What and How to Backup

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What and How to Backup

• George Skarbek
• 8th May 2007

2
Why backup?

• To be able to restore your data after the loss of
  your hard drive or your computer
• As yourself
• If I loose all my data will it have any effect
  for me?

3
What to back up

• Your data, and not Windows or the programs as
  these can be installed from the CDs
• For many users the My Documents folder is the
  best start as this will capture many important
  files including your Favourites and the Desktop

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Problems

• There are problems with just backing up only My
  Documents. These are
• The backup may not fit onto a CD or even a Dual
  Layer DVD due to many images or videos. One
  solution is to always move all images to another
  folder such as C\Photos
• Other important files may be missed

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Where is it?

• Mail is generally not stored in My Documents
• Outlooks PST file is stored in C\Documents
  and Settings\Your Name\Local Settings\Application
  Data\Microsoft\Outlook and it contains all mail,
  contacts, calendar and task list

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Where is it?

• Outlook Express stores mail in .dbx files in
• C\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Local
  Settings\Application Data \Identities\
  532A0C1E-F9D4-4B50-B208-3BE15A23589F
  \Microsoft\Outlook Express . but it can be in
• C\WINDOWS\Application Data\Identities\
  445BA929-0754-421E-B2F9-D5F440A69141 \Software\
  Microsoft\Outlook Express

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Where is it?

• Outlook Express address book is User.wab in
• C\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Application
  Data\Microsoft\Address Book
• Financial records generally are not stored in My
  Documents
• MYOB data is an .DAT or .PRM file in C\MYOBx
• Quicken files are in C\Programs\Quickenw.
  Extensions are QW? as they vary with versions

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Where is it?

• Word customisation and AutoComplete information
  is stored in Normal.dot file usually in
  C\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Application
  Data \Microsoft\Templates
• AutoCorrect data is in C\Documents and
  Settings\Your Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Offi
  ce and the file can be MSO1033.acl or MSO3081.acl

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What to back up

• Custom dictionary is Custom.dic stored in
  C\Windows\Application Data \Microsoft\Proof
• Other data files to consider are
• Movie projects
• Photos
• VoIP phone book
• FTP Site manager
• Internet dialler settings

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What to back up

• Speech recognition training files
• Genealogy data files
• Uncompleted games
• GPS traces from data loggers or GPS units
• Your MP3 music
• Your passwords file
• Generally your actual movies are too large to
  backup and the final DVD should be burned twice

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How do I find where these files are?

• Often the location of the saved files is not
  obvious. To find out where that data is stored
  and what it is called
• Save your file and exit the program
• Then immediately search your computer for recent
  file and sort by date modified Your data file
  should then be obvious

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Where to back up

• In some cases it may be possible to backup onto a
  floppy or two
• As 2 GB USB drives cost less then 50 This is
  probably the best medium as it can be always kept
  in a purse, pocket or car and be always off-site
• Weekly CDs or DVDs
• Another drive, computer or the Internet

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How to back up

• There are many free / shareware backup programs
  including Microsofts Backup (this may have to be
  installed). Vista has a good product
• Drive image is highly recommended as after a disk
  failure, install a new hard disk and 30 minutes
  later you have the entire computer restored

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How to back up

• Using WinZip or WinRar will reduce the space on
  the destination drive
• Consider automating the process so that you can
  backup with a single click, this way you will me
  more likely to backup regularly

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How to back up - Tip

• By altering the file system on a USB drive from
  FAT to NTFS you can obtain a speed improvement of
  a few hundred percent
• From a DOS box type
• CONVERT x /FSNTFS were x is the USB drive
  letter. To open a DOS box click on Start, Run and
  type CMD
• Do not convert if you intend using it on a
  Windows 98 computer

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• Any Questions?