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How to Evade Data Disaster

26 smart strategies for backing up your most vital files--and for recovering them if you didn't.

Lincoln Spector

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Backing Up Data

How often should I back up? How can I make it easy?

>>TIP You should back up your data every day you use your computer. I know that sounds painful, but if you set things up properly, it takes only a minute or two. You can still be out the door before your boss arrives with that last-minute assignment.

You'll most often perform an incremental data backup. While a complete data backup copies every file in the folders that contain documents and other data you create, an incremental one backs up only the files created or changed since your last backup--thus it's much faster.

A good backup program makes it easy to back up your essential documents and files. It allows you to select what you will and won't back up, and lets you schedule complete and incremental data backups.

What program should you use? >>TIP I recommend Stomp's BackUp MyPC. It handles the basics and it's easy to use (for a full review, see "Tools for Trouble-Free Computing").

>>TIP Apps like Iomega's QuickSync back up your data on the fly, as you save it to your hard drive. But if you back up to a CD, you still have to remember to put in the disc in the morning, then remove it to a safe place at night. And any program that works in the background will use some resources and could slow your PC.

There are good arguments for backing up your entire hard drive--not just your data, but your applications and OS as well. But the task is tedious and could incline you to avoid doing any backing up. And you already have copies of your software--the original CD-ROMs. (If you prefer to back up your entire drive, your best bet is to use a drive imaging program, such as PowerQuest's Drive Image.)

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