Computer backups
From WhyNotWiki
[edit] The copy files to another hard disk method
The best and simplest solution I've come across so far by far is to just copy all files that are important to me to one or more hard drives. No worrying about tapes or DVDs or an external media of any type... No special software needed to back up: just use the operating system's built-in copy feature. Restores? Don't need any special software for that either, and you'll never be up a creek without a paddle because your files are in some proprietary archive format and the archive file is corrupted or you no longer have the program you used to back up with. Since the files are just that--normal files--you can get at them the same way you would your original files: selectively restoring individual files, copying whole folders, or restoring the whole backup tree.
disadvantages:
- takes a lot of space-- granted, you wouldn't benefit from the compression capabilities you get when a store in a archive file (a zip file, for example), but (1) space is cheap and (2) I feel more confident that I'll be able to get to my backed-up files when I need them (in an emergency, for example!) if they're just normal files and not in any special format. And that feeling of data security is really about as important as the actual data security itself.
- few tools available to automate the process. Most backup programs use some special archive format. Fortunately, since it's so simple, it's easy to automate without any special software.
[edit] Potential points of failure
- natural disaster: your whole computer could be destroyed by fire or flood. That's why it's good to periodically back up to an off-site location as well.
- hard drive failure: that's why I always back up to (at least one) a separate disk from my source desk.
- automation process: are you sure it's really backing automatically every day?
- backup format: I prefer making identical copies of my files rather than putting them in an archive because: even if one file is corrupted at least I don't lose the whole back up, like a what if everything was in one giant file.
