Fuzzy Logic

How valuable is your data to you?  Family photos, emails and contacts, important documents and so on…  Do you make backup copies of your data?  Several of our customers have recently lost data as a result of not performing regular backups.  In some cases we were able to retrieve most of the data, but in a couple of cases, the hard drives had to be sent to professional data recovery agencies, costing the customers several hundred dollars to retrieve the data.

What is meant by “backing up” data?

Making backup copies of your data is the process of duplicating your data to additional locations.  Usually that means buring it to CD/DVD or copying it to another location such as a second computer or an external hard drive.  If the data on one medium becomes irretrievable, your data is still safe on the other location(s).  Beware though, not all types of backup are equal.  This article will outline various aspects of data backups.

How can data be lost?

Hard Drive Failure – this is possibly the most common cause of data loss.  Hard drives are sensitive devices with both electronic and mechanical components.  They’re subject to wear and tear as well as physical damage as a consequence of being moved while they’re in operation – this is particularly common with laptops.  If some other components in the PC are faulty (such as the power supply), they can also cause the hard drive to fail.

Accidental Deletion – another very common cause of data loss.  We’ve all done it at some point and then kicked ourselves afterwards   Often it’s chalked up as a learning experience or we investigate data recovery software.

Data Corruption – This usually happens as a result of some form of hardware fault or from Windows not being shut down properly.  Once the files are corrupted, it can be very difficult to retrieve the data.

Viruses – Regardless of how good your antivirus software is, some viruses can still slip through the net and infect your files.  In rare cases, the antivirus software can detect the infection but in the process of cleaning up the infection can corrupt your files.  Essentially all file types can get infected.

Natural Disaster – This is a fact of life.  Fortunately hard drive casings are quite resilient, meaning that your data can usually be recovered by a professional data recovery agency even after going through fire or floods.

Theft – Often overlooked, this is one of the worst forms of data loss.  Unless you can get the hard drive back, there’s no chance at all of retrieving your data.

How can we back up our data?

There are several methods of backing up your data.  Each method has it’s pros and cons:

Burn it to CD or DVD

• Almost every PC these days has a burner, plus they’re cheap to buy.  Blank CD’s and DVD’s are also cheap and easy to find.
• Burning data to CD/DVD is easy.  If you don’t know how to do this, it’s a sure bet that one of your friends will be able to show you.
• If you use “Recordable” media (as opposed to “Re-Writable”), the data is preserved in a “read-only” state.  It cannot be changed or corrupted (assuming the disc doesn’t get scratched).  This point alone makes this form of backup an excellent choice.
  
• When stored in a cool, dry place, good quality discs can last a very long time.  Up to 100 years accrding to some manufacturers.
• CD’s and DVD’s are easily scratched, meaning if they’re mis-treated, it’s easy to lose your data.
• CD’s and DVD’s are small compared to using additional hard drives.
• All types of discs are non biodegradable plastics.  Not environmentally friendly.
• The more discs you use to back up your data, the more space you need to store them.

Use an External Hard Drive

• Relatively cheap and readily available.
• Easy to use.  Simply drag and drop or set up automatic synchronisation.
• Large storage capacity, meaning it’s easy to keep all of your data in the one place.
• Comparatively fast to write to and read from.  Especially the newer eSATA drives.
• They’re prone to mechanical wear and tear and are easily damaged if they’re moved around while they’re switched on.
• Magnetic fields can wipe the data off them.  Keep them away from things like speakers, tube TV’s and CRT monitors.
• Electrical surges can damage them.  Even a faulty USB port can cause major dramas.

Use a USB Flash Drive

• Relatively cheap and readily available.
• Easy to use.  Simply drag and drop or set up automatic synchronisation.
• Easy to transport from one PC to another.
  
• Comparatively fast to write to and read from.
• They’re highly susceptible to data corruption.
• Limited storage space – although these days 16GB Flash Drives are affordable.
  
• They have a limited number of write transactions.
  

Use a Mirrored RAID Array

• No user interaction required.  The operating system treats the extra hard drives as one single drive.
• Excellent protection against hard drive failure.  You can usually continue using Windows if one of the hard drives dies.
• RAID arrays can be set up with very large hard drives.
• Not all PC’s can manage RAID.
• Each drive has identical content, so your data is still susceptible to accidental deletion, corruption and viruses.
• Setup can be tricky.  It can be a steep learning curve to get it set up, however once it’s configured there is no further interaction required.

Copy Your Data to Another PC

• Easy to use.  Simply drag and drop or set up automatic synchronisation.
• Large storage capacity, meaning it’s easy to keep all of your data in the one place.
• Easy to access from the second PC if the first PC fails.
  
• You need to be careful not to try accessing/changing the same files from both PC’s.
  
• If you don’t have a second PC, it’s an expensive option.
  
• Most home networks are very slow, which is a problem for large volumes of data.
• If one PC is infected with viruses, it’s fair to assume that the other PC’s on the network have been compromised.
  

Recommended Backup Media

As mentioned earlier in this article, provided that your data is stored in more than one location, it’s relatively safe.  However, some methods are better than others.  Probably the single best backup media is CD/DVD Recordable (“R”) discs.  This does not include Re-Writable (“RW”) discs.  CD/DVD Recordable Discs are read-only.  This means that once  files are written, they can’t be changed.  They can’t be affected with viruses and you can’t accidentally delete them.  If you choose not to use “multisession” and then “finalise” the disc after burning (meaning once you burn to the disc, it can no longer be written to), the chance of overwriting important files with different files of the same name has also been eliminated.

Reading from and writing to CD/DVD is slow.  If you require a faster method of backing up and accessing important files , you can use an additional mechanical hard drive.  This includes USB External hard drives (USB or eSATA), Mirrored RAID Arrays and additional PC’s.  Bear in mind that this is still a “read/write” media, so it is easy to accidentally overwrite or delete important files and it’s also easy for them to get infected with viruses and the like.

What Data Should I Back Up

Anything that is important to you.  Here is a list of things that you might like to keep:

• Personal documents
• Pictures and other media
• Mail and Contacts
• Internet Favourites/Bookmarks
• Document Templates (eg. if you configure Word to use specific fonts and layout options)
• Save game files for computer games
• Windows Settings (eg – any personalised Desktop options)

If you have or have had multiple users on that PC, it would be wise to ensure that each user’s personal data AND any personal data in the “All Users” profile is backed up.

How Do I Find My Data?

There are several ways of tracking down your data:

• Manual search – browse your hard drive(s) for files.  Common places to look are on your Desktop, in the “My Documents” folder(s), in the C: drive root folder (C:\),
• Export Data from Programs – some programs have the option to “Export” your data to a specified location.  Mail programs usually have this option, however in many cases it’s quicker to just find the associated data files and back those up.
• Use Search Tools – I’ve written a detailed guide on how to search for your data.  You can read it here.

Simplify the Backup Process

If you get into the habit of storing all of your data in the same drive or folder, it’s easier to track down and back up.  Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows store most of your data in the “My Documents” folder (eg. C:\Documents and Settings\Fuzzy\My Documents).  Windows Vista and later versions of Windows store almost everything into a folder with your username (eg. C:\Users\Fuzzy).  These folders already contain subfolders to organise other data, such as pictures and videos.  It’s a good idea to follow a similar layout if you save files here or in other folders or drives.

Some of the data can’t be stored in these user folders.  Mail programs in particular tend to use their own folders elsewhere on the hard drive.  An easy way to get around this is to set up sychronisation rules with a program like Microsoft SyncToy (it’s free and relatively easy to use) to either copy files to your user folders or copy directly to your backup location.

Some programs allow you to specify folders for the data files to be stored in.  For example, if you use Microsoft Outlook (not Outlook Express), you can configure it to store your mail files in any folder you like.  If you have trouble sorting this out, give us a call and we’ll do it for you

Other Backup Tips

• Back up your data regularly.
• Use brand-name products for CD’s and DVD’s (and also USB drives).
• Protect your data from malicious software (eg. viruses) and keep your protection software up to date.
• If you’re buying a new PC, check that it has the ability to do Mirrored RAID Arrays (most desktop PC’s these day do this).

What if I Lose My Data?

If you accidentally delete data or if you’re having trouble accessing data, STOP USING THE PC and call a professional!  The more you use the PC, the less chance you have of recovering the data.  If the files have been deleted, Windows may write other data over where the lost files were stored, making it very difficult to find with recovery software.  If the hard drive is damaged, then the longer it is powered on, the more damage it can do to itself.  Hopefully by this stage you have been diligently backing up your data.

In the worst case scenario (hard drive failure), your data is still usually recoverable but at the expense of your wallet.  The cost depends heavily on thetype and extent of damage to the drive.  Usually recovery costs fall between about $400-$1,200, but then you also need to cover costs for a new hard drive to store the recovered data on (~$100-$300) , plus postage.  Recovery turnaround time usually starts at about two weeks and can blow out to over a month.  Most people can’t wait that long to be up and running, so they usually need to fork out for another hard drive to get their PC up and running again.  Factoring all these costs in, it’s easy to see how this process can cost $1,000 or more! 😯  A great reason to back up your data!

Tags: back up, backup, CD, corrupt, corruption, DVD, external, file, Sync, SyncToy, Tips, usb, virus