Desktop backup will ensure safe storage of your computer hard drive

Home users and small businesses risk their data information if they ignore to make backup.
Because desktops are stationary it’s difficult to hook up to a company’s network if you work from home. It is sometime possible to dock to a network if you use a laptop but not for a desktop computer.
What type of desktop backup should you use?
Basically it all comes down to the real value of the data on your computer and the time it will take you to restore it back.

Some people tend to ignore saving data or important documents on the PC desktop. This makes their files and data vulnerable to loss as a result of accidental deletions of files or directories. PC backup is needed to secure data information from stationary personal computer. Do you need to protect and save text documents and Outlook data or maybe just to store result files from your latest computer game?
Do you have settings you want to keep or do you have downloaded software over the Internet and you don’t have any extra backup copy?

These and other questions how to protect your data are important to consider before you plan what type of desktop data backup you use.



We can identify three cases to make your computer backup:

1. You only need to backup a limited number of files and folder and not the whole hard drive.
In this case the amount of data that need to be stored is limited so the backup media don’t need to have the same capacity as your hard disk.
Flash memory is an ideal backup device for backing up the files and folders you want to keep. Flash memory devices which are integrated solid state type of memory without any moving parts is labeled with many names such as memory keys, flash drives and pen drives.
Another method is to use an online backup service offsite. With this method the desktop backup is downloaded and stored at a remote secure location. This is especially helpful if the computer is exposed to theft or fire. You can also use CD or DVD as a storage media if you use a backup software program such as WinBackup. You need a CD or DVD burner for this to work. If you can backup to CD-RW, DVD-RW or DVD+RW you can leave the CD or DVD inserted in the burner and set the backup to make regular schedule backup of the files and folders you want to backup. This way you have up to date backup at all time.

2. You need to backup the complete hard disk. You should be able to reformat a hard drive in case of failure. Then you can reinstall the Operating system. After that, install the program you need including your backup program. From there you can recover the data from your desktop data storage.
The most common used method has been to use tapes to backup hard drives. However today there are better and tapeless methods. One is to backup to your DVD burner and backup your hard disk on to one or to consecutive DVD’s.
Another new technology to use is a movable hard drive which you can connect to your USB or Firewire connection. You connect the external hard drive to a USB or Firewire high velocity connector and backup the hard disk on to the external drive.

3. You need to backup the complete hard drive if want to be able to restore back data quickly if you have had a crash or virus infection. In this case you need to make a disk image backup. This reduces the time for a restoration.
To do this you need a disk image backup software.
However first you need to create a disaster recovery boot diskette or boot CD from which a can restore the disk image from the backup. The next step is that you take the hard disk image backup itself. This PC backup can be made on to DVD’s, on to another server or on to another hard disk.
Afterward if you want to restore if you have hard disk crash you just boot from the disaster recovery boot diskette or boot CD and start the computer. From here you restore the hard disk image from your backuped DVD’s, from the other hard disk or from the server.
With this type of solutions the time you have to use for the restoration is minimal and you don’t have to reinstall the OS such as Windows, Linux, Mac or UNIX. You don’t need to install the backup program before making the recovery. This is on the disk image backup. The recovery this way can only be made on the same computer or to a computer with the same hardware configuration.

Which of the strategies you chose will depend on your needs and the value of the data. You can also combine the different methods to achieve the best protection and flexibility.

With the first method to make computer backup of your PC documents and files enable you to restore your those data and to move the data to another location.
The second strategy is to backup your whole hard disk so that you can restore individual files and folder. You can also install data on to another computer.

Note: In order to move the data on to another computer you need to have access to all the install software CD’s and access to all downloaded software. Then you have to reinstall those software products in to the new computer. An alternative method is to use a software product such as MoveMe and move the data together with the software application directly on to a new computer with different hardware configurations. The third method is the take a disk image backup. This gives you the advantage to recover the complete hard disk data if you have a hard disk crash or if you get a virus infection on to a new hard disk.
The recommendation is to take a hard disk image backup and a standard hard disk backup once in a while of all your hard drive and then to take only backups of the files and folders you work regularly more often.

Other advices:
If you ever run into problems using desktop backup and don’t find the solution in your help window, there are other places to go. If you have a technical support number or site that came with your computer or operating system, this is a great source.

You can go to your tech support services to ask questions and learn about your computer. Also, there are help chat rooms that you can get into, as well as free advice at online web sites.