Fair Backup

Backup your data files that you can not live without to be able to recover them, should something nasty occur.

Do I need to backup my data files?

Of course, you may not backup, if you do not want to. But if you find your files rather important, and you would rather spend a small fraction of your time than days recovering them, should a file gets changed or deleted or worse, you would rather backup all you important files and documents.

What exactly to backup?

The most important files, of course. This includes your working documents, text files, files, containing various data, which can not be reproduced elsewhere, program settings files, Outlook or Outlook Express files with your mail messages and much more. You can add your images, photos or MP3s to the list as well, so you do not really lose much when (if - if your a lucky) a disaster happens.

How often to backup?

The rule is simple - the more important the document is and the more often it changes - the more often you need to back it up. So, documents need to be backed up more often than your photo collection, as the latter does not get changed but only updated. Normally, backing up your data files daily should be enough, but you can also backup your most important hourly just to make sure they are safe. Read more about backup scheduling.

Where do I backup my data files?

The easiest way is to backup to an external hard drive - it is a quick and reliable method. Also, you can backup to FTP, if you want to be able to access your files from another place with the Internet connection. If you are backing up files that are not changed often, you would rather backup to CD or DVD, depending on the size of your file set.