Data Backup and System Recovery suggestions

It is important to understand that Computer Hard Drives serve you well if they last 5 years. Some have a one year warranty, some have a three year warranty.

Countless methods exist to protect your personal data. I can provoke ideas by showing my own methods and practices involving several PC's.

Protections and security cost money. That is why many businesses don't do it. They end up paying more later when disaster strikes, and it always does.

Consider the following precious items:

Warning: If you have only one or a few viruses, trojans or spyware on your machine, you won't know it.  Your backups will contain those demons.  Get them removed first!
  • Financial Records
  • Digital Photos
  • Address Book
  • Program profiles
Hardware required:
Install a 2nd Hard drive:
Do it yourself or get it done for $100 including drive and partitoning
Internal Hard drive

 

 
Several advantages exist for this method:
  • you can install a second bootable copy of your Windows system.
  • Slight performance advantage in backups.
  • Takes up a lot less space (Hardware restrictions apply).
  • Slightly cheaper, but less flexible.
USB-2 Hard drive
If your system is new enough, you already have USB-2.  Otherwise, add a USB-2 hub adapter to an available PCI slot.  Notebooks can get a PC-Card adapter for cheap.

Phase 1 (Question: Why is it so complicated?)

Add a 2nd hard drive and partition it. If you do not have Partition Magic, then use the Windows XP "Disk Management"

Start/Programs/Administrative Tools/Computer Managment

Select "Disk Management"

You can also get there with: RMB on "My Computer" and select "Manage"
HD-2
60+ GB		 Pri-6 GB
2 GB
Pers.Data
8 GB
Image Library
Backups
  • 1st partition should be 6-8 GB Primary (Bootable Maintenance system) Partition.
  • 2nd Partition should be 2 GB for personal data (excluding images).
  • 3rd partition (size negotiable) for Image Library.
    • Organize by year.
    • Backup to CDROM every year. Store one copy off-site for fire protection.
  • Last partition for Operating System Backups.

Reorganize personal data with the intent to ptotect it if/when you ever have to format and rebuild your system disk (Drive C;)

Label each drive so you know what it is regardless of the letter assigned. Example

HD-1

  • HD1_WindowsXP (Important later)

HD-2

  • HD2_XP_MAINT
  • HD2_PERSDATA
  • HD2_IMAGELIB
  • HD2_ARCHIVE
Here is how your system should look.
HD-1
40 GB

HD-2
60+ GB		 Pri-6 GB
2 GB
Pers.Data
8 GB
Image Library
Backups and sandbox
Each User ID
  • Move their "My Documents" folder to the 2nd Hard drive. See Foot note
  • Adopt the practice to save all personal data in your "documents" folder
  • Adopt the practice to get organized in your folder and subfolder naming.
  • Locate each application that has personal data (like address books, bookmarks, etc) and copy them into an appropriate folder on the new hard drive. This is not casual user activity.
Backup Software I use
Partition Magic or Ghost
Backup Scheduling
can be scheduled with Windows Live OneCare and Ghost 10
Windows XP?
  • Enable System Restore

Phase 2

After you have completed Phase 1, you should consider exploiting all of that unused Hard Drive space on your original Hard drive. At the very least, you should want to back up your XP Maintenance Partition. It is also useful to backup your Personal Data now residing in folders on HD2_PERS.DATA

It is not necessary to partition HD1, however, if you want to guard against losing the backups (if you ever have to format the system drive,) the system should be put into it's own partition. This is not a procedure for the "faint of heart".

Partition the original Hard drive like this. Use Partition Magic to resize the partition down to maybe 10 GB.

When done, make the remainder of the drive one big Extended partion. See Footnote to persons with an upgraded Windows ME system to XP system.

HD-1
40 GB		 Pri-8 GB
Windows XP		 Backup HD-2
-XP Maintenance
-Pers.Data

Phase 3

What good is all this time, effort and money if:

  • Someone steals your PC?
  • House burns down?

Off-Site storage is the only solution. Personally, I save tax and financial data on a remote Web site. The data across several years amounts to about 20 MB.

Consider things like TurboTax data, Checking account data, profiles and other precious documents that are not hard copy and saved elsewhere.

Most ISPs offer each user 10MB of personal space for your own web page. You do not have to use it that way. you can pack files (zip) and FTP upload them to your 10MB personal space.

If you need more space, there are countless affordable web site hosting businese that can be had for cheap. If you are a techie, you can have several hundred MB for 6 bucks a month plus $15 a year for a domain name. Or you can get it all in one package for 9-15 bucks a month.

Notes:

Moving your "My Documents" to another place:
RMB (right mouse button) on your "My Documents" folder and LMB click on the "Move" button. Put it in your own named folder on HD2_PERSDATA.

Windows ME upgraded systems: Consider visiting eBay and getting an affordable version of Windows XP home OEM version for less than $100 sometimes (watch for the high shipping charges). Be patient. Otherwise it is $199 at your local stores.

The XP Upgrade disk you were supplied is not an adequate "system Recovery" CD. Now is the time to fix your system right.

You have all your personal data living on the new hard drive. It is time to partition your drive with either Partition Magic, or use the XP "Disk Manage" facility. Partition Magic booted from it's recovery disks is highly recommended.

Format C: and install your newly acquired Windows XP Home.

Install all your application that you have now wiped out.

Comments and suggestion are welcome. Carl Lackey