Ok, we’ve all heard it a million times before, backup your data on a regular schedule so if you have a system meltdown you can restore all of your files but how many of us are not doing it. Maybe we do it once a month or maybe never, believe it or not I know personnel friends that have never backed up their computer, no kidding. We've already covered some of the basics of backups before, but today we'll go over how to use Windows 7's built in back up program to keep your data protected.
HARDWARE NEEDED
Windows knows how important it is to have a computer backup plan, so they are nice enough to provide us with all of the tools we need to make this as painless as possible. All you need to come with is a suitable backup device like an external USB hard drive which in our opinion is the best choice for this job, just make sure to get one that is larger than your computer’s hard drive. Nothing is sadder than being in the middle of a backup and having it stop because you ran out of space on your backup device, get the biggest one you can afford, sooner or later you will fill it.
HOW TO DO IT
To get started, click on the “Start” button, type backup into the Search box and then click “Backup and Restore”. Click “Set up backup” and when the setup wizard appears select the drive you want to backup and click ‘Next’ to choose what you want to backup on this drive. We recommend you hoose to let Windows choose what to back up. The only limitation of theis is if you use any programs that save it's documents in odd places outside of the MY Documents folder. Windows will backup most, if not all of your data but the cool thing about choosing this option is Windows will also make a complete backup of your hard drive. This is known as a system image and is used for emergency purposes.
Let’s say you have files stored somewhere else on your computer or for some unknown reason you don’t want Windows to take a system image then select ‘Let me choose’ and click ‘Next’ to make your choices from those that are available. I would not choose this unless you’re really know what you’re doing and have a very good reason to pick and choose what to backup.
The next choice you have is how often you want Windows to backup your data, the default setting is weekly on a Sunday, don’t choose this setting unless you only use your computer once a week. Think about it, let’s say you work on your computer daily, you work all week and on Saturday your system crashes, you just lost 6 days of work that you can’t retrieve, what a bummer that would be. To change that setting, click on ‘Change Schedule’ to choose a different day and time or pick a totally different schedule so you can backup daily which is what we recommend. I like to have the backup done at midnight each day.
Once this is done, click ‘Save settings and run backup’, then let Windows start protecting your files. While Windows is backing up and you have nothing else to do, click ‘Create a system repair disc’ and follow the prompts. What this is going to do create a bootable rescue disc using a blank CD of DVD. Now if you have a complete system failure your files will be safely backed up.
RESTORING YOUR SAVED DATA
How about if you do have a system failure, you now have to Restore your files, here’s how you accomplish that. Let’s say you only lost one file and you need to restore it, just open the Backup and Restore tool and click ‘Restore files’, you can now search for the file or files you want to restore. If you have set your backup schedule to once a day those files will be saved. By default, Windows will Restore files and settings to their original locations. You can if you wish override this feature by choosing ‘In the following location’; this is a good option if you want to be sure you are not going to overwrite a newer version of a file you might want to keep. Once you are done click ‘Start restore’ and let Windows do its thing.
If you need to restore your entire system, click ‘Recover system settings on your computer’ followed this with ‘Advanced recovery methods’. Then select ‘Use a system image you created earlier to recover your computer’, make sure to click ‘Back up now’ when prompted. Once this is done your image will be restored and then Windows will be able to recover the latest version of your files that was taken prior to the system image.
That’s it, now you know how to safely back up your documents, photos, emails and other files.
Ok, we’ve all heard it a million times before, backup your data on a regular schedule so if you have a system meltdown you can restore all of your files but how many of us are not doing it. Maybe we do it once a month or maybe never, believe it or not I know personnel friends that have never backed up their computer, no kidding. We've already covered some of the basics of backups before, but today we'll go over how to use Windows 7's built in back program to keep your data protected.
HARDWARE NEEDED
Windows knows how important it is to backup so they are nice enough to provide us with all of the tools we need to make this as painless as possible. All you need to come with is a suitable backup device like an external USB hard drive which in our opinion is the best choice for this job, just make sure to get one that is larger than your computer’s hard drive. Nothing is sadder than being in the middle of a backup and having it stop because you ran out of space on your backup device, get the biggest one you can afford, sooner or later you will fill it.
HOW TO DO IT
To get started, click on the “Start” button, type backup into the Search box and then click “Backup and Restore”. Click “Set up backup” and when the setup wizard appears select the drive you want to backup and click ‘Next’ to choose what you want to backup on this drive. The option we recommend is to let Windows choose what to back up. Windows will backup most if not all of your data but the cool thing about choosing this option is Windows will also make a complete backup of your hard drive. This is known as a system image and is used for emergency purposes.
Let’s say you have files stored somewhere else on your computer or for some unknown reason you don’t want Windows to take a system image then select ‘Let me choose’ and click ‘Next’ to make your choices from those that are available. I would not choose this unless you’re really know what you’re doing and have a very good reason to pick and choose what to backup.
The next choice you have is how often you want Windows to backup your data, the default setting is weekly on a Sunday, don’t choose this setting unless you only use your computer once a week. Think about it, let’s say you work on your computer daily, you work all week and on Saturday your system crashes, you just lost 6 days of work that you can’t retrieve, what a bummer that would be. To change that setting, click on ‘Change Schedule’ to choose a different day and time or pick a totally different schedule so you can backup daily which is what we recommend. I like to have the backup done at midnight each day.
Once this is done, click ‘Save settings and run backup’, then let Windows start protecting your files. While Windows is backing up and you have nothing else to do, click ‘Create a system repair disc’ and follow the prompts. What this is going to do create a bootable rescue disc using a blank CD of DVD. Now if you have a complete system failure your files will be safely backed up.
RESTORING YOUR SAVED DATA
How about if you do have a system failure, you now have to Restore your files, here’s how you accomplish that. Let’s say you only lost one file and you need to restore it, just open the Backup and Restore tool and click ‘Restore files’, you can now search for the file or files you want to restore. If you have set your backup schedule to once a day those files will be saved. By default, Windows will Restore files and settings to their original locations. You can if you wish override this feature by choosing ‘In the following location’; this is a good option if you want to be sure you are not going to overwrite a newer version of a file you might want to keep. Once you are done click ‘Start restore’ and let Windows do its thing.
If you need to restore your entire system, click ‘Recover system settings on your computer’ followed this with ‘Advanced recovery methods’. Then select ‘Use a system image you created earlier to recover your computer’, make sure to click ‘Back up now’ when prompted. Once this is done your image will be restored and then Windows will be able to recover the latest version of your files that was taken prior to the system image. That’s it, now you know how to safely back up your documents, photos, emails and other files.
