How to Backup
[Continued]
Backup Methods
So you've worked out what you want to backup and decided where to store it. Now you just need to decide the best backup method to use.
| Method | Details |
| Copy/Paste | Everybody knows how to do this right? Can be a bit of a labour intensive process if you've got lots of files dotted all over the place. It also can be a bit unreliable when copying large numbers of files - any errors will cause the whole paste process to stop. But if you're looking for simple and cheap (free!) then just copy/paste your important data from your PC onto your portable media. If you need to restore any data, just copy and paste back again. |
| xcopy & robocopy | This one is for the aspiring
techies: These command line utilities allow you to be a bit more selective on the files that are copied to your backup storage. You can exclude certain files or folder based on their names, you can specify to only backup those files that are newer than those already on the storage media. Robocopy (robust file copy) does what it says on the tin - and using it's /MIR switch allows you to quickly mirror data to your backup storage. Combining these utilties in a batch file that's launched on a daily basis as a scheduled task is a good way of automating the back process. Make sure you still take your backup storage media offsite though! Click on the links if you want to find out how to use these programs. |
| Windows Backup | Windows Backup (or Backup & Restore
as it's called in more recent versions of the operating system) is
very capable of efficiently backing up and compressing all types of
data on your PC or office server. You can setup different jobs
and schedules for different types of data and specify whether you
want a full backup (backup everything), incremental backup (backup
just what's changed since the last backup) or differential (backup
everything that's changed since the last full backup). |
| YouBackup | Online backup software works in a similar way to Windows Backup except the data is also encrypted and transferred offsite to a secure data centre. This means it's a completely hands-off solution once it's been setup. No need to remember to perform the backup, no need to swap backup storage media and no need to physically carry the data offsite. A local copy of the backed up data can also be made so that quick restores can be performed when needed in the event of mistaken file deletion etc. |
Things to think about when choosing a backup method
Automation - can the method be automated so that it doesn't rely on you remembering to do it?
Compression - does the method compress the backed up data? If it doesn't, you may run out of storage space quickly.
Encryption - is your backed up data encrypted? If you're taking your data out of the office (and you really should) is your data protected by file encryption? If not, what happens if you lose the flash drive or CD all your sensitive company data is stored on?
Versioning/Retention Period - It's useful to be able
to restore your data to a particular point in time, or do be able to access
previous versions of your files instead of just the most recent. For
some industries it is a legal requirement to keep certain data for many
years - so some form of versioning or retention period might be necessary.
|
Storage media supported |
Backup features supported |
||||||||
| CD/DVD | Flash drive | Tape | Disk | Online | Automation | Compression | Encryption | Versioning | |
| Copy&Paste | X | X | X | ||||||
| xcopy / robocopy | X | X | X | X | |||||
| Windows Backup | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
| YouBackup | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
This is by no means an exhaustive assessment of all the backup software that
is available, but hopefully it's given you a few ideas about how to get
started with your backup regime.
