Simple Backup for your PC

There are very few things you can do with your computer that's more important than backing up your data. Even the most casual user has information that, given a sudden loss of data, would be under at least some hardship. The inconvenience can range from a minor upset to a complete failure of your livelihood. It just depends on your level of dependence.

Unfortunately, at least for PC people, there are not many reliable, structured, and easy to understand ways to make backups that are easy enough for people to actually use. Sure, in a corporate world, there are IT folks who spend time backing up the server information. They may even extend that service to the desktops of the employees, so the general workforce isn't under constant danger of losing their work data.

But what about your personal computer? What about your laptop in your RV? Are you backed up at this very moment? Most likely, the answer to that question is a resounding no. You may argue that your computer is relatively new, and therefore not at risk, or you're going to get to it any time now, but haven't quite got the time right now.

Sooner or later, your time will be up. It could be for many reasons, but your hard drive or another major component of your system will fail. You could take a power hit, or your computer could even be stolen. The fact is, there are many reasons why your data could go away. So what can you do?

Fortunately, there are several ways to protect your data. There are actually several ways that work quite well. The cheapest method to backup your data from a Windows PC is to use the backup/restore feature contained within Windows. It's located in Accessories/System Tools in both XP and Vista. Both allow scheduling backups, and allow you to decide what kind of backup to be made.

The Windows backup, like most backup programs has a problem in that there are literally too many choices. Do you want a full backup every day? Maybe you would rather have a differential or an incremental backup. The problem is, most people don't know what kind of backup they want, and once they make the effort to learn, if they're like me, they'll forget which one is best for which condition. The nature of a backup program is that you learn how to use it, set it, then forget it. But, is it really doing the kind of job you expect? Have you successfully worked your way through the confusion and made a backup routine that will be there for you when you need it?

The other problem with most backup programs, windows included, is that once a backup is made, it needs to be “processed”, or restored in order to be useful. This means that when your data has failed for some reason, and you need to restore your data. Will you have at your disposal a program that's capable of restoring your data to an appropriate state that allows you to use it? Or will your data files be obsolete? It also assumes that you have made the right kind of backups, and that all of your data is there. Believe me, this is a problem. If you select the wrong kind of backup methods and procedures. Your backups may not be intact when you need them.

Second Copy ships with a Quick Start Guide that explains the basics of the program's operations. The emphasis with this software is simplicity.

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