Your computer crashes and you take it to a techie who gets it working again but needs to reformat (erase) the hard drive.  You get your computer back with nothing on it.  No problem you think, you have a backup of your important data on Disk, either CD/DVDs or a USB hard drive.  But when you try to restore you find:

1. there is something wrong with the backup disks, either the data is corrupted or there simply is no data on the disk(s)
   or:
2. the backup was made with software that you don’t remember or don’t have.  You need that software in order to restore.

If you can’t restore … your backups are worthless.

To prevent this happening to you, here are a few suggestions.

1. When you do your backups, *always* check the results. 
   If you backup to CD/DVD, take that disk to another computer, put it in the drive and see what happens.  Does it come up to a ‘Do you want to restore’ prompt?  Are the files on the disk that you expect?  If you backup to a USB external hard drive, explore the results.  Are the files where you expect them to be?  Do you know how to restore them?
2. Periodically test your restore capability. 
   Pretend to lose a file that you want to recover from your backups.  The easiest way to do this is to rename it.  For example, let’s say you have an Excel spreadsheet called TaxRecords.xls.  Rename that file to zzzTaxRecords.xls.  That way you still have the file, but your computer sees that the file TaxRecords.xls is gone.  Now try to restore that file from your backups.  For an example of this, see the Geeks on Tour Show Me Video on Backup to an External Hard Drive.
3. Use a backup procedure that creates file by file copies of your data rather than backup ‘packages.’ 
   There are dozens, maybe even hundreds of different ways to make backups.  Every USB hard drive comes with software to make backups, there are lots of free backup programs you can download, and there are many backup programs you can buy. They all work a little differently.  I like the ones that result in file copies rather than backup ‘packages.’  If I can see a file, I can copy it.  If I only see a backup ‘package’ I need the original software to restore it.

I am currently using Windows 7 backup utility to backup my entire computer to a USB hard drive.  When I look a the USB drive, I see a folder labeled with the name of my computer.  When I click, I get options to Restore (and it works just fine), but I can’t look inside and see all the files.  All I see is this one ‘package’ that somehow contains all my files.  What if I changed computers and no longer had Windows 7?  How would I get my files?  I don’t know. 

I am also trying out the online backup service called Carbonite.  If I want to restore a file, I can browse all my online backed up files and pick the one I want.  True, this is using the Carbonite software, but it’s a service … with support … that I’m paying $50/year for.  I can trust that when I want to restore files to any computer in the future – I can.

My favorite backup program is still a freeware package called Karen’s Replicator.  You can set it up to copy whatever folders/files you want on any schedule you want, and you can see the results.  You will see the actual files – not a backup ‘package.’  For more information on this program see this past Geeks on Tour Newsletter.

Use Picasa to backup your photos.
Picasa gives you the best of both worlds.  First of all, it is SO simple to make backups of your pictures to CD/DVD – Picasa even burns the disk.  It will backup all the special Picasa features (edits, albums, face recognition) along with your pictures so you can restore to another computer, but it also is making file by file copies of your photos.  You don’t have to use the Picasa restore process to get your pictures back.  I have 10 years worth of photos backed up with Picasa.  I have no intention of using the restore feature to put all those on another computer.  But I know that, if I want a particular picture from 2002, I can find it on my backup CD.  Here’s a Geeks on Tour Show Me Video on How to restore a single picture from a Picasa Backup.

A happy computer user has good backups that they know how to restore.

BACKUP!  BACKUP! BACKUP!

Happy Computing!
Chris Guld, www.GeeksOnTour.com
Computer Education for Travelers

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2. BUCS
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BACKUP!! BACKUP!! BACKUP!!

Everyone will someday experience a computer crash, or mistakenly delete a file, or overwrite important data. It’s not a matter of *if* it’s just a matter of *when.*

If you have a backup of your data, then the loss is a minor nuisance involving the time to find your backup and restore it to it’s proper place. If you don’t have a backup it can be catastrophic.

There are *so* many ways to make backups. You need to investigate the choices, understand your files and what you have to back up. And, last, set up a procedure to follow.

I use an external hard drive and a free software called ‘Karen’s Replicator.’ You need to spend a little bit of time configuring Karen’s Replicator, but I love how customizable it is. For example, I can set it to backup my accounting records once a week, my email address book once a month, and my website development work every day.

I also like that it is a file by file copy. So it is very easy to find a file I need to recover and just copy it. No need for a Restore program or procedure.

You can find more information about Karen’s Replicator at Karenware.com. You can also download it at Download.com

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2. BUCS
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Computers, especially, need their own place, at least desktop computers do. It took us a while to realize that our desktop computer did *not* like being jostled about. After about 6 months on the road, it developed severe problems. I would get the ‘blue screen of death’ when I turned it on at our destination, and Jim would have to work his magic to bring it back to life. We suspected that vibrations of the road were causing problems with the hard drive – and maybe other components as well. So, we rigged up a nice ‘bed’ for it. A thick piece of foam rubber in a box just the right size for laying my computer on it’s side. We haven’t had any more trouble with it, and that’s been a couple years now! Laptops don’t need this level of care, they were built to withstand a certain amount of bumps and bruises. Desktop computers weren’t. They expect to be used on a desktop, in an office, on solid ground!

One other thing to know about traveling with any kind of computer is that you need your original CDs with you. I remember meeting ‘Tom’ in an RV park in Kansas. His Dell computer had crashed. He couldn’t get it to turn on regardless of his efforts. He found out that Jim is a computer tech and asked if he could help. Sure! The first thing Jim needs is the original installation CDs so he can boot the computer and restore the operating system. “Uhhh,” Tom says, “you mean those CDs that I keep in a box in my office …. in Michigan?”

Yep, those would be the ones! Lucky for Tom, Jim is a Microsoft partner and has quite a collection of CDs for every operating system they make. We also had an Internet connection because of our satellite dish, so Jim could go to Dell’s website and download the drivers needed. He was able to get the computer back up and running, but without his accounting software, or his photo software, because that was all back in Michigan too. He did have his navigation (Streets and Trips) software with him, so he was able to find his way back to Michigan!

Many people have told us, ‘But, my computer didn’t come with any CDs.’ Well, yes, that may be true. But those that came without the CDs *did* come with instructions on how to make your own recovery CDs. It’s a pain, but that should be the first thing you do when you buy a new computer.

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1. RVs, Computers, and Internet Access
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