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Personal Computer Backup Software Options

When selecting personal backup software, great care must be taken to select the right choice for your needs.  You do not want to spend too much money on any computer backup program, but at the same time you want to select software which will allow you to easily backup all of your files.  This article will take a look at some of the more popular software solutions for your personal computer, and explain the differences between them.

Perhaps the most popular personal computer backup software is Microsoft Backup.  Installed by default on Windows XP, this software application allows you to quickly backup your important files on your computer.  You can access this application by selecting Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Backup.  Microsoft Backup will allow you to create a backup file (.bkf), which you can then burn to a CD or copy to someplace safe.  Microsoft Backup also contains built in support for creating tape backups.  Perhaps one of the main disadvantages with Microsoft Backup, however, is that the software does not contain support for directly burning to a recordable CD or DVD.  In addition, Microsoft Backup makes it hard to create incremental backups (backups which contain only the files changed since the last full backup), which can result in data loss.  However, you just can't beat the price of a free piece of software!  If you have a small amount of data to back up, you might want to consider Microsoft Backup.

If you are looking for a more user friendly interface than Microsoft Backup, Absolute Backup may be the right choice for you.  Featuring not only an easy to use menu system (users of Windows XP will like its familiar appearance), but Absolute Backup also creates backups as standard ZIP files, allowing you to restore the backed up data without requiring you to install Absolute Backup (Windows XP contains a built in ZIP file reader).  In addition, Absolute Backup also contains a built in scheduler, to run backup jobs automatically.  Perhaps the biggest disadvantage to Absolute Backup is the lack of built in CD and DVD burning.  However, if you are looking for a basic backup program that is easy to use, Absolute Backup may be worth taking a look at. 

If you are looking for an easy to use interface, but still want built in CD or DVD burning, Backup to CD/DVD (Made Simple) may just be the perfect computer backup product for you.  Backup to CD/DVD's biggest strengths are its user friendliness, and its ability for no-nonsense built in CD or DVD burning.  This software makes creating backups extremely easy, and is also capable of searching your entire computer for file types that you would like to backup.  So, if you know that you want to back up all of your Excel or Word files, but cannot remember where they are, this software will locate and back up all of your important files.  In addition, you can also split up backups so that they span across several discs.  Were this not enough, you can also create automatic and incremental backups, even to network locations.  Backup to CD/DVD (Made Simple) is available as a trial version.

No matter which personal backup software product you select, all of these software titles are more than adequate to backup a personal computer.  Creating high quality backups is the best way to prevent data loss, and all of these applications are perfect for doing just that.


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