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Issue 195 February 2009
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Protect Review your back-up options
data
Warning: your data is at risk! Luckily, Nick Peers knows how to back it up easily, safely and automatically Back up online Why use the internet for archiving your data? It’s always a good idea to house one of your backups in a different location to the original files. Chances are your back-up device resides in the same room as the original data, so what happens if a fire breaks out or a thief breaks in? You could store CD or DVD archives of your data at a friend or family’s house, but that can be inconvenient. Instead, why not invest in online backup? Your data is encrypted for security and transferred over the internet to a secure remote server, which is also usually backed up for greater reliability. If anything
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happens to your PC, you’ll know for sure that the data is stored safely somewhere else. Some back-up tools, such as Genie (see over the page), enable you to back up to an FTP server, so if you have lots of web space then you could follow this method. However, if you want security, reliability and convenience, take a look at the growing number of online back-up services. These enable you to pick which folders and settings to archive, and then back them up in the background as new files are created and existing files are amended.
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Online back-up services offer great value for money and a secure location for your archived data
Some even store multiple versions of the same file, enabling you to roll back to an earlier version. There are three services worth investigating: Humyo (www.humyo.com), Mozy (www.mozy.com) and
Carbonite (www.carbonite. com). Expect to pay around £40 a year for a generous back-up allowance, but check out the free trials or limited free accounts offered by both Mozy and Humyo before signing up.
Protect your data
Review your back-up options
Don’t miss…
How to – learn more PC skills See page 67
B
acking up should be compulsory. It doesn’t matter how many times we talk about it in the pages of PCAnswers, or provide free, full software to help you back up your files, email messages and more besides, we still find ourselves inundated with comments like “My mail folder has vanished with important work email in it, how do I get it back?” or “I’ve lost a folder full of holiday snaps and my wife will kill me after 40 years of marriage if I don’t find it.” If you think it couldn’t happen to you, think again. Your data and settings are incredibly fragile; unlike a Windows installation that can be recreated from your recovery disc or a program which can be reinstalled, there’s no product disc that contains your documents, pictures or emails. Sure, you could venture into the world of data recovery, but you’ll be taking a huge risk with your data if you’ve reached that point in the road, and it could end up being an expensive step.
Backing up is easy Have we scared you enough yet? Good. In this feature, armed with our cover disc, you’re going to rectify the situation immediately. You’ll discover how easy it is to back up everything from documents,
Data recovery is a hit-and-miss business at best – can you afford to take that risk with your data?
emails and program preferences to your entire Windows installation. What’s more, once set up you can leave the back-up tool to get on with the job of updating your backup at a regular interval, so you’re always protected. The most important thing you’ll need is a suitable back-up device. Although you can back up to CD or DVD, this can result in a large number of discs being used, and isn’t costeffective in the long term. A better bet is some form of removable device that has enough capacity to store your backups on. An external hard drive is the obvious choice here. Prices start from as little as £35 for 160GB external drives from stores such as Maplin (www.maplin.co.uk),
which compares favourably to the hundreds of pounds you might find yourself spending on data recovery if you continue to live dangerously. Yet even your backup isn’t immune to failure. Thankfully, the tools in this feature can verify your backup’s integrity so you know it should work, but it pays to be extra careful and create a second backup to a different device or location. You could, for example, archive documents and files that won’t be edited, such as photos and correspondence, to CD or DVD, or you could investigate an online back-up service – the box opposite reveals more. Now you’ve come to your senses and made the decision to back up your data, turn the page to find out how.
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Archive to disc Burning your photos to disc and then deleting the copies on your hard drive is not backing them up. All you’ve done is transfer the only copy of the files you possess to another medium, so either copy them to a second disc or other back-up device now.
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Protect your data
Review your back-up options
Back up your files and settings Protect your irreplaceable documents, email, images and preferences
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here’s no need to back up every single file on your PC – although if you’d like to do so, we show you how over the page. The most important job you have to do is back up your documents, pictures, email and other personal files that can’t otherwise be easily recreated. It’s also possible to back up key program settings too, so you don’t have to waste time setting up applications, email accounts or web bookmarks again should disaster strike. All of this takes time and effort if done by hand, which is why you’ll want a program to do all the hard work for you. Vista users are well served by Windows here: the Backup and Restore Center is much improved on previous versions, and is easy to set up and configure as we’ll see shortly. If you’re running an earlier version of Windows then you’ll be glad to know that the tool you need for the job is on this month’s cover disc in the form of Genie Backup Manager 5
Pro – the walkthrough below reveals how to back up using it. Before doing anything else, obtain your free serial number by registering at www. genie-soft.com/magazines/ pcanswers.aspx. Once done, wait for the serial number to arrive in your inbox (check your anti-spam settings if it doesn’t arrive quickly), and then install the program. Don’t start it when prompted; you need to reboot first. Version 5 isn’t Vistacompatible, but the latest version (8) is, so check out the trial version, which is also on the cover disc if you’d prefer to use that instead of Vista’s own built-in tool.
Back up in Vista Vista users who’ve not yet put a back-up plan in place should immediately click the Start button and type backup into the Search box. From the list that appears, click Backup Status and Configuration. You’ll be informed that automatic backup hasn’t been set up, so click “Set up automatic file backup” to begin.
Windows Vista’s built-in back-up tool is perfectly good for most people’s needs
Check backup Are you unsure if a critical file has been backed up by Vista? Open Backup Status and Configuration, choose Restore Files and then click Search to look for the file in question.
