... Backup Questions ... Typical questions: How often should backing up be done and how much does it clog up the system. What actually takes place when you backup? For example, if I backed up last week and do it again this week, will it only save new stuff I have put on the PC?
Backups are a necessary evil in some ways. The question of whether or not you should dot hem is more a matter of *WHEN* you will have a data loss than *IF*. The difficulty level depends on your needs. The reality of life with computers is that you WILL have a loss of data sooner or later. It may happen because your hard drive dies an untimely death (just as an aside, what exactly is a timely death?! I digress...), or that a power failure occurs before you save something, or your German Shepherd / Doberman mix knocks the computer over while chasing something, or the house burns down etc. etc. etc.
Now then, if you never have any data that you *NEED* to keep, I suppose you could do without it and resign yourself to reinstalling your operating system and all the applications when it DOES happen. I tend to do that once every six months just cause I get crazy and don't like my setup or something silly but I do it on purpose and have everything where I need it, when I need it. You won't be able to say the same when a crash happens. Murphy's Law not only suggests that anything that can go wrong will, it also adds that when it does happen, it will do so at the worst possible moment. Okay then, now that we've got the inevitability factor covered....
1. How often should a backup be done?
That depends entirely on how important your data is and how current it needs to be. Let's say you run a business and you keep business records that need to be absolutely current in order for your business to survive, I would suggest you figure out just how much data you could afford to lose but still keep your business going and then plan your backups in a time frame shorter than that.
If you decide you can only afford to lose 1 day's data, then you might choose to do a backup twice a day. That way, in any disaster situation, you will only have a half day of work to recreate.
If you're a full time student using the computer to write papers and essays etc., maybe once a week is fine.
Maybe the computer is a rare distraction from life and you use it to write occasional letters, surf the net and play games? Go for once a month and forget about it. *YOU* decide how often you need to backup based on how well you can face the trauma of a data loss.
2. How much does it clog up the system?
It needn't be that disruptive. The space on your hard drive will not increase. In fact, depending on whether or not you actually remove the data to another medium (sometimes called archiving) you can actually free up some space on the system. You will likely want to do no other work while a backup is occurring (it's hard to copy files when they keep changing) so I suppose you could say it's bogged down that way but I do mine overnight when I'm not at the keyboard anyway. It's a non issue in my opinion.
3. What actually takes place when you backup?
In simple terms, a backup means that you place a copy of the data from one storage medium (your computer's hard drive) on a DIFFERENT storage medium. That is to say, you copy all the files you want to protect onto a diskette (if there's only a few files), a CD-ROM (if you have a burner), a Tape Drive, Zip Drive, another drive on your network etc. You decide which files you want to copy and then copy them on to a different media. You then remove the media which has the copy to some place safe so it can't be destroyed as well in case of environmental disaster (a backup sitting on the desk beside your computer will be of little use of the business burns down). *WHEN* the disaster happens, you grab the latest backup, crack a triumphant smile, and throw the data onto the new hard drive and get back to business.
4. If I backed up last week and do it again this week, will it only save new stuff?
That depends on what YOU choose to do. There are usually two different types of backups. A backup is exactly that. It copies all the files you chose to backup whether or not they changed or are new. An backup compares the files on your backup media with the original ones and only copies those that have changed. A useful strategy for some is to do a full backup followed by several incremental backups and then start the cycle again.
Some people do a full backup every Friday afternoon. Monday through Thursday, they do an incremental backup. Some have a different CD for each day of the week and four CD's for the Friday backups. Overkill? Maybe, but these people are never caught (what's the expression?) ... with their pants down?
The bottom line is to resign yourself to the fact that you will face a data loss sooner or later. You can spend some time, energy, and money (especially if you are running a business), for CD burners, zip drives, redundant systems etc., and prepare for it or you can get caught without options. Years ago, there was a TV commercial for oil filters. A mechanic stuck his head up from a car engine and said something like this, "You can pay me now or pay me later" … the reality is similar in the computer world.
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