The message is absolutely right but as usual it takes a good spill to get it
across for the majority of computer users. If one doesn't back up it's like
driving one's car across the country back and forth with no spare tire.
Sooner or later a tire will go flat and the driver will be stuck.

--
Jan Alter
bearpuf@verizon.net
or
jalter@phila.k12.pa.us
"Ablang" <HilaryDuffPerfect18YO@ablang-duff.com> wrote in message
news:iqq6k1t3kd2uj43g242frgnpljtk04gjka@4ax.com...
> Backup Best Practices: Read This First!
> 08.17.05
>
>
> By Robert P. Lipschutz
>
>
>
> The terms we throw around in this story-incremental backup, system
> versus data protection, single-file restore, and disaster recovery-may
> make the whole idea seem daunting. But backing up your data
> (documents, photos, Quicken files, and such) is not an option; it's a
> necessity. And we recommend you back up your OS and applications, too,
> so you can recover from a disaster that wipes out or corrupts your
> hard drive.
>
> In truth, both the Home and the Professional editions of Windows XP
> come with simple backup functionality. The problems are: No one knows
> where to find it; it doesn't do single-file recovery; and the
> Automatic System Recovery (ASR) available in Windows XP Pro requires a
> floppy disk to use (many systems don't have floppy disk drives
> anymore).
>
> Here, we present our tips and recommendations to guide you in setting
> up a backup plan that makes sense for your needs.
>
>> Separate your data from your operating systems and applications. Ideally,
>> you should save data files on a separate drive or partition. This will
>> make protection easier in many ways, and it could save your bacon. For
>> example, you can restore your system to a previous state without
>> reversing your data to that point in time. Our favorite partitioning
>> tools are Acronis Disk Director Suite 9.0 and Norton PartitionMagic 8.0.
>
>> Purchase an external USB 2.0 hard drive for your backups. It's a
>> worthwhile investment that pays for itself with one system recovery.
>> Dedicate the drive to backup; don't use it for anything else.
>
>> Distinguish between protecting your system (operating system, settings,
>> applications), so you can recover from a crash, and protecting your data
>> (documents, digital pictures, music, settings). Some backup tools work
>> better for system files; some work better for data.
>
>> Identify what you absolutely can't afford to lose-pictures of your kids,
>> financial information, and so on.
>
>> Do you have the installation CDs for all your software? If not, you need
>> an image of your system and its dozens of applications.
>
>> Store a duplicate of your most crucial data off-site, using DVDs, an
>> online service, or a second external drive.
>
>> Schedule a full-system backup once a week and smaller, incremental
>> backups (that store only changes to files) daily or nightly.
>
>> If you encounter file problems, the most recent backup of that file may
>> have the same problems. So don't be too quick to overwrite older backups.
>
>> As you learn the ropes, don't be afraid of mixing and matching for better
>> protection. Multiple solutions, such as continuous backup and traditional
>> backup, give you both quick recovery and long-term protection.
>
>> Storing backups on a separate partition of your hard drive (as Norton
>> GoBack does) makes them easily accessible but won't protect you from a
>> physical disaster. If you need this kind of protection, keep a system
>> backup off-site, either online, on an external drive, or on optical
>> media. We fit our Windows XP OS and a hoard of applications (about 9GB
>> total) on two DVDs.
>
>> Note that most solutions can't restore individual e-mail messages,
>> because they see your whole mailbox as a single file. (As a safeguard,
>> make sure your e-mail accounts keep a copy of every message on the
>> server.)
>
>> Typical consumer backup products don't save open files. So if you never
>> close your mail file, or you keep a status-report spreadsheet open all
>> the time, it may never get properly backed up.
>
>> Test restores often. We've heard too many horror stories of readers
>> convinced that they were backing up properly only to find that nothing
>> was actually written to the disk.
>
> The specific method you choose will depend on your appetite for risk,
> your budget, and the value of your data based on time, real dollars,
> and sentiment. Only you can choose the right solution. Here are some
> combinations that we like:
>
>> EMC's Retrospect with an external USB 2.0 hard drive and secondary,
>> off-site DVD storage gives you the best of most worlds-data protection
>> and system rollback.
>
>> Norton Ghost for weekly or monthly system images-consider its new
>> incremental features for interim image creation, but make sure you have a
>> full image, not a baseline with incrementals, for a reliable full-system
>> recovery. If you want easy single-file access and version storage,
>> combine Ghost with a simple backup product like Argentum.
>
>> Online services are a good choice if you don't have a huge amount of data
>> to back up, as they can be incredibly slow.
> < back next >
>
> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1847366,00.asp
>
>
> ===
> "The pressure is outrageous. Everyone is picked apart and it's so
> superficial and not real. I'm not superskinny and not overweight. I'm
> just normal."
> -- Hilary Duff