuable information is not lost, regardless of what might happen to your computer. Below is a short description of some of the things to consider about backing things up.

Detailed instructions for backing up to disk and to a network server are a little farther down on this page. For the impatient, just go here.

Note: If your machine has already been clobbered, it may not be too late to get the data off. See our Data Recovery page for some ideas on bringing your data back from the dead.

If you don't want to try this yourself, give us a call at 707.829.3793.

How Can I Kill Thee? Let Me Count The Ways!

It is difficult to overstate the importance of backing up your computer on a regular basis. Ignoring the threat posed by viruses and other nasties, there are still a lot of ways for your data to die.

• Hardware Failure,
• Software Failure (operating system or applications),
• Fire damage – from both heat and water used to douse the fire,
• Flood,
• Theft (see our page on AB 700),
• Employees – disgruntled and/or incompetent,
• Power Spikes – electrical storms and vacuum cleaners,
• Friendly Fire – pets and kids (especially teenagers).

Now, I'm not trying to scare you ... OK, yes, I am, but I'm just trying to get your attention so I can tell you what you can do to save your assets.

Not All Backups Are Alike

Here are some guiding principles on choosing a backup system.

• Any backup is better than no backup.
• Backing up folder-hierarchies is better than backing up a list of named files. If all important files live within the hierarchy, then even newly created ones will get backed up. Lists of specific file names can quickly get out of date.
• Farther is better. The farther away your backup lives from the master copy, the more likely it is to survive whatever killed the master.
• NHI – No Humans Involved. Automated backups get done, ones requiring manual actions often don't get done.

Two True Stories

1. A friend (you know who you are) dropped his laptop, it died and the disk was damaged. It contained the only copy of his 90%-completed new book. He had a CD burner. It would have cost him 5 minutes and $0.10 to make a backup. He spent $1,900 for a data recovery firm to get the book off of that damaged disk — and that was an up-front, "whether we succeed or fail" payment. Fortunately for him, they succeeded in recovering the file, but he could have saved $1,899.90 if he had just burned a CD.
2. Another friend (Hi, Marge!) manages a busy dental office. A few years ago on April 26th, she called to say they had a problem starting their server. While I was trying to figure out (over the phone) what was happening, she said, "Oh, by the way, we're also having trouble with our client machines."

   Sirens went off in my head and I did a quick google on 'virus April 26.' It was the Chernobyl virus, one of the most destructive ever created. It celebrates the Chernobyl nuclear disaster every year by wiping the disk and then literally rendering the motherboard inoperable. (For newer machines, it only wipes the disk, how nice.)

   Now, this woman is positively OCD (in the best possible sense) about backing up their huge patient database (26,000+ patients over the years, including all billing and insurance company info) to CD. She marched over to BestBuy and bought 5 new machines. She installed their database software, restored the database, and used hardcopy to enter the previous day's transactions. They were up and running by the end of the day.

   Result: Given their dependence on that database, it's possible she saved the practice.

The point, obviously, is that if you care about your data, Back It Up!

Backing Up to a Disk

Here is a simple backup plan to an external disk. The next section talks about backing up to an FTP server.

1. Determine the size of all the disks (or maybe just folder hierarchies) that you want to back up. Go to My Computer. Right click on each of your hard drives (not the CDs or DVDs) and click Properties. You can decide to either use the 'used' or the 'capacity' number – using the capacity number is probably a better call, but if you have a lot of big-but-mostly-empty disks, the 'used' number may be closer to the mark. Do this for all computers you want to back up on a single disk.
2. Buy an external disk that is at least 25% to 50% bigger than the number you got in item 1. Currently, 200GB drives go for under $100 and 500GB can be had for about $200. This is a lot of storage.

   If you are running Windows XP, see the page on Formatting Your New Disk.

3. On the machine that is to be the Backup Master (the one the disk is connected to), download Syncback Freeware Edition or try out their $25 SE version.
4. Install it and then RTFM (Read The Friendly Manual). You don't have to read all of it, but at least read the QuickStart (SE version) or Using SyncBack Freeware>Easy Mode sections.
5. Each machine other than the Backup Master needs to 'share' the top-level folder (and all of its subfolders) that you want to back up.

   Important! Do not create a 'writable file share'! (That's the box that says 'Allow network users to change my files.') Many viruses look for these and use them to infect other machines on the local network.

6. For each disk or folder-hierarchy you want to back up, create a SyncBack profile. Remember, RTFM!
7. Either run the profiles manually or set up a scheduled backup for when that system will be quiescent and all programs closed. NOTE: backing up open files is not a good idea, even if you can get it to work. Backing up open database files (including Quicken, QuickBooks, or Access) can lead to a gibberish backup, which is no backup at all.
8. If the house is burning down or the river is rising, grab your kids and your external disk drive and head for the hills! Although it's always better to shut down the disk properly, in an emergency, just rip the cables (which can be replaced) out of the back of the disk and go.

If you need help, call us at 707.829.3793.

Over-the-net Backup

1. On each machine that will backup something to the net, download Syncback Freeware Edition or try out their $25 SE version.
2. Install it and then RTFM (Read The Friendly Manual).
3. Create a new backup profile.
4. At the bottom of the screen titled "Profile Setup" there is a button labeled "Expert." Click that and you will see that there is now another row of tabs at the top of the screen.
5. Click the tab labeled "FTP."
6. Click the box labeled "The destination directory is on an FTP server."
7. Fill in the host info, username and password.
8. Now when you click on the folder icon to the right of the Destination line you will be asked if you wish to connect to the FTP server. Answer yes.
9. It will show you a directory listing of your FTP site. Either choose one of the existing directories (double click), or right click in the whitespace, choose Create Directory, give it a name, and then click it to make it your selected destination.
10. The rest of the setup is the same as going to a local disk. Remember, the manual is your friend, so RTFM!
11. Depending on where your server is located (ours are on the East Coast and in Europe), California could slide into the sea and your QuickBooks data would still be safe.

If you need help, call us at 707.829.3793.

Backing Up a Mac

One excellent program for backing up Macs running OS X is a program called SuperDuper! (I hate program names that contain punctuation.) It can create a bootable image of your main drive so that in the event of a complete disk failure, you can just switch the drives, reboot, and get on with your life. A feature-limited edition can be downloaded and used for free, and it's just $27.95 to unlock the the rest of the features.

I haven't used the program myself, but it has won numerous awards and has virtually no negative feedback on the web.