Back Up Important Files Avoid a Computer Crash: Back Up Important Files You’ve heard horror stories about it, or perhaps you’ve experienced it yourself. Many a working man and woman have nearly gone insane after the disaster that all computer-dependent individuals shiver at the thought of: the great computer crash. A person can literally lose everything he has saved on his computer in a blink of an eye. The reasons are varied. At times it occurs after an ample amount of warning signs, other times it comes as a complete surprise (making it more disconcerting). When these moments happen – and they do happen, and quite often actually – one can only hope that he has saved his files elsewhere, otherwise, there is little hope that they will be recovered. Are you scared yet? If you don’t want this to happen to you and your precious files (which I’m almost sure you don’t), read on and find out how to create backups for your many important files. But first off, if you’re still not convinced of the importance of backing up, here are a few reasons that might convince you. Top Reasons Why You Should Back Up Your Files 1. One of the few universal truths in life is, no matter how in control you are of your universe, something, someday will inevitably go completely wrong, and usually it is something that will happen beyond your control. The same is true for the files on your computer. No matter how updated and top-of-the-line your hard drive is, it will someday inevitably give up on you and your files. 2. Numerous viruses abound in the computers of individuals around the world – computers that send and receive files through the internet. There are also the numerous floppy disks, CDs and flash drives that connect to your computer. Any one of these can be carriers of a harmful virus that can wipe out the data stored on your computer. If you don’t have a backup for this data, you’re most likely never going to see them again. 3. Power failures are one of the computer’s worst nightmares (which also include running water and becoming obsolete). They happen without notice, especially when the whether is bad. And power failures can just as easily ruin your computer and all the files on it. It is another good reason why you should back up your files. The bottom line is, it’s better to be safe than to be sorry. There are many ways to bring about a data disaster, and there’s only one way to be prepared for any of them, and that is through backing up your files. Ways to Back Up Your Files There are various ways to back up the files on your computer. You can use internet programs and services that allow you to back up your files on a separate server that can be accessed through the internet. You can also use the conventional writable CD-ROM disc, where you can copy, paste, and burn the files on your computer through a no-brainer process. Zip disks are also effective for backing up files, as well as external hard drives. How to Choose the Data You Should Back Up When backing up files, you don’t have to copy the entire contents of your computer. Computer programs that you have a CD-ROM installer for often need not have a back up.  Here are some of the files that you should definitely have back ups for: - Bank records and other files that have financial information - Digital images and pictures - Software and music files that you downloaded from the Internet -  The contacts of your email address book - Any other personal projects (essays, research and term papers for students; presentations, documents, and reports for the working folk) - Important emails Some Final Reminders on Backing Up Files Do label your storage materials. If you are using CDs, for instance, be sure to label and file them properly. Back up files are of no use if you can’t find what you are looking for among them – and they’re sure to pile up. Don’t use floppy disks as permanent storage for your backup files. The data inside them easily get damaged and won’t last long enough to be useful as a back up. Computer Safety: How to Backup Data Regular backup of data on your personal computer is an important part of safe computing. No matter how cautious you are in protecting your system, it could always run into problems that may cause loss of data. Since your data is the most important part of the computer, you need to backup data by simply saving copies of important files, information and folders. There are several ways in backing up data, but the easiest for the average PC user is to run a backup option, which is a part of the operating system (Macintosh or Windows).   A number of options are available for storing your backup data. Although most people store data on floppy disks, it cannot hold everything you need to save. Your other options include removable media, network drive, external hard disk drive and your computer’s hard disk. If you plan to backup your data on the hard disk, it is recommended to store the data at a separate partition from the location you’re backing up. For example, your hard disk is divided into drive C and D. If your data is saved on drive C, safely back it up to drive D. Another option is a zip drive or any removable media. If you don’t require numerous gigabytes for data back up, removable media with 100 to 250 MB per disk can be an excellent safety location. If you wish to store data on a shared network drive, remember that you will only be limited to the amount of free space the network has. If a shared network drive will not work for you, use an external hard disk drive to store up data. Majority of data backup programs feature three backup options – full, differential and incremental backup. A full backup is a process that involves copying all your important data. For this reason, it will require more storage space and a longer time to save the data and if necessary, restore it. Once the full data backup is complete, it is recommended to perform incremental and differential backups at regular intervals. A differential backup involves saving the files that have been added or changed since your last full back up, while an incremental backup is a process where you save the files that have been added or changed since your last full or differential backup. Now that you know your options, make sure to backup all the important information you need, so when problems on your PC arise, you’ll just be sitting pretty knowing all your saved data will be unharmed.