Guest emcating Posted August 6, 2008 Posted August 6, 2008 I'm not extremely familiar with PC's but my boss is looking into backing up her files on her computer and I have no idea how! She has windows XP.. how do I go about doing this? Do i need to buy software or is there something i can dowload?
Guest R. McCarty Posted August 6, 2008 Posted August 6, 2008 Re: Backups Key question, do you want to have to administer/monitor/maintain it or just have something that takes care of itself. Carbonite or Mozy are two online automatic backup providers that you can investigate. Otherwise you'll have to buy backup software, media and manage the backups. For business use, you'd be better off using one of the secure, off-site providers. Cost varies depending on the plan and amount of data that needs protection. "emcating" <emcating@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:B71CCF1C-0617-4CF1-8872-66E0E7956D6B@microsoft.com... > I'm not extremely familiar with PC's but my boss is looking into backing > up > her files on her computer and I have no idea how! She has windows XP.. how > do > I go about doing this? Do i need to buy software or is there something i > can > dowload? > >
Guest Juan Perez Posted August 6, 2008 Posted August 6, 2008 Re: Backups Hi: There are several 3rd party aplication that you can use to make backups. But normally in windows XP you use the software backup. You can find it in Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools-> Backup. Some references: Windows XP Backup Made Easy http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/bott_03july14.mspx 10 things you should know about Windows XP Backup http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6104186.html -- Un Saludo Juan Perez "emcating" <emcating@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:B71CCF1C-0617-4CF1-8872-66E0E7956D6B@microsoft.com... > I'm not extremely familiar with PC's but my boss is looking into backing > up > her files on her computer and I have no idea how! She has windows XP.. how > do > I go about doing this? Do i need to buy software or is there something i > can > dowload? > >
Guest Kayman Posted August 6, 2008 Posted August 6, 2008 Re: Backups On Wed, 6 Aug 2008 07:19:01 -0700, emcating wrote: > I'm not extremely familiar with PC's but my boss is looking into backing up > her files on her computer and I have no idea how! She has windows XP.. how do > I go about doing this? Do i need to buy software or is there something i can > dowload? If you opt for a 3rd party application, here are some better ones to chose from: Powerful backup that is easy to do! http://www.acronis.com.sg/homecomputing/ Casper™ Backup Solution for Windows http://www.fssdev.com/ Norton Ghost™ http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/overview.jsp?pcid=br&pvid=ghost12
Guest HeyBub Posted August 6, 2008 Posted August 6, 2008 Re: Backups emcating wrote: > I'm not extremely familiar with PC's but my boss is looking into > backing up her files on her computer and I have no idea how! She has > windows XP.. how do I go about doing this? Do i need to buy software > or is there something i can dowload? ZIP the files needing backup and send 'em to your Gmail account as an attachement. Gmail lets you have some gigabytes of storage (maybe terabytes by now). Yahoo and Hotmail also offer oodles of storage. Hint: You'll have to change the .zip extension first or Gmail won't accept it.
