How do you create a backup for files on Windows? Do you have to use a CD? Worse, if everything suddenly disappeared, how do you get everything back again if everything's a blank screen? :oops:
Thank you.
Feeble question from Icey ...
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Icey
Feeble question from Icey ...
I keep saying I'll do it, but haven't, because I'm not sure what to do.
How do you create a backup for files on Windows? Do you have to use a CD? Worse, if everything suddenly disappeared, how do you get everything back again if everything's a blank screen? :oops:
Thank you.
How do you create a backup for files on Windows? Do you have to use a CD? Worse, if everything suddenly disappeared, how do you get everything back again if everything's a blank screen? :oops:
Thank you.
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
Most versions of Windows have something in the Control Panel that will allow you to make "backups." I put that in quotes because there are backups, and there are backups. Different degrees of thoroughness are required for different purposes.
The first rule to never violate is that backups should not be stored on the same machine which you are backing up. So you need another piece of hardware on which to put your backup files. This hardware could be as simple as a USB memory stick, a DVD disc, or an external hard drive that is connected to your computer. Getting it there and back when you need it is the hard part to put in simple terms. ;)
The simplest way to make backups for you would be to get yourself a memory stick or two that you can plug into your computer. Then just save a copy of what you want to preserve onto the memory stick. Drag and drop is good enough for most purposes. Take the stick out and put it in a safe place when you are done. Repeat this as often as necessary. If your computer crashes or gets stolen, then you have a memory stick full of information that you can simply copy back to the new computer.
The Control Panel app that Microsoft supplies does all this automatically. You still need a place to put the backup, but the software in your computer will do it automatically once you tell it when and where. Yes, I'm sorry to say, there is some setup required to make this work. There are also some very good programs you can download for free that will do more than what Microsoft will do, but you are asking for trouble if you have too many choices.
To answer your question about a dead screen on your computer, you will have to fix that problem first. It may mean a new computer or replacement of some critical parts. Once all that is repaired and working, then it's time to drag out your memory stick, or start up the backup program you used in the first place, to restore what is missing.
Simple?
The first rule to never violate is that backups should not be stored on the same machine which you are backing up. So you need another piece of hardware on which to put your backup files. This hardware could be as simple as a USB memory stick, a DVD disc, or an external hard drive that is connected to your computer. Getting it there and back when you need it is the hard part to put in simple terms. ;)
The simplest way to make backups for you would be to get yourself a memory stick or two that you can plug into your computer. Then just save a copy of what you want to preserve onto the memory stick. Drag and drop is good enough for most purposes. Take the stick out and put it in a safe place when you are done. Repeat this as often as necessary. If your computer crashes or gets stolen, then you have a memory stick full of information that you can simply copy back to the new computer.
The Control Panel app that Microsoft supplies does all this automatically. You still need a place to put the backup, but the software in your computer will do it automatically once you tell it when and where. Yes, I'm sorry to say, there is some setup required to make this work. There are also some very good programs you can download for free that will do more than what Microsoft will do, but you are asking for trouble if you have too many choices.
To answer your question about a dead screen on your computer, you will have to fix that problem first. It may mean a new computer or replacement of some critical parts. Once all that is repaired and working, then it's time to drag out your memory stick, or start up the backup program you used in the first place, to restore what is missing.
Simple?
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Icey
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
Thank you.
I have quite a few of those memory stick things, and haven't used any because I didn't know how to separate stuff I wanted to keep from that I didn't. I knew this was going to be complicated! : (
We have other computers and laptops in the house, but all're used for different things, so I think in my case, it'd be best to use a memory stick, but putting anything back on the machine's going to cause me a headache. I WILL make a start on it soon though.
I have quite a few of those memory stick things, and haven't used any because I didn't know how to separate stuff I wanted to keep from that I didn't. I knew this was going to be complicated! : (
We have other computers and laptops in the house, but all're used for different things, so I think in my case, it'd be best to use a memory stick, but putting anything back on the machine's going to cause me a headache. I WILL make a start on it soon though.
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
You already have the knowledge and skills that it takes to make backup copies of important files on your computer. In your case all you need to do is drag a file file from your computer over to your memory stick and drop it in place. From that point on it is just a problem in organization. Nothing technical is involved with that. You might be saving a lot of files from several different computers and you will want to devise a scheme to help you remember where things are. The obvious first level of organization would be to put the backup files from each computer onto a memory stick of it's own. If you have five computers, you will need five memory sticks labeled appropriately so that you know what computer the stick belongs to.
Many different things may be saved from each computer. The two most common things are pictures and music. Thus you may have file folders on your computer just for pictures and others just for music. Keeping the two separate is an organized scheme that will help you find what you need later on. Each computer may also have documents, such as letters and or spreadsheets. Those too would go into separate folders and not be mixed in with the photographs or music. You may additionally have a list of people contacts and another list of favorites (bookmarks) for your browser. All these things are in separate places and organized in separate folders.
Thus each backup memory stick would have a similar organization of files. Keep in mind that all you want to organize, and save, and backup, is the content. You don't need to save a copy of the music player software, for example, because you can always reinstall it from the original DVD, or download it fresh off the Internet. But the music file itself is unique. A cello solo you recorded at your son's recital is priceless, but it can be played on any easily available music player. In other words you don't have to back up any programs from your computers, nor do you have to back up Windows itself. You do have to make backups of files you created and want to save for future use.
I see you turning pale when you think of the necessity of finding all these files and folder inside the bowels of your computer. I admit that locating some of it can be daunting, but the vast majority of it was something you already did intentionally. You know where all your music is, mentally at least, but finding that Music directory on your computer might make your teeth chatter. The good news is that Windows does a lot of organizing for you and I can walk you through the way to find the most likely places. If you did something that is not automatically done by Windows, then we will have to find those files too. It's a lot easier than you would suspect. I won't burden you any more than I have already, but if you are interested in searching out some of the things I mentioned, let me know. I will show you the most likely places for them to be, complete with pictures and diagrams. LOL
Many