| Are you regularly backing up the hard drive | | | | just mirrors. |
| on your PC? | | | | |
| | | | In my machine I have two hard disk drives |
| It has been said that there are two kinds of | | | | ... not to double |
| people ... | | | | |
| | | | my storage capacity, but to provide a |
| those who have had a hard disk crash and | | | | continuous backup |
| those who will. | | | | |
| | | | of my hard drive. |
| I'll tell you some easy ways to protect your | | | | |
| data.And I present my qualifications by | | | | Every time my computer writes to the disk |
| saying that I have experience | | | | drive, it actually |
| | | | |
| with data storage and backup. | | | | writes the same data to two different disk |
| | | | drives. They |
| And you know the definition of experience | | | | |
| right? | | | | are a mirror image of one another. |
| | | | |
| Experience is what you get when you didn't | | | | Most Windows computers since Windows NT have |
| get what you wanted!Let me begin by saying | | | | had this |
| that I have used many different | | | | |
| | | | capability.The first, and most painful part, |
| kinds of backup devices over the years. | | | | is to get two hard drives |
| | | | |
| I have used cassette tapes, floppy disks, | | | | in your system. |
| tape cartridges, | | | | |
| | | | I usually buy my computers that way, but |
| disk cartridges, writable CDs, writable | | | | |
| DVDs, and external drives. | | | | I have added hard drives later. |
| | | | |
| And I still recommend some form of this kind | | | | It's not exorbitantly expensive though. |
| of backup | | | | |
| | | | Hard drives, even large hard drives, are |
| today. | | | | reasonably priced these days. |
| | | | |
| For today's high-capacity disk drives, you | | | | It's usually best to have the two hard |
| can't go | | | | drives the same size |
| | | | |
| wrong by backing up, at the least, your | | | | (or you waste space in some form). |
| critical data | | | | |
| | | | And I like to have the drives from the same |
| on some external media. | | | | manufacturer |
| | | | |
| Because even if you don't use your PC to | | | | (but maybe I'm just anal). |
| store sensitive | | | | |
| | | | I say painful, because you, or someone will |
| personal or financial data, there are still | | | | have to open up your |
| | | | |
| configuration settings for your PC you may | | | | PC and put a second drive in if doesn't |
| not want to lose.Now you can buy hardware and | | | | already have one. |
| software that automatically starts backups | | | | |
| | | | If you don't feel qualified to do this, |
| and cycles backup media in and out of the | | | | check with your |
| backup device as necessary. | | | | |
| | | | nearest PC store. |
| But that tends to be pricy and best left to | | | | |
| servers. | | | | Most will do it for you, for a fee, or for |
| | | | free if you buy |
| I'll leave that topic for another time.If | | | | |
| your system has a drive that supports | | | | the hard disk there. |
| writable CDs | | | | |
| | | | They may even perform the next step which is |
| or DVDs you can manually backup your hard | | | | to set up the mirror.After that, you go to |
| drive on this | | | | the Control Panel, select Administrative |
| | | | Tools, |
| type of media. | | | | |
| | | | then select Computer Management, then click |
| Writable CDs and DVDs can hold from 650 | | | | on Disk Management. |
| megabytes (MB) | | | | |
| | | | You right-click on the existing or "old" |
| up to 4 gigabtyes (GB) and more of data. | | | | volume and select "Add Mirror", then |
| | | | |
| Your CD or DVD writer probably came with | | | | right-click on the new disk that will host |
| software that | | | | the mirror and select "Add Mirror". |
| | | | |
| lets you drag copies of data from the hard | | | | This will establish a mirror and initially |
| drive | | | | copy the |
| | | | |
| to the CD or DVD drive folder. | | | | data from the "old" drive to the "new" |
| | | | mirror. Thereafter, the |
| Or it may even include some automatic backup | | | | |
| software. | | | | data is automatically written to both drives |
| | | | when changes or updates |
| One disadvantage of CDs and even DVDs is | | | | |
| that hard | | | | occur. |
| | | | |
| drives today typically won't fit on one of | | | | You can also view the status of your |
| these. | | | | mirrored volumes to make sure the |
| | | | |
| With hard drives in the range of 10-200GB | | | | mirrors are healthy and all your data is |
| are common. | | | | backed up. |
| | | | |
| And it's not unusual to see 250GB drives | | | | On Windows systems you may not see the |
| now. | | | | options for mirrors until |
| | | | |
| Another disadvantage is the write speed. | | | | you have a new unused drive in your system |
| | | | on which you can create a mirror. |
| Even with high-speed CD or DVD writers it | | | | |
| can take a long while.Another option is an | | | | There are detailed instructions for your |
| external disk drive. | | | | version of Windows |
| | | | |
| Large sizes are available which makes it | | | | on Microsoft's site.I recommend to all my |
| possible | | | | friends to set up mirrored disks. |
| | | | |
| to backup your entire hard drive in many | | | | I've had a couple of friends call to tell me |
| cases. | | | | they had a |
| | | | |
| And the hard disk drives are very fast. | | | | a hard disk crash. |
| | | | |
| You can copy an entire drive quickly.However | | | | Instead of a catastophic loss of data, this |
| many people find it difficult to make data | | | | turned into a minor inconvenience while we |
| backups | | | | recovered |
| | | | |
| on a regular schedule. | | | | the data from the other disk. |
| | | | |
| I'm a people! I mean I'm a person and I just | | | | They expressed undying gratitude and told me |
| can't | | | | they would be eternally indebted ... |
| | | | |
| seem to make the time for backing up my | | | | because they couldn't pay me anything!What |
| data.So I'll tell you what I do. | | | | will your reaction be when you have that hard |
| | | | disk crash? |
| I use mirrors! Not smoke and mirrors ... | | | | |