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October 2000• Vol.6 Issue 10
Page(s) 28-31 in print issue

The Backup Plan
Options For Backing Up Your PC Data
Jump to first occurrence of: [BACKUP] [PLAN] [GRAY]

All is well in computing land until the day you go to boot your computer and the blinking welcome message “Reformatting Hard Drive – Please Wait” greets you. Or maybe the computer boots up just fine, but your kids blasted your latest work project into the deepest reaches of cyberspace while playing Army Men. One way or the other, after something happens to your computer or your data, it is too late to perform a back up of all your files and programs.

No matter what you use your PC for, you should periodically perform backups. Before you begin, though, you need to consider a few of your backup options. You can store the data on removable media or at a Web site. You can use software to schedule your backups to run while you sleep, or you can manually run the backups. None of these options is going to do you much good, however, unless you develop a backup plan that’s right for you and that you can stick with. So follow along as we give you all your options for backing up your PC data; we guarantee you will find an option that is right for you.



 Backing Up Isn't Hard To Do. To begin, you need to figure out what you should back up. A good rule to follow for what type of data you should back up is: If you hate the thought of losing it or couldn’t easily replicate or restore it, then you should probably back it up. Files such as financial records, job projects, the great American novel, e-mail, game saves, and Internet bookmarks and favorites, are all good candidates for the types of files you should back up. The key is to back up the files that are important to you.

Sit down and make a list of such files so you’ll have a good idea of what you need to include in your backups. You probably will not need to include applications in your frequent backups. Although it might be a pain to reinstall them all in the event of a catastrophe, you have them on the original CD-ROMs. If you do an occasional full backup (everything on your system), the backup will include the applications, but for frequent incremental backups (files that have recently changed), applications will just take up spare room and time. ( NOTE: Your backup plan should include a combination of full and incremental backups because this system will offer you the most protection in the end.)


 The Right Medium. After you decide what you want to back up, it’s important to figure out where you are going to save the backup. There are many options, and again, your needs will largely determine which one will work best for you.

Second hard drive. Hard drives have come down in price considerably during the past few years, and a second hard drive is a good, fast way to back up your entire drive. If you already have a second hard drive, you can use PowerQuest’s Drive Image Pro ($220; 800/379-2566, 801/437-8900; http://powerquest.com/driveimagepro) software to simplify the process of backing up. On the downside, this won’t help you much in the event of a fire or similar catastrophe (unless you go with an external hard drive and carry it around with you).

Diskettes. Diskettes have been around for a long time, and their primary selling point is they are pretty much universal. It’s easy to exchange files between computers using diskettes because just about everyone has a diskette drive. Unfortunately, they hold very little information (1.44MB [megabytes], tops). Although this media is a great way to back up a file or two, the small capacity of each diskette takes it out of the running as a credible backup option.

Zip, Jaz, SuperDisk, and Orb. Removable media (you can take it with you) solutions such as Zip drives and Jaz drives have been around for a while, and at one time, they were virtually the only viable mass storage options. As such, many computer users (and businesses) have them, meaning there’s a huge pool of users you’ll be able to share info with using this type of storage medium.

Storage options in this area come in many different configurations, including:

All these drives are fast, reliable, and cheap, and they let you easily store and transport good-sized backups. With many hard drives now several gigabytes in size, though, they probably aren’t going to be large enough for you to do full backups unless you use several disks.

One thing to bear in mind with all removable drives is how they will connect to your computer. Internal drives take up little room, and they are fast. In addition, they cut down on cords. However, they can be a hassle to install. External drives such as SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), parallel, and USB (Universal Serial Bus) require you have the correct port on your computer to plug them in. Check your computer documentation to make sure you can use a drive before you buy it.

Tape drives. This is the classic backup method, and it is still the method of choice for many businesses. When it comes to fast, inexpensive ways to back up a large hard drive, it’s tough to beat tape drives. Indeed, this is one of the only methods available to back up a whole drive to one tape/disk.

Optical drives. Optical drives, which use light to read and write information, such as CD-R (CD-recordable) drives and CD-RW (CD-rewriteable) drives have become popular (and inexpensive) as of late. However, it remains to be seen how long their popularity will last because optical devices such as DVD (digital versatile disc) are slowly taking their place in the mainstream. CD-R drives let you back up 650MB of data to a $1 disc that lasts for decades, and the disc takes up little space. In addition, this type of drive can read most music and data CDs, and it can produce music CDs that CD players can read. CD-RW drives are similar, but they let you write and erase a CD-RW much as you would a diskette or other removable media. However, CD-RWs are generally a bit more expensive and not as compatible with some CD players as CD-Rs are.

Writing data to discs is cheap and durable, and it provides a data copy that isn’t at risk from stray magnetic fields as magnetic media such as diskettes are. At a capacity of only 650MB, though, it’s not the perfect option for full backups (although software exists that lets you write full backups to several discs).

