Strategies, information and techniques on how to backup data!
Data backup is simple to do, at least on paper. But there are a number of different alternatives and aspects for how to make data backup of computers which you should considered. You must choose the backup data software products which are right for your specific needs.
This can be:
Specific data files and folder
You may want to make regular backup of only the specific files you are using. There are two main reasons for doing this.
A backup of a smaller set of data backup can be made fast.
You may not have access to any backup device which can be used for the backup of all your files on your drive.
Full hard disk backup
This is the most common form of data backup and is what most people think of when they hear the term data backup.
Here you make security hard disk backup of your whole hard disk. For this you must have access to a backup device which is large enough to store a full backup. This can be tapes, DVD’s, on to other hard disks or on networks.
Disk image backup
With this backup you backup the whole hard disk image on to another backup device. This is often to another server on a network, disk drive or to DVD’s.
The advantage for doing this type of backup is that the restoration time is short if a hard disk failure occurs.
Usually you create a boot disk on a floppy or on a CD from which you will be able to start the installation of a full restoration of the hard disk. The restoration is fast as you do not have to reinstall the operating system and to install the backup software before you can start the complete restoration of the backup. This can also be done from a network server.
Windows registry backup
The windows registry is special system of files used by the Windows operating systems. In the registry specific information are kept for the hardware, for the installed software and on user information.
These are files that must be included in the backup if you want to recreate your hard drive. Often you define in the backup procedure if you want to include the registry files. You must use the same pc registry settings when you restore your backup or else computer will not be stable.
Database backup
Special consideration must be taken when you plan to take a data backup from a database. Most databases contain files that are open. This creates a problem during the backup process as the open files can not always be store in the backup correctly.
Another is to use backup software that is able to record and backup open database files. This is something which has to be made in business critical applications that have to be up and running all the time. Examine one such solution to backup SQL databases.
System backup
System backup is when you backup the windows registry, your settings and all your installed programs, but you exclude the documents you have worked with. Ideally in Windows your exclude My Documents folder, but include the rest of your hard drive.
Working file backups
Working files is the files which the user works with, this can include documents, databases, images and spreadsheets. In Windows these are the files and folders that should be stored in My Document folder. If the computer is connected in a LAN network, these files can also be stored on the server.
Devices for backup
On tapes
The have stored data on data tapes is the most common and traditional form of backup. Most data on servers are saved with some form of tape storage. As the memory requirements have increased, so has also the number of tape standards being developed to meet the increasing demands for larger tape storage.
Online
Online backup is an effective and convenient method for storing data backup at offsite locations. There are a number of ISP internet service providers which offer this as an extra remote storage service. Also if you operate a web site it is often possible to backup data and store this at unused space on the web site. However the amount of data for the backup is limited as constraints in Internet speed and available offsite memory still exist. As the Internet speed increases and the cost of external server disk space decreases, more and more user will start to store data online
DVD and CD
If you have a CD or DVD player with writing or burning capabilities then storing backup on CD’s or DVD’s is both a practical and a recommended way for keeping your data backups. Make sure however, that the backup software you are planning to use can backup information on consecutive disks. This is known as spanning. Make also sure that the CD or DVD software for backup of data supports the same type of CD or DVD technology which your CD or DVD burner supports.
Moveable devices, zip drives, USB storage and iPod
Movable devices for data backup have been around for a long time beginning with zip drives. This means that you can move and store stored data away from the computer. Today you can use fast USB and FireWire connection and make computer backup on movable devices. Almost all computers today have a USB connector. A FireWire is faster than a USB. There are a number of memory devices adopted for USB or FireWire. The memory capacities are in the range from 16 MB for USB data storage device up to up over 100 GB. The development in this are of data backup hardware is very rapid and it now includes low capacity USB flash drives, Ipod with 10GB capacity and much higher capacity FireWire storage devices.
Network
If you are connected to a LAN network you should be able make backup to the server from your computer. You may have dedicated disk space area on the server which you can use for this purpose. If you are connected to a network then often the network solution is built around ASP Application Service Provider where the software resides on the central server. This makes it possible to backup your computer from the application much simpler.
Mirrored disks
Backup your data on to another hard disk. This the simplest form to data backup is when you transfer the content from the drive you are working with on to another disk kept on your computer for this purpose. A drawback with this method is that the hardware where the backup is physically kept is on the same computer. Critical business application should use mirror disks for extra security. This minimizes the data recovery downtime if a disk crash.
The real value of data is often known only after it has been lost. To avoid this and prevent important data loss, a proactive backup data strategy is needed and should be made at regularly intervals.
To achieve this different computer backup strategies have to be applied depending on what type of computer you use.
If you have access only to backup devices with limited size, then a full disk backup is not practical and you should keep track of your installation software so that your program can be installed easily. The backup is then made only from the document and data you need to recreate in case you lose your hard disk.
A better solution is to make a hard disk image backup. If you lose your hard disk you simply use an emergency installation CD and recreate the image.
You should also make regular full disk backup using a pc backup software, such as Backup Now. Use. Use Windows to make data backup of important files so that you are able recreate all of your data or be able to recover specific files. The data on a PC for Windows 98 or Windows XP home edition or Professional includes many different types of files which can include among other things Word documents, programs, data bases with client information and multimedia.
At the other end of the spectrum we have corporate high demand applications which have to minimize possible downtime. To achieve this, an effective disaster recovery planning and preparedness to protect data must be included in the business policy planning.
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