Laptops All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies- P28 pptx

Backing Up Before You Go Go 244 medium like a CD, DVD, or flash memory key and keep them in your laptop computer travel bag; if the bag and computer are stolen, your backups will go along with them.) Some programs, including word processors, let you create version backups (which aren’t the same as backups) to guard against loss of data. A version backup is a copy of whatever file you’re currently working on before you began changing the current version. This valuable tool is for when you change your mind and want to go back in time to that earlier version, but in most cases the version backup is stored on the same hard disk drive as the original. Choosing files for backup What type of files should be backed up? The short answer is: anything of value to you that would be difficult or important to replace. Definitely make backups of the following: ✦ Any word-processing files for projects in progress ✦ Anything that records important personal information, financial or legal records, and receipts ✦ Music ✦ Photos ✦ Video ✦ Important correspondence that arrives (or departs) via your e-mail program What doesn’t need to be backed up? The operating system or programs installed on your machine. Instead, keep the original installation discs and product keys or serial numbers so you can reinstall them in case of disaster. Choosing frequencies for backup The amount of time you let go by between data backups should be directly related to your personal and professional threshold of pain. If you lost all the work you’ve done today, would that be the end of the world, or merely require you to spend a few hours re-creating the files and other documents while they’re still somewhat fresh in that other computer — the one between your ears? If you lost all the work you did today as well as yesterday, that might be more than you’re willing or able to stand. And if you were to lose the work of a week or a month or a year . . . please stay away from open windows, rail- road crossings, and tax collectors. 18 140925-bk03ch04.qxp 4/8/08 12:39 PM Page 244 Book III Chapter 4 Honk, Honk! Windows Backup and Restore Utilities Backing Up Before You Go Go 245 Because I spend nearly my entire business day parked in front of my laptop keyboard, I consider it essential to back up all my work daily. I use a combi- nation of temporary backups to devices like flash memory keys, and more permanent weekly or monthly backups to removable media including DVDs and external hard disk drives. And most recently I’ve begun using the serv- ices of automated online backup facilities that promise to keep me protected all the time, nearly up to the minute. Backing up manually You can take charge of your own backup process quite easily. But you have to promise me (and yourself) that you will be 1) diligent, and 2) organized. Here is the manual backup protocol (a word that was in the jargon of com- puter geeks for years before the writers of the TV show 24 decided to use it in every other sentence of their scripts) that I follow: Daily or anytime I worry Daily, or anytime I worry that I’ve just completed something that would pain me to have to redo, I copy the specific files or folders I’ve been using. I used to do this on a CD-R disc, which has about 700MB and, bought in bulk, costs as little as ten cents. Burning a CD requires about five minutes, and when it is done I used a felt-tip pen and marked the date and a description of its con- tents on the disc’s front (label side). I stored my CDs in a plastic case on the bookshelf. If I was traveling with my laptop, I brought a box of blank CDs and made copies that I stored somewhere other than my laptop carrying case. Nowadays, though, I back up using a flash memory key. These little sticks of memory are examples of the inverse pricing model of modern technology: They keep getting larger in capacity and cheaper in price. As this book goes to press, you can buy a 4GB memory key for about $25 and use it over and over again. I plug a memory key into a USB port on my laptop as I work, and every few hours — or anytime I’m about to leave the room when I travel — I move a copy of all of today’s work onto the key. Then I remove the little device and pop it in my pocket or in the hotel safe or amongst my dirty socks in my suitcase. Once a week or anytime I’m leaving on an extended trip Once a week, or anytime I’m about to go on an extended trip, I make an incre- mental backup of all files that have changed in the past week. If I’m working from my office, I make a double backup: one set of files is copied to an exter- nal hard disk drive and another set is burned to a DVD disc. The external hard disk protects against a failure within my laptop; the DVD goes into a storage container or a safe in my office and stays behind when I travel. 18 140925-bk03ch04.qxp 4/8/08 12:39 PM Page 245 Using an Automated Windows XP Backup Program 246 Today’s basic recordable DVDs have a capacity of about 4.7GB and don’t cost much more than CD-Rs. Dual-layer drives offer as much as 9.4GB. And on the horizon: Blu-ray discs with 25GB single-layer and 50GB dual-layer media. Most modern laptops come with DVD recorders, although some machines may be one step (or a few dollars) behind the time and offer a CD recorder and a DVD player. You can burn a CD in a DVD recorder but can’t create a DVD in a CD recorder. Once a month or anytime I finish a major project Once a month, or any time I finish a major project — like the gigantic book you’re holding in your hands — I make a full backup of my laptop’s hard disk drive. I already have DVDs with the most recent data, but for this project I make a mirror copy on an external hard disk drive. Using an Automated Windows XP Backup Program Instead of doing it yourself, you can use the computer to take care of its own backup processes. It seems only fair, don’t you think? Windows XP and Windows Vista include their own utilities that let you com- mand your laptop to copy all its files, entire folders of files, or individual files. You can put the copies on an external hard disk drive or on any other form of removable media, including flash memory keys, DVDs, and CDs. You can also purchase products (from third-party utility