Click Continue when prompted and the tool will scan for available back-up devices: hard drives (internal and external) in addition to any CD/ DVD burners that are present and – in all editions except Vista Home Basic – a network drive. Make your choice and click Next. Next, choose those drives that contain data that you wish to back up. Your system drive is automatically included, but if you have any other drives or partitions you can specify whether to include them or not by ticking or unticking the
STEP-BY-STEP Back up your data with Genie
1
First steps
Launch Genie and click OK followed by Help > Registration. Enter your registration details from the email and click OK. Now click the Backup button on the main screen to start.
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2
Select a back-up location
Give your back-up job a name and click Next. Now choose where you want to back up to – CD, DVD, hard drives, network drives or even FTP space online.
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Pick back-up type
My Profile contains email, internet and key settings; My Folders for folders or files; My PlugIns backs up individual program settings – click “Download new scripts” to get more online.
Protect your data
Review your back-up options relevant drives before clicking Next again. The next screen gives you the opportunity to choose exactly what will be backed up. Roll the mouse over an option to see what files and settings the program will store. The tool is pretty comprehensive, but some file types are inexplicably missed, which can cause problems with some non-Microsoft products. Firefox and Thunderbird users, for example, won’t be able to back up key preferences thanks to the tool’s failure to archive .js files. If you’re not slavishly pro-Microsoft in your program choices, consider using Genie Backup Manager 8 instead. Once you’ve chosen which files to back up – if in doubt, leave everything ticked – click Next. Again, Vista Home Basic users are left a little short here, because the tool can’t be scheduled to run automatically, but if you’re running Vista Home Premium or better you can back up on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Depending on how often you edit and change files, make your choice. Remember, you’ll only ever be able to restore your data at the point your last backup was taken, so weekly is probably
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the best compromise for most people. Click “Save settings and start backup”, and Vista will get to work.
Restore files Restoring files from your backup is done from the same tool – just click Restore Files and then follow the various options. You can restore files on to a different computer, or even restore older versions of files from previous backups. If you’re a Genie user then click the Restore button and
select your chosen back-up job from the list (if you’ve recently had to reinstall Windows then you’ll need to manually load the back-up job from the folder that your backup is stored in). Follow the wizard through, and when you’re prompted to restore individual folders, make sure that you select Alternative from the “Restore files to” drop-down box if you’re restoring to a different folder than that which the back-up data was originally taken from.
You can manually update your backup or change back-up settings in Vista at any time
Other options
Pick the type of backup you wish to perform – Normal ensures all changes are recorded. You can compress your backup to save space, and add encryption and password protection.
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Back up and verify
Click Next > Backup. Now let Genie back up your files and settings for the first time. Once complete, click Yes to verify your backup’s integrity – a vital step in the back-up process.
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Automatic backups
Click Startup Page > Schedule Wizard >Create New Schedule. Select your back-up job and click Next. Pick exactly when you want your back-up job to run and click Next followed by Finish.
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You’ll find Paragon Drive Backup 8.5 Special Edition on the cover disc – registration is free and you’ll be sent a key via email
Make a copy of your drive
Drive imaging tools can back up your entire Windows installation
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he next time you’re forced to reinstall Windows – either from a recovery partition or installation disc – what would you give for a disc or partition that enabled you to reinstall Windows, all of your current hardware and updates, plus your favourite programs and settings? Oh, and did we mention that all this is possible without having to spend hours setting everything up?
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This is where a drive image tool such as Paragon Drive Backup, which is on the cover disc, rides to the rescue. Recovery discs as provided by your manufacturer are created in the same way as a drive image: the computer is set up and prepared, and then an image taken. What Paragon does is hand you total control of that image, enabling you to create your own customised Windows installation and giving you a head start every
time you come to reinstall the Operating System.
A word of caution A drive image works by taking an exact byte-for-byte replica of a hard drive or drive partition – a snapshot of that drive at that particular point in time. Restoring that snapshot will completely overwrite what is currently stored on the drive, so like a destructive recovery disc, you need to take precautions before you use it.
Protect your data
Review your back-up options
STEP-BY-STEP Take a complete drive image
1
Back up your entire disk
3
Select the back-up drive
Launch Paragon and select “Back up hard disks or selected partitions” > Next. To back up an entire disk, tick “Basic Hard Disk 0” . Click Next.
The best option is to back up to an external or networked drive – if you opt to back up to CD/DVD you’ll need a lot of discs, and you won’t be able to back up the MBR. Click Next.
If your data is stored on the same partition as your Windows installation, you’ll need to make sure it’s backed up separately immediately prior to using your drive image – see the previous page for details. Now might be the perfect time to consider separating your Windows installation and program files from your data and certain settings. This involves using another hard drive or partition, and you can find out more
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Back up your system partition
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Let backup commence!
If you only wish to back up your Windows partition on a multi-partitioned drive, tick both “First Hard Disk Track” to back up the MBR, plus your drive letter before clicking Next.
Leave Backup Now selected and click Next. Review your settings and click Next > Finish. To perform the backup, click Apply and then leave Paragon to its work.
about partitioning by checking out page 46 from issue 192.
Test and restore Install Paragon from the cover disc – when prompted for a serial number, click the Registration button and follow the instructions to obtain your free key (again, check your junk mail folder if you don’t receive the registration email promptly). Install any drivers if prompted then restart to complete the installation.
Now follow the walkthrough above to take a drive image. Once done, test your archive to make sure it works by selecting Wizards > Check Archive Validity. When it comes to reinstalling Windows using your customised drive image, we’d recommend booting from your rescue disc (see the quick tip box). Once done, select Wizard > Simple Restore Wizard and follow the prompts to restore your partition or drive from your backup. ■
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Create a rescue disc After installing Paragon create a rescue disc (select Tools > Recovery Media Builder) – this can restore your PC even if you can’t boot into Windows.
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