The Wychwood Online Club
In association with Oxfordshire Rural Broadband
In association with Oxfordshire Rural Broadband
Copyright © ORB 2009
Get the answers to those questions you've always wanted to know but never got round to asking
Q
Why Backup is important and how to do it
A
All your information that you have created or stored on your computer should be backed up as a matter of course. The information is stored on the hard disc of your computer and if this becomes damaged then you may lose everything on it. If you also run your business information on your computer you may also be unable to continue in business.
Typically the information we store includes documents, spreadsheets, emails, contacts, photographs, accounts and tax information and much more. Take a moment to think about the implications of losing all of this.
Backup can also protect this information against theft of your computer, very important if it is a laptop and fire in your house./
There are a number of ways of backing up and you might chose more than one depending on the importance of the information.
Backup may be to a removable storage device such as a tape drive, CD or DVD, flash card or removable drive, often using a program that will compress the data.
Some backup is done by copying all the information to a second computer disc or mirroring the information on another computer.
It is important that you decide on the best route for yourself, set a regular schedule and if you use removable storage, store this somewhere safely.
There are many programs that can help automate backup including a backup program within Windows. Check whether the program can handle the specific devices you want to use and can backup files such as Outlook even if they are still open and in use.
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