Although there still aren’t too many DVD-writeable devices, and the ones that are out are expensive, eventually they’ll provide a high-capacity alternative to CDs with their ability to squeeze 5.2GB onto their two-sided surface.



 Software Help. Now that you know what to back up and what type of storage medium you are going to use, you will need some software to help you with the backup process.

First, do you really need software for backups? Not necessarily, but it can help greatly in terms of:

Before you go purchase one of the general software packages below, check out the applications you already have. One option is Windows 98’s own Backup program. (See sidebar.) You also may have backup software if you recently purchased one of the peripheral devices discussed in the last section. Check the CD/diskette that came with the drive. Many devices come bundled with backup software that is specially tailored to work with the device.

Other software targets particular products or classes of products. For example, the $19.95 QuickSynk for Zip and Jaz disks from Iomega or Adaptec’s Take Two, which is a product included in Easy CD Creator 4 Deluxe ($79; 800/442-7274; 408/945-8600; http://www.adaptec.com)/ make it easier to do full partition or hard drive backups across several CDs.

There are more general software packages that offer a range of options and let you back up to most devices, including hard drives. Some of the best include:

FileBack PC. Maximum Output Software’s FileBack PC (800/999-2734, 805/288-1827; http://www.maxoutput.com/) offers a lot for its $20 registration fee. You can configure it to work a number of different ways on your system. You can have it automatically back up files when you save them, or you can schedule times when FileBack PC will regularly back up files. FileBack PC lets you keep up to 99 versions of files or groups of files and offers compression and synchronization between files. This program is small and fast, and it offers a lot for a small cost.

Dantz Retrospect. Dantz (800/225-4880, 925/253-3000; http://www.dantz.com/) offers several versions of its commercial Retrospect backup software. Packages such as Retrospect Express ($50) offer a great way for Mac and Windows users to schedule backups to almost any removable media or drive with features such as compression, encryption, and more. There are also versions that offer specialized features for servers and workgroups.

Second Copy 2000. Centered Systems’ Second Copy 2000 (800/903-4152, http://www.centered.com/) continuously works in the background to keep a second copy of your information on another drive or disk or another type of media. The program costs $29.95, and it features scheduling, compression, and synchronization tools. There is even a Windows 3.1 version (Second Copy 4.0) of this program.



 Backing Up To The Web. A great many Internet-based backup options are now available to computer users, and one of the best reasons to look into these is also the most obvious: location. Keeping a copy of your important files in a location on the Internet lets you remotely store your files in case a sinkhole claims your house, but they are also easy to access (as long as you can connect to the Internet). This is a great way to store data, but keep in mind your Internet connection speed when you’re deciding how much information to keep backed up on these.

Xdrive. With Xdrive (http://www.xdrive.com/), you can select a couple of ways to save files. A browser interface lets you use it as you would a Web page, accessing and uploading files to the site from any computer with an Internet connection and a browser. A Desktop application is also available. With this application, you can download and then map a drive to (drag files in and out, delete, etc. as you would a regular drive). Xdrive gives you up to 100MB for free, and it offers additional space for a small fee per month. This is a great way to manually store backups and share them with friends and coworkers, although there is no scheduling of backups.

@Backup. @Backup (http://www.backup.com/) offers a bit more than Xdrive but for a price. The cost of this service starts at $99 per year for 100MB of storage, but with @Backup, you can automatically schedule backups. @Backup features a file-selection wizard, secure encryption, and more.

iBackup. iBackup (http://www.ibackup.org/) used to offer free storage, but it went commercial this year. This is a full-featured service, and it is worth the starting price of $5 per month for 100MB of storage. iBackup features virtual drive options (like Xdrive), compression, encryption, scheduled backups, and the ability to save Web sites and Internet files directly to your virtual space.  

by Rich Gray


Windows Backup

One software option available to all Windows 98 users is Microsoft Backup. Written by Seagate Software, Backup lets you set up and maintain a list of backup jobs. Although it has many features, it’s the lack of one feature that makes it stand out: automatic backups. You can’t use Microsoft Backup with Task Scheduler to create automatic backups. You can set the Task Scheduler to launch the Backup program, but you must physically click a button to back up any files.
You can find Microsoft Backup by opening the Start Menu and selecting Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Backup. (If you don’t see it there, you may need to install it from your Win98 installation CD-ROM.) When you first launch Backup, a startup dialog box asks whether you want to create a new job, open an existing job, or restore backup files.

You create new jobs with a wizard, and you can set up any number of jobs that you can store and later launch by simply selecting them. The wizard is composed of several screens, during which you’ll be given a variety of options. You will need to choose which files you want to back up, where you want the files backed up to, whether you just want to back up changed files, what to call the backup job, and more. You can select to back up the whole computer or just a few select files. If your job is too large for one disc or diskette, Backup will write to several of them as long as you’re there to keep inserting new ones.

Additional features include the ability to compress files and password protect backups.  




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