Dude, where's my data?

INTRODUCTION

I know many of you may be familiar with the idea of backing up data as it has become increasingly easy to purchase huge hard drives and DVD-burners for this purpose.  But there exists a whole world of people oblivious to the idea that their data can one day disappear, never to been seen or heard from again. This is what I intend to focus on today, good backup habits and how to save your data.

 

Let me first preface this article with a quick story of my own. You see yours truly has been a computer enthusiast for many years and in all that time I have never had a hard drive go bad on me. Maybe I was lucky or maybe the rules just didn’t apply to me. Well it would seem fate has a way of teaching us lessons whether we want them or not. So as it was one day I sat down at my computer only to realize that not only do the rules apply to me, but I never bothered to ensure the safety of my important files. That’s right, complete hard drive failure leading to massive data loss.

 

Of course all of this is compounded by the fact that when I am not playing the latest FPS or RTS and saving yet another planet from imminent destruction I work in the IT department of a state courthouse, ground zero for good data backup habits. I never thought it could happen to me like so many others. I would make sure to learn from my mistakes and vowed to never let it happen again. All the data I lost could have been saved if only for a few simple steps anyone can take. Whether it’s family photos, screenshots of the Super Pi world record or just saving all of those web links you have amassed over the years, good data backup habits are something we should all practice and pass along to our less tech savvy family and friends.

 

Very few people would argue that the tools included with Windows XP are sufficient enough to provide a comprehensive solution to hard drive failure or corruption. Remember it doesn’t have to be a complete hard drive crash to lose data. It could be as simple as the data becoming corrupted. There are many steps one could take to insure that their data will live long and prosper. Today we will cover 3 steps that when used in combination provide you with all the protection you'll ever need. These steps include:

• System Restore
• Saving files to DVD/CD with Windows writing wizard
• Creating a complete image of the hard drive

Let's begin.