QandA
This is a Question and Answer page that will help you SAFEGUARD YOUR PERSONAL FILES on your computer
SAFEGUARDING YOUR PERSONAL FILES, Q & A
Why do I need to backup my personal files?
To lose one's data is probably the worst computer-related catastrophe that can happen to you. Documents that are almost impossible to recreate such as financial records, password lists, as well as priceless family photos, can be lost forever. Now that most of our lives are documented on computers and other modern devices, you are more at risk than ever to lose everything if you don't take the steps to secure your information. You may have noticed that internet pages rarely go down. This is because all servers on the internet are backed up to another, unrelated computer and/or hard drive. Should one computer go down, or one set of data becomes corrupted, another mirrored volume containing the same data will be switched to immediately and seamlessly. This idea could be summed up in the phrase, “there is safety in redundancy.” The following is a guide to help you keep your data as safe as most pages on the internet.
What should I backup my personal files to?
The simplest way to protect yourself from the loss of your pictures, videos, and other valuable data is to purchase a usb device and copy all your user data files to it. You can choose any device such as a USB thumb drive or a USB external drive to secure your data for safekeeping. Just figure out how much data that you have to store, and make sure that you purchase a device with enough capacity to do so. A good rule of thumb is to get an external device with at least double the capacity that you need. That way, you have room to store additional data as you create it.
How do I know what size drive to get for the backup volume?
In order to find out what size drive you’ll need, first, open windows explorer to view your files by holding down the windows key and pressing the "R" key (Windows+R). Then type in the box "explorer" then press the enter key (enter). You will notice that on the left pane is your whole computer directory. Select the “C drive.” In the right hand pane, double click on the "Users" folder and select your user folder. It should have your user name as the folder name. Right click on that folder and select “Properties.” In that property sheet, you should see the “size” entry. Keep in mind that the drive can’t hold as much data as it is labeled; that is the absolute lowest capacity that you will need in an external volume.
How much data can a thumb drive really hold?
A note to mention is that a 64 gigabyte thumb drive cannot hold 64 gigs of data. The drive needs room to keep its filing system, meaning the 64 gigabyte drive can only hold around 57.7 gig of data. This is true for all drives, and is something to keep in mind when making a purchase of an external volume. The percentage of actual usable space is proportional to the actual size of the drive.
How can I back up my data?
Once you secure the correct capacity drive for your needs, open windows explorer again. As instructed above, double click on the "users" folder. In the right hand pane, select your user folder and plug in your external device. Your computer should recognize it and give you a dialogue box. Select, “view your files on the device” and in the right hand pane of your device, right click on a blank part of the pane and select “new” then select “folder.” You should name your folder something like, "_DataRecovery_10-19". The first underscore "_" will help bring this folder up to the top of the explorer pane, and the 10-19 stands for the month and the year. Please keep in mind not to name the month and year with a forward slash "/" or a backward slash "\" because this denotes something special in file and folder nomenclature. Dates should be represented with hyphens in a format such as 10-19.
How do I copy files and folders?
In order to copy files or folders, have two explorer windows opened side by side, right click drag your user folder over to the new folder that you made on your new drive. When you pick up the mouse key you should choose "copy here.” Copying over large amounts of data or numerous files may take a long time, but you can still work at the computer. The files will simply copy in the background.
How do make sure all my files were copied?
Copying over your data may take quite a while, especially if you have many files and/or a large amount of data. When finished, you should right click the original user folder on your C drive, and select “properties.” Do the same for the folder that you just copied all your data into. Here, you can visually compare how much data is on both volumes. Compare the number of files in the "contains" entry. If the two are identical, you just made a successful backup copy. Pay particular attention to the amount of files in each; they should read roughly the same amount. You should disregard the measurement of the size of the files in each, as that may vary from drive to drive, especially if they have different capacities.
How do make sure my data is valid?
This next step should not be ignored. Always verify that the data you just copied over is valid by spot checking. Open up a few documents within a few folders at random or view a few randomly selected photos just to make sure that the data written to the new volume is valid and that there are no issues with the new drive.
Can I add more files as I create them?
You can add additional folders by naming them (as discussed earlier) with the new month and year. This can help you go to a certain backup if you know you want to retrieve a file in a specific month or year.
Where should I store my files?
The last step is to insure that you don’t lose data on your new backup volume. The thumb drive should be immediately removed from the host computer. In case of an electrical issue, flood, or theft, the backup volume should always be stored separately from the computer. Keeping the two at different sites may additionally help secure your data. If you go to work, keep the thumb drive at work. That way, you always have an off-site backup. You can also keep the drive in a ziplock bag and keep it in a place you won’t forget. A thumb drive is small and can be lost easily; keeping it in a labeled ziplock baggie may help you locate it in the future when the time comes for you to need it. A lost backup volume can be as bad as not backing up your data in the first place.
Is there any other way to backup my files?
There are a number of computer programs such as Carbonite that will backup your files for you. But first, you should always do research on the internet to see what other people are saying about these programs. Keep in mind that the larger the group of users that any program has, the more likely that there will be some bad reviews. Note that most backup utilities will back up your data to a single proprietary file of their own format. This means that each one of your files is not stored as a regular file. Rather, it will be all stored within one, or a few proprietary files. If the one file happens to go corrupt, all your precious data could be lost. Whereas, in the steps outlined above, you will put your data in all their original files on a disk; resulting in a lower likelihood of losing individual files in case of file system failure or file corruption.
What about the cloud?
Services that have cloud based protection such as Apple’s iCloud or Microsoft’s OneDrive work well for many users. These files are kept on server farms and accessed through the internet. These servers are called ftp servers, short for file transfer protocol computers. These servers are constantly being mirrored, so your data is being backed up all the time on multiple computers and drives that feature raid systems. Raid stands for random array of inexpensive drives. The internet and business computers have used these systems for years to insure their data is never lost or corrupted. They feature many different dives that are mirrored or constantly backed up by one another. This type of file storage is very safe. There are many different cloud based systems available for different devices from various companies. They all feature different capacity storage for different price ranges, and they may be a good idea for your data storage needs.
What if my backup data is corrupted?
If your data set becomes corrupt or unreadable, you should probably consider getting some professional help from a reputable computer repair facility on the internet. They can help you lay out your options for recovery. Many times, they can even do that in-shop. Other times, they can help you by hooking you up with a reputable service that will restore your data. In the case of a hard drive that goes bad, there are clean room teams that will disassemble your drive and put the disks onto another drive to attempt to read them from there. In many cases, they can be successful in getting your data back for you. Keep in mind that this option can be very expensive as the teams need to maintain a clean room with suits and alternative air supplies. If there is even a hair or piece of dust that gets into an open hard, the data will not be able to be read and the data will be ruined. The read write heads read and write data to the platters of a hard drive. They float just microns above the platters that store the data. It is said that those of us who regularly backup our data will never need it, and those who don’t backup their data will regret it. It is always better to have backed up your precious pictures and data and not need it than to have not backed up and need it. At any rate, it will be less costly and time consuming to back up your data before a catastrophic event.
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Last edited 10-28-19 rl
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