Guest Daniel Schaffer Posted August 6, 2008 Posted August 6, 2008 Re: Backups Hi It's helpful to distinguish backing up data from backing up the operating system and program files. The data may change everyday and is probably much smaller that the OS and programs. To backup data you can use Windows own backup system which can be scheduled to run as often as you like. I use Zipbackup because I like the way it retains the directory structure of the backed up files. I tell it to backup "My Documents". Then you have the question of where to save the backup file. You can save it to an external hard disk, but if you are really obsessive (and I am) you can burn it to a DVD or a portable hard disk (mine is about the size of a pack of playing cards) and save the DVD or hard disk off the premises. Backing up the OS and program files will take longer, and produce a much bigger file. This is often called "imaging". Ghost and Acronis True Image are popular programs but I find Terabyte Unlimited's Image for DOS cheaper and more reliable. The latter is a suite: it includes a program that runs from Windows and Image for Linux. I'd go with Terabyte because their support is splendid. You can store the image on an external hard disk, but I also burn it to DVDs or a portable hard disk which I keep off the premises. Good luck, Dan S "emcating" <emcating@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:B71CCF1C-0617-4CF1-8872-66E0E7956D6B@microsoft.com... > I'm not extremely familiar with PC's but my boss is looking into backing > up > her files on her computer and I have no idea how! She has windows XP.. how > do > I go about doing this? Do i need to buy software or is there something i > can > dowload? > >
Guest Ken Blake, MVP Posted August 6, 2008 Posted August 6, 2008 Re: Backups On Wed, 6 Aug 2008 07:19:01 -0700, emcating <emcating@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > I'm not extremely familiar with PC's but my boss is looking into backing up > her files on her computer and I have no idea how! She has windows XP.. how do > I go about doing this? Do i need to buy software or is there something i can > dowload? You might want to read this article I recently wrote: "Back Up Your Computer Regularly and Reliably at http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=314 -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Guest Twayne Posted August 6, 2008 Posted August 6, 2008 Re: Backups > On Wed, 6 Aug 2008 07:19:01 -0700, emcating > <emcating@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > >> I'm not extremely familiar with PC's but my boss is looking into >> backing up her files on her computer and I have no idea how! She has >> windows XP.. how do I go about doing this? Do i need to buy software >> or is there something i can dowload? > > > You might want to read this article I recently wrote: "Back Up Your > Computer Regularly and Reliably at > http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=314 Pretty decent article; good going. FYI, I'm a long time WinZip fan and as long as you aren't backing up the operating system, it now has a programmable "Jobs" function to do backups. I like it because it's fast and gives good compression for using CDs/DVDs. I use it sort of like you do for those "instant" backups of things I just worked on might want to go back to often (development, etc.). I just fire it from a batch file on my desktop. Cheers,
Guest Ken Blake, MVP Posted August 6, 2008 Posted August 6, 2008 Re: Backups On Wed, 6 Aug 2008 15:16:44 -0400, "Twayne" <nobody@devnull.spamcop.net> wrote: > > On Wed, 6 Aug 2008 07:19:01 -0700, emcating > > <emcating@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > > > >> I'm not extremely familiar with PC's but my boss is looking into > >> backing up her files on her computer and I have no idea how! She has > >> windows XP.. how do I go about doing this? Do i need to buy software > >> or is there something i can dowload? > > > > > > You might want to read this article I recently wrote: "Back Up Your > > Computer Regularly and Reliably at > > http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=314 > > Pretty decent article; good going. Thanks for the kind words. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Guest Hula Baloo Posted August 6, 2008 Posted August 6, 2008 Re: Backups emcating wrote: > I'm not extremely familiar with PC's but my boss is looking into backing up > her files on her computer and I have no idea how! She has windows XP.. how do > I go about doing this? Do i need to buy software or is there something i can > dowload? > > In my experience anything less than a totally automated solution quickly becomes a pain, and is too often abandoned, forgotten, or both. For me I use an external hard drive (USB in my case, but eSATA and Firewire are good alternatives) with Norton Ghost. There're other good ones out there like Acronis True Image, but I chose Norton Ghost before I became aware of the others. I shyed away from the freeware and shareware programs because I want both the security of a product backed by a large commercial organization, their support, and some of the extra bells and whistles they provide. Now I have Ghost set up to take a full backup weekly, maintaining 3 generations (3 weeks worth of backups, but this could be any number you wish as long as you have the space) with incremental backups every 4 hours during the week between full backups. This is a set it and forget it operation that runs automatically untouched by human hands. If my computer & its hard disk self-destruct, I never lose more than 4 hours worth of data, and recovery is quick and easy. The only thing the above doesn't take care of is complete disaster recovery where something like a house fire destroys my computer AND backup drive. To cover that I back up my data periodically to a CD (use a DVD or some other device if you need more capacity), and put the CD offsite. In this case I'd have to re-install the software, then recover the data from the CD backup. It's been working for me for 6 or 7 years, and it's saved my bacon on numerous occasions, once when my main computer was fried by a lightning strike. YMMV
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