Back Up & Recovery

Safeguard your important data, let us set up an automatic daily backup across the network, or into an inexpensive hard drive, housed in a removable rack, or a USB connected device like you see to the right. With Windows automated system recovery (ASR) everything is automatically restored without losing a keystroke. You should back up your data, even if you just back up your most important data by using a writable CD or DVD drive.

A Little History
As a registered OEM System builder, Microsoft invited me to a very special event; the pre-release of the Windows 2000 operating system. It was an all day session, held in a large convention center, with quite a few Microsoft staff on hand; tech staff wore red shirts, and marketing staff wore blue ones. They were there to answer your questions after seeing their presentation, which lasted quite a few hours.
Out of the entire day, the thing that impressed me the most, was when they showed us that you could take an operating system file, delete it, and then exit out of the folder, come back in, and it had magically reappeared. That is quite a contrast to the way things were done before.
Reflecting back to the DOS days, when you would be working on something, like a word processor, and right in the middle of your work, the machine would freeze. Their wasn't anything you could do but shut the machine off, and reboot.
After this happened several times, the operating system files would get truncated, and you needed to wipe the drive with a format, and reload everything. This event happened all of the time. Improvements were continually made. With Windows 98 they included a system file checker, that would correct any corrupt system files.
The breakthrough came with Windows 2000. No longer were software manufacturers able to adjust the system files to work with their programs. The system files were a constant. With Windows 2000 you now had an incredibly stable platform. XP is built on the same platform.

What does all of this have to do with backups?
Namely this; the stable platform has led to a false sense of securtiy. It just works so why bother to back it up?
Until you have experienced a hard drive failing, and they all eventually do, or a virus that attacks your machine, wiping out your data, or power surge with lightning, or any one of dozens of reasons why they fail, you don't realize just how important it is to back up your drive. Businesses do it all of the time. Their customer records, and transactions are too immportant to lose. Even on a personal level, your data is worth keeping, not to mention the untold hours you have spent, installing programs, and configuring everything the way you like it.
With Windows automated system recovery (ASR) you simply begin to load Windows, then drop in your ASR diskette, and point to your backup file, and everything is automatically recovered, just the way you left it. Of course you need to run ASR while your system is still healthy to have something to restore from, namely your computer backup file.
An individual may choose to do the ocassional backup, or may choose to follow a more stringent backup system, the way businesses do. It is very easy to create an automated daily backup. All you need to do is use Veritas, or the automated system built right into Windows, then have a backup device to backup your data to. That can take the form of another hard drive, preferably housed in a removable rack or USB connected enclosure, a tape, or another computer in the network.

Do at least the minimum.
At the very least you want to backup your data files to a burnable CD, or DVD drive. You don't preserve your system that way, but at least you keep your most important data.
Tthe cost of hard drives today is minimal. It is not uncommon to see a 250 Gig drive selling for $59, or $69 dollars. Or if you really want to max it out with 500GB and the ultimate in convenience, get the LaCie 500GB USB External Hard Drive designed by FA Porsche for only $109.99. Just about zero set up time to use that one. See it on the top right. Considering how convenient it is to backup your system, you no longer have to worry about having to rebuild your system from scratch.

For the do it yourselfer, I am working on a mini-eBook that will be a step by step hand holding guide. It will become part of the Anybody Can Do It Plain Folks guide library. You can either purchase the eBook, or request an onsite visit to back up your data, and or install a backup system. We can set up your automated or manual system for future backups. Review several options and decide what works best for you.

Genica IDE Removable Rack with Fan

Best Price $7.00
or Buy New $8.49

Complete rack and tray shown above.
Individual trays are available as well here.

Getting the most out of your computer.