FreeComputerZone - Backup Your Important PC Files

Today, it seems that everyone's collection of multimedia files is growing rapidly. It is not uncommon, for computer users to have huge collections of music MP3s, movies, family videos, digital photos, and much more all residing on their shrinking hard drives. As rapidly as hard drives in computers have grown, collections of multimedia files have also grown. Not only are most people's hard drives becoming very full of these digital files, but many of them, such as family pictures, are priceless and cannot be restored if lost. Thus, it is ever more important now to have a backup hard drive solution. Luckily, the price for hard drives has decreased substantially the past few years. Today, hard drives come in numerous sizes and shapes formats and prices.

There are many ways you can unintentionally lose information on a computer. A child playing the keyboard like a piano, a power surge, lightning, floods. And sometimes equipment just fails. Even hard drives will eventually fail.

If you regularly make backup copies of your files and keep them in a separate place, you can get some, if not all, of your information back in the event something happens to the originals on your computer. There are many efficient back up solutions to help you protect your files. External hard drives, burning CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMS, Zip Drives, Network Drives, are a few examples of back-up devices. The most robust solution is a Network Attached Storage (NAS) hard drive - that is an external hard drive connected to your wireless network allowing you to back-up files wirelessly from any computer in your home -- check out the latest Network Attached Storage Drives.

Deciding what to back up is highly personal. Anything you cannot replace easily should be at the top of your list. Before you get started, make a checklist of files to back up. This will help you determine what to back up, and also give you a reference list in the event you need to retrieve a backed-up file. Here are some file suggestions to get you started:

• Bank records and other financial information

• Digital photographs

• Software you purchased and downloaded from the Internet

• Music you purchased and downloaded from the Internet

• Personal projects

• Your e-mail address book

• School or business documents

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How many days worth of information could you afford to lose if your computer crashed? What about if your office or home burned down? What about if most of your city was wiped out by a tornado or a flood? Any backup plan is simply a way of controlling risk. You risk losing a day's, a week's, a month's or a year's data - instead of risking losing it all. When devising your backup plan, think about how much risk you are willing to take. We recommend backing up your My Documents folder, your email .PST (if you use Outlook), your music and movies, and your digital photos collection.

Now that you have identified the files you would like backup and the location where they are on your hard drive, it is time to develop a plan on how to back these files up. Some people prefer an automated backup solution where an external hard drive is connected to the computer and automatically copies certain files from the PC to the backup hard drive on a regular basis such as once a week or once a month. Others, prefer a manual solution where they manually copy certain files and folders from their PCs to their backup hard drives on dates and times of their choosing. And lastly, some users will actually create an exact copy the image of their entire hard drive and backup the entire hard drive on a periodic basis. This last option is more time-consuming, slightly more complicated, and certainly will take up much more space on that external hard drive. However, the imaging option is the most robust backup solution because you have elected to backup the entire hard drive as opposed to some of the files you deem as crucial. Depending on which of these three options you choose, you will have to decide on which software to use.

Many of these external hard drives come bundled with backup software. However, many times this backup software is the trial version only and to use or unlock all of its features incurs additional cost or subscription. There are several reliable backup programs such as Memeo and Acronis True Image. Alternatively, there are data synchronization programs that go beyond just a simple copy and paste of the files on one Hard Drive and replacing them on another Hard Drive. Acronis True Image offers the most comprehensive backup solution and their imaging software is our program of choice. We recommend at least once performing a complete image of your hard drive - Acronis True Image also allows you to create a bootable restore disk, something that Vista does not provide inherently. Armed with the imaged backup and the full (bootable) restore disk, you are ready for any data emergency!

Data synchronization, compares files in the folder is that you have selected it been checks to see if the files have changed or are different, and if one file is more current or has been updated since the last one was jacked it then copies the file over. By synchronizing hard drives, you can save time by not having to copy every single file over every time you backup. Instead the synchronization software simply compares files and only copies those that have changed. Syncback is an excellent free data synchronization program that will allow you to sync up your current PCs hard drive and your backup hard drive.

Once you have identified the software you would like to use in the frequency and method that you would like to copy or backup your software, all you have to do now is stickier plan and be disciplined in your backup habits. In this case, the automated solution is easiest because you will not have to involve yourself in this process once you set it up and configure it. Once you have implemented a backup solution you can rest assured that your files will be redundant and secure even if there is catastrophic hard drive failure on one machine.

Want more details on how to shop for a Backup Hard Drive and how to decide on a backup plan? Check out our latest article on how to select a best Backup Hard Drive.

By following our steps above and the How To Clean Up Your Computer instructions, you should be able to keep your computer running for a long time.