makers) that you may find to be easier to use, more automated, or faster than Microsoft’s tool. Windows XP comes equipped with a basic backup program. It’s preinstalled as part of Windows XP Professional; if you have Windows XP Home Edition, you can add it to your system with a few extra steps. Adding Microsoft’s backup to Windows XP Home Edition For reasons best understood by the marketing people at Microsoft, Windows XP Home Edition comes with Backup on the installation disc but not on pre- configured systems. You can easily remedy that, though. Some laptop manufacturers have chosen to save a few pennies (or charge a few dollars more) by not including a physical copy of the Windows installa- tion disc with their machines. Instead, they add a compressed copy of the installation code in a hidden partition on your hard disk drive, allowing you to reinstall the operating system from there if necessary. I think that’s a terrible idea; what do you do if the hard disk drive fails? I insist on receiving 18 140925-bk03ch04.qxp 4/8/08 12:39 PM Page 246 Book III Chapter 4 Honk, Honk! Windows Backup and Restore Utilities Using an Automated Windows XP Backup Program 247 an actual copy of the Windows installation disk with any computer I buy, although sometimes I have to pay a few bucks for something that’s already mine. Insert the Windows XP CD in the optical drive of your laptop. It should auto-start; if it doesn’t, follow these steps: 1. Open My Computer and double-click the CD icon. 2. On the Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP screen, click Perform Additional Tasks. See Figure 4-1. 3. Click Browse This CD. Windows Explorer opens. 4. Double-click the ValueAdd folder. 5. Double-click Msft. 6. Double-click Ntbackup. 7. Double-click the icon for Backup. The file is called Ntbackup.msi. 8. Click Accept Instructions to install the program. 9. Remove the Windows XP installation disc when the utility is in place. Figure 4-1: Adding some early, hidden, extra Windows XP features. 18 140925-bk03ch04.qxp 4/8/08 12:39 PM Page 247 Using an Automated Windows XP Backup Program 248 Running Windows Backup Once you install the program in either the Home or Professional version of Windows XP, using it is the same. In its standard configuration, the program offers a wizard that offers a streamlined pathway to the most commonly used options for backup. To open and run the backup program, follow along: 1. Click the Start button. 2. Click All Programs ➪ Accessories ➪ System Tools ➪ Backup. The wizard asks the appropriate question: What do you want to back up? (See Figure 4-2.) You can back up all the contents of your My Documents folder plus favorites and cookies, all information on the computer, or be selective and choose particular files or folders. This is one reason to use the recommended file folders, including My Documents or Documents; if you use a folder of your own, it may not be automatically backed up or you may have to take a few extra steps to add it to the list of folders for archiving. A distinction exists between working on your documents and settings only, or on those that belong to every user of the computer. (Most laptops are set up with only one user.) The option to back up all information also creates a system recovery disk that can restore Windows to the condition as it existed on the day you made the backup in the event of a catastrophic failure. The backup process under Windows XP includes an Advanced feature that allows you to set an incremental or differential backup instead of making copies of every file it finds in the specified folders. An incremental backup adds only those files you’ve created since the last time you ran the backup utility; a differential backup backs up only the changes to files and folders and settings since the last backup. The doorway to the Advanced screen is on the last window before the backup process begins; see Figure 4-3. You can back up only files to disks that are current formats, including NTFS, FAT, or UDF. You must back up files somewhere other than the disk where the files cur- rently are; that makes sense, since the idea is to have a copy to use in the event of the original media’s failure or corruption. Under Windows XP, you also can’t make backups to a flash memory key or to a tape drive. 18 140925-bk03ch04.qxp 4/8/08 12:39 PM Page 248 Book III Chapter 4 Honk, Honk! Windows Backup and Restore Utilities Using an Automated Windows XP Backup Program 249 Once you begin a backup, you can return to other tasks on the computer; the backup goes on in the background. You may notice that your system runs a bit slower than usual, and certain tasks involving opening folders or moving files may take considerably longer (in relative terms) than usual. Any files that you might change or create while the process is under way aren’t backed up until the next time you run the utility. If you make your backups to a recordable CD or DVD, be available to insert and remove discs as needed. You should also have a felt-tip marker to label each disc as it’s created; add a numerical or alphabetic sequence so that you know the order of the discs should you ever need to restore data from them. If you lose one CD or DVD in a sequence of backup discs, you can restore your data — except for the files or folders that were recorded to the missing disc. Certain technical restrictions also prevent storing backups on a network device in a computer running Windows XP Home Edition. You can, however, save from that machine to a directly attached storage device. Figure 4-2: The Windows XP Backup or Restore Wizard includes options that allow storage of a preset or customized group of files, folders, and settings. 