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Backup Guide

 

 

Here are few hints and tips for backing up your valuable files.

There are a number of programs that can help you make a backup copy.  For main backups we recommend Microsoft Backup or Nero Backitup.  For small backups (just a few files) Winzip is very USEFUL.

To ensure that your files and documents are managed and backed up properly, there is a simple solution. Put ALL your files in just one folder or in 'sub-folders' within it. In the example above you could place general files in 'My Documents', Accounts documents in Accounts etc. Then when you do a backup you simply backup 'My Documents' and all subfolders.

What Files Do You Backup?

  1. word processing documents (if you use 'Word', these end in '.doc')

  2. spreadsheets (if you use 'Excel', these files end in '.xls)

  3. database files (for 'Access' these end in 'mdb')

  4. templates - ending in '.dot' for Word and '.xlt' for Excel.

  5. emails and email addresses*

When?

The best idea is to ask yourself 'if the hard disk failed and I lost all my data, how long would it take (and am I able) to re-enter every- thing lost since the last backup?'

  • Bear in mind that whether you use floppies, 'zip' disks or CD's, you need to keep several copies just in case the backup itself is corrupt.

  • Do a complete backup say once a week and use a different set of disks / CD each week for a month

  • Back up your data files once a day (except the day you do the full backup) - in this case use the same disks / CD every day

  • In both cases (1 and 2 above) mark on the disks the date and time

  • At the end of the month you should have 4 sets/CD for weekly backups and 1 set/CD for the daily backup.

Your Emails and Addresses

OUTLOOK EXPRESS

Of all the Microsoft software available Outlook Express is the very worst for backing up your data! The data is held in a folder called 'Outlook Express', but this is a different folder from the program folder. Finding the folder is difficult, please ask us.

OUTLOOK

A big advantage of Outlook over OE is that all data for each user is conveniently held in one file, with an extension of '.pst'. Use search / find to locate this file for backing up

 

 

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08 Feb 2007