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Resolved Question

Confusion .. ??

Jul 2, 2011 4:48AM PDT

A Big Hello To Fellow Mates,

Firstly, A Very GOOD DAY To All Of You Blush !!

Throughout the entirely all the forums, every thread regarding proper PC usage there's some stressing of the need to back up your hard-drive, which I find very confusing .. I mean what exactly should I back up other than my documents,photos e.t.c .. And there are members advising to take back up's of entire HDD's Confused

So being a newbie in certain matters of the PC World Plain , I am writing, hoping if somebody could PLS explain this and also recommend some good programs, methods and techniques for taking back ups and other steps to ensure smooth PC usage.

Thanking Everyone In Advance Happy

Discussion is locked

cool_spindoctor has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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Make Copies Of What You Don't Have...
Jul 2, 2011 1:23PM PDT

If you've already got recovery discs, then you probably aren't required to make backups of such.. If you don't have those, then definitely get them.

If you don't have copies of your hardware drivers, then make them.

If you don't have copies of your important files, pictures, music, etc., then make those as well..

Many brand name computers either come with recovery discs or give you an options to create them. The will contain the operating system, hardware drivers, plus all the software that was installed at the factory.. If you don't have such, then you know what to do. If you do have such, then you may want to only backup the important personal files.

Or in some cases, because a few folks like to create a mirror image of their hard drive at frequent times, you may choose to create total mirror images of the hard drive.. Such an image requires special software, or if you happen to have Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate, then it already has such software installed.

I ask my customers.... If your computer died RIGHT NOW, would you have sufficient backups to recreate your system setup?

Hope this helps.

Grif

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BACKUP HARDWARE DRIVERS ???
Jul 29, 2011 7:23PM PDT

I'm a bit confused, as always... LOL How does one make copies of their hardward drivers? I backup my Vista by using the backup program on it, to DVD's, and I back up documents/folders/pictures to flash drives as well.

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A Couple Of Ways Come To Mind...
Aug 1, 2011 8:07AM PDT

1. Visit the computer manufacturer's website, then download and save all the drivers for your computer model.. Once done, burn them to a CD or DVD for later use if necessary.

2. Many computer manufacturer's provide a "Resource/Driver CD" with a new computer.. If that's available, burn a copy of that disc for backup.. And if there is none available, either purchase one from the computer manufacturer, or use the option available for most new computer user to create a set of Recovery Discs in the Help & Support section of your start menu. (Windows 7 Ultimate and Pro users actually have an option to create a System Image of the hard drive which is a full copy of the hard drive for reinstalling later should something go haywire.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Answer
The moderators have a saying. Ready?
Jul 2, 2011 4:53AM PDT

"We only lose what we didn't backup."

Some owners don't make the RECOVERY MEDIA for their laptops or PCs so the entire image saves the day.

Hope this explains it well enough.
Bob

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Answer
Echoing Bob and Grif . . .
Jul 3, 2011 10:37PM PDT

You back up (save somewhere else) what you can't afford to loose.

Pictures, music, documents, etc. If your hard drive completely failed, what would you do?

In my case I have copies of all the above stored on optical media. And another copy on an external hard drive (in a USB case). And finally I have a clone of my hard drive sitting in a box.

In other words, one copy of anything will be lost.

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Answer
not always needed, but full backups still a good idea
Jul 30, 2011 3:13AM PDT

Another issue is time. If you have recovery disks and disks for all your applications, then, technically, you don't have to back up your entire system, but consider this. If you make regular full backups of your entire hard drive and it fails, it will only take a few clicks, then a short while (measured in minutes?) to be back up and running. If you have to reinstall and update everything from scratch, you'll be spending the better part of a day, maybe more, getting everything working again. Also, it won't be a few mouse clicks then watch TV. You'll actually be sitting in front of your computer most of that day, not to mention time on the phone on hold with not-always-free tech support if things don't work out as expected. For backups, an external drive or NAS might be useful and you can automate the process.