18 140925-bk03ch04.qxp 4/8/08 12:39 PM Page 249 Using an Automated Windows XP Backup Program 250 The Backup utility moves most common data and settings file types. The fol- lowing types of files can’t be backed up: ✦ System files (elements of the Windows operating system) ✦ Program files (applications added to the operating system) ✦ Files currently in the Recycle Bin ✦ Temporary files ✦ Files that have been encrypted using Encrypting File System (EFS) ✦ User profile settings Up to this point, I’ve written only about backing up your files. The other half of the utility, of course, is restore. To initiate data file restoration, choose the obvious option: Restore. You can return files to their original location or select a new spot; if you’re restoring files to a new hard disk drive, you can adjust the location to match its new organizational structure. Windows Vista comes equipped with a backup program similar in appear- ance and function to the Windows XP utility, although Vista’s runs a bit more quickly and includes a few additional features. The opening screen for Vista’s backup program is shown in Figure 4-4. Figure 4-3: On my fast system it took about two hours to move 100GB of data from an internal hard drive to an external unit. 18 140925-bk03ch04.qxp 4/8/08 12:39 PM Page 250 Book III Chapter 4 Honk, Honk! Windows Backup and Restore Utilities Curing Some Evils with System Restore 251 Curing Some Evils with System Restore By now every computer user knows very well that computers aren’t infalli- ble. (That doesn’t mean that they possess an antigravity force field and are protected against falling off a table; it means that even the most carefully guarded and well-maintained machine occasionally loses its mind or at least stops performing as well as it did yesterday.) In addition to file and folder backup and restore, Windows offers another backup: System Restore focuses solely on settings and configurations. It doesn’t record word-processing, e-mail, or any other data file you create; that’s the Backup utility’s job. One of the major causes of meltdowns large and small? Corruption of stored settings, Windows system files, or unintended changes to those same essen- tial elements. How can this happen? ✦ An electrical fault. If your laptop runs out of power while saving a file or installing a program, or if it somehow receives a power surge or static shock, this can be the result. ✦ A virus or other form of unwanted nasty code. Figure 4-4: The first step in using Vista’s backup facility is to set up automatic backup. 18 140925-bk03ch04.qxp 4/8/08 12:39 PM Page 251 Curing Some Evils with System Restore 252 ✦ A poorly designed installation program. Said installation program is one that doesn’t follow all of Microsoft’s recommendations or does not play well with other applications. ✦ An incomplete installation. A power failure or an operating system freeze are two interrupting culprits. ✦ A rare combination of incompatible software or hardware. Although software makers spend a great deal of time (some more than others) testing their products, they can’t anticipate every possible permutation of code and device. Never install a program on your laptop when it’s running off batteries. If the power runs out before the installation is complete, the result could be damage to the system files. System Restore won’t run on disks smaller than 1GB, which shouldn’t be much of a problem for laptop owners; by today’s measure that capacity is tiny. In any machine, you need a minimum of 300MB of free space on each hard disk that has System Protection turned on. Similar to the Recycle Bin, as the amount of space dedicated to restore points fills up, the computer deletes older information to make room for new. Using System Restore One solution to a sudden, serious problem with your Windows operating system is go back in time, to a point when it last worked properly. No, this doesn’t require use of Doc Brown’s plutonium-powered flux capacitor from “Back to the Future.” It does, though, require a Windows utility called System Restore . . . and a bit of luck. System Restore works by taking electronic snapshots (called restore points) of your system files and settings at regular intervals and any time you manu- ally instruct it to do so. If you’ve lived a clean life, helped little old ladies cross the street, and haven’t done anything else to bollix up your system, it may allow you to undo damage. A portion of the Windows Vista System Restore screen is shown in Figure 4-5. The utility records the status system files, programs that have been installed to run under Windows, and the settings in the Windows registry. In certain circumstances it can record changes made to scripts, batch files, and other types of executable files. 18 140925-bk03ch04.qxp 4/8/08 12:39 PM Page 252 Book III Chapter 4 Honk, Honk! Windows Backup and Restore Utilities Curing Some Evils with System Restore 253 When it comes to personal files including e-mails, documents, photos, and music, I’ve both good news and bad. The good news: If they’re still on the disk, using System Restore won’t touch them. The bad news: If they’ve been erased or corrupted, you have to try to repair them or unerase them using other methods. (Of course, if you’re really a careful user, you’ve backed up copies of your files on a different drive or on an external medium like a CD or DVD.) A restore point records only your system files and settings. Choosing a restore point has no effect on any data files you created before or after the snapshot, but software or hardware installed since the restore point won’t likely be immediately available to you. Hold off reinstalling anything until you’re sure Windows is performing properly. Knowing System Restore best practices You have absolutely no reason not to set up your machine to use System Restore. The only minor issue you must decide is how much space to devote to restore points; once you reach the size limit, Windows automatically deletes the oldest restore point to make room for the newest. Figure 4-5: When you restore files and settings, you can try the most recently recorded restore point or go onto the utility’s calendar to select a specific day. 18 140925-bk03ch04.qxp 4/8/08 12:39 PM Page 253 . version backup is a copy of whatever file you’re currently working on before you began changing the current version. This valuable tool is for when you change your mind and want to go back in time to that. Definitely make backups of the following: ✦ Any word-processing files for projects in progress ✦ Anything that records important personal information, financial or legal records, and receipts ✦ Music ✦. organized. Here is the manual backup protocol (a word that was in the jargon of com- puter geeks for years before the writers of the TV show 24 decided to use it in every other sentence of their scripts)