Essential Data to Backup
by: jameswalsh
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Word Count: 877
So here’s what you can do should the last eventuality come true: always create two or more partitions on your hard drive and make it a point that you save all your important data in the partition in which the OS partition has not been installed.
You might ask me as to how do I find the partition in which the operating system is installed? It is rather simple. If you are using a Windows operating system, then the partition in which you find the Windows folder is the operating system partition. In the event of the operating system crash, the data will remain intact in the other partition. However, in the event of your hard drive crashing, you might end up losing all your data. In that case, you can opt for secondary storage devices.
If you have read so far, it just means one thing. You know the importance of backing up your data and there would not be a need for me to reiterate it. Well, at this point you might come up with a question on what kind of data do I backup and what is the medium that I choose to backup my data.
What Data do I Backup?
As a data recovery specialist, people often ask me about the kind of data that they need to backup. The answer is pretty simple. Any data that either translates to money, effort, time and personal memories are meant to be backed up. Some examples of data that you might want to backup are as follows:
· Address Book
· Letters and correspondences
· Family and travel photographs
· Audio and video files
· Personal diary and financial accounts
· My Documents Folder
· My Music Folder
· My Pictures Folder
· System settings
· Drivers
· Applications for which you do not have copies
Normally, it is not mandatory to backup all the content of your hard drive in order to restore your data. Drive backups usually create an image of your entire hard drive and will end up backing up user preferences, applications and data files. This might really not be necessary.
Taking a backup of your data is as important as your data and time and effort that have gone into its creation. If you lose data, you end up losing much more than what you can perceive. Data is the only portion on your computer that does not have a replacement.
What Medium do I Use to Backup Data?
Though there are numerous methods and media that you can use to back up your data, some cost-effective methods have been discussed below:
USB Flash Drives
Though USB flash drives are really not a recommended option for backing up data, you might use these to transport data to a computer that you use to back up your data. Today, we have USB flash drives that feature a maximum storage limit of 4 GB. This can be used as a temporary plug and play backup medium.
CD / DVD Writers and Rewriters
CDs and DVDs are the most economical media for data backup. They are very cheap and the most effective medium that you could deploy to backup large amounts of data.
The popularity of DVD writers/re-writers has increased in recent days. With DVDs offering data storage space that runs into large number of gigabytes, DVDs are now slowly replacing CDs as well. With proper storage, both the CD and the DVD media can stand out as a solution for data backup for the common man. CDs and DVDs can be read by any computer and cannot be affected by any hardware failure. They always tend to remain an excellent choice for archiving files over a long period.
Online Storage
There are websites that allow you to upload your files onto their server for backup purposes. One advantage of having it on a remote server is that you will be able to access this data from anywhere in the world. You might be charged a little fee for using their services. Hence, it is necessary for you to use your discretion to use these services based on your budget and the importance of the data that you need to backup. Another factor that you might want to consider is the speed of your Internet connection.
The Final Word
There are a diverse range of internal and external storage devices that have facilitated the easy backing up of data. These storage media provide relatively affordable means of data backup. Data is dear. Save it.
About the Author
James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. For more information on computer crime and Computer Forensics see http://www.fieldsassociates.co.uk
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