What and How to Backup

1. What and How to Backup George Skarbek 4th April 2007

2. Why backup? • To be able to restore your data after the loss of your hard drive or your computer • As yourself: If I loose all my data will it have any effect for me?

3. What to back up • Your data, and not Windows or the programs as these can be installed from the CDs • For many users the “My Documents” folder is the best start as this will capture many important files including your Favourites and the Desktop

4. Problems There are problems with just backing up only “My Documents”. These are: • The backup may not fit onto a CD or even a Dual Layer DVD due to many images or videos. One solution is to always move all images to another folder such as C:\Photos • Other important files may be missed

5. Where is it? • Mail is generally not stored in “My Documents” • Outlook’s PST file is stored in: C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook and it contains all mail, contacts, calendar and task list

6. Where is it? Outlook Express stores mail in *.dbx files in: C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Identities\ {445BA929-0754-421E-B2F9-D5F440A69141} \Software\ Microsoft\Outlook Express Outlook Express address book is User.wab in C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book

7. Where is it? • Financial records generally are not stored in “My Documents” • MYOB data is an *.DAT or *.PRM file in C:\MYOBx • Quicken files are in C:\Programs\Quickenw and the extensions are QW? as they vary with versions

8. Where is it? • Word customisation and AutoComplete information is stored in Normal.dot file usually in C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Application Data \Microsoft\Templates • AutoCorrect data is in C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Office and the file can be MSO1033.acl or MSO3081.acl

9. What to back up • Custom dictionary is Custom.dic stored in C:\Windows\Application Data \Microsoft\Proof • Other data files to consider are: • Movie projects • Photos • VoIP phone book • FTP Site manager • Internet diallersettings

10. What to back up • Speech recognition training files • Genealogy data files • Uncompleted games • GPS traces from data loggers or GPS units • Your MP3 music • Your passwords file • Generally your actual movies are too large to backup and the final DVD should be burned twice

11. How do I find where these files are? Often the location of the saved files is not obvious. To find out where that data is stored and what it is called: • Save your file and exit the program • Then immediately search your computer for recent file and sort by date modified – Your data file should then be obvious

12. Where to back up • In some cases it may be possible to backup onto a floppy or two • As 2 GB USB drives cost less then $50 This is probably the best medium as it can be always kept in a purse, pocket or car and be always off-site • Weekly CDs or DVDs • Another drive, computer or the Internet

13. How to back up • There are many free / shareware backup programs including Microsoft’s Backup (this may have to be installed). Vista has a good product • Drive image is highly recommended as after a disk failure, install a new hard disk and 30 minutes later you have the entire computer restored

14. How to back up • Using WinZip or WinRar will reduce the space on the destination drive • Consider automating the process so that you can backup with a single click, this way you will me more likely to backup regularly

15. How to back up - Tip • By altering the file system on a USB drive from FAT to NTFS you can obtain a speed improvement of a few hundred percent • From a DOS box type: CONVERT x: /FS:NTFSwere x is the USB drive letter. To open a DOS box click on Start, Run and type CMD • Do not convert if you intend using it on a Windows 98 computer

16. Any Questions?