How To Backup Your Computer Using Windows To An External Hard Drive

How to Backup Your Computer using Windows

Nobody ever thinks it will happen to them, but it does. Yet, backing up your files to an external hard drive using Windows has never been easier.

Unfortunately, we humans have a habit of putting off the inevitable until it’s too late. The scenario usually goes something like, “Oh no, my computer just crashed. I knew I should have backed it up yesterday”. Sound familiar?

• We never think the worst case scenario will happen to us! But, unfortunately, it sometimes does. We all have accidents!

Why Backup Your Data?

So why backup your data? Is it important? If you use a computer on a regular basis then losing your files will happen to you at some point in time. It usually happens when you least expect it and when the data you lose is imperative to your business or livelihood. It also tends to happen when the data you need is neigh on impossible to replicate.

• Pictures of your loved ones.
• Important documents.
• Downloaded apps, music, etc.
• Don’t get caught without a backup, archive your data!

Why Backup? Because:

• You’ve got tons of important stuff on your computers.
• Computers fail, laptops get stolen and viruses attack.
• Hard drives die, and take your priceless data with them.
• Accidents happen. How many times have you accidentally deleted a file? Accidents happen all the time.
• Once your data is gone, it’s generally lost forever, especially if it’s a mechanical hard drive failure. Backup your data!

Why Backup Now?

Why backup now, this instant, today? This answer is obvious, because the longer you wait, the more you have to lose. Your backups should be done on a regular basis.

My Data is Not Important!

If you’re in business, your data is obviously important, and backups should be done daily (at least). If you have ‘mission critical’ data then consider mirroring your drives.

On the other hand, you may think your data is not important! After all it’s just emails and letters to family and friends, your CV or even just those old photographs. Well, your email can probably be recovered. Letters to family and friends many never be needed again. Your CV can be rewritten. Those old photographs? Priceless. You cannot go back in time and replicate them.

• Think very carefully before you say, “I don’t’ need a backup for my data”.
• Backups are extremely easy to produce, so there’s no reason not to have one.
• With 1TB military-grade shock resistant portable external hard drives costing less then £50, hardware costs should not be an obsticle.

Windows Backup! Get a Good External Hard Drive

With the arrival of Windows Backup, the days of ‘specialist’ hardware and software is also over for most of us with the advent of Windows Backup. The only additional item you will need is a good external hard drive.

Which external drive should I buy, I hear you ask? Well, it doesn’t really matter too much, any of the top brand, external USB hard drives, such as Western Digital, Hitachi, Toshiba or Seagate will do. With regards the storage size, given that you will be storing several backups on the drive I would recommend 500GB minimum and as the cost difference is quite minimal a 1TB drive might be better.

• If you can afford it, storing alternate backups on different external drives would also be recommended.

Backup System Using Windows

Whether you accidentally delete a file or lose a bunch of your data to a hard drive crash, regularly backing up your machine is always a good idea. All versions of Windows since XP have great built-in backup utilities, so it only takes a few steps to get started.

Here’s what you need to do to start the backup Wizard on Windows XP:

• Start > Accessories > System Tools > Backup

then just follow the steps in the Wizard.

The method is similar for Windows 7, 8 etc. If in doubt just click on the desktop, bring up the help system (F1) and search for Backup and Restore then follow the instructions.

Why Online Backup

A remote, online, or managed backup service, sometimes marketed as cloud backup, is a service that provides users with a system for the backup, storage, and recovery of computer files. Online backup providers are companies that provide this type of service to end users. [wikipedia]

Why online backup? Because

• It will be there if your external hard drive fails, and they always do.
• It’s immune to floods, fire, and other natural disasters.
• Your data is stored in a secure, remote location.
• Your files can be backed up automatically.
• You can access and restore your data anytime, from anywhere.

Backup Advice

What’s the best backup advice I can offer? Well here it is:

• The more important the data stored, the greater is the need for backing up the data.
• A backup is only as good as its associated restore strategy. Test your restoration process.
• Storing the backup near the original is unwise. Think of disasters such as fire, flood, storm and theft. In cases such as storing the backup near the original, both original and backup medium are likely to be lost.
• Consider automated backup scheduling to avoid human error.
• If storage space is problematic, consider incremental backups to reduce storage space and to avoid redundancy, but remember system restoration is more problematic with incremental backups.
• Include a backup verification strategy as an important part of your backup plan.
• Use multiple backups on different media, stored in different locations for all critical information.
• Long term backup archives should be stored in open and standard formats with the necessary software and hardware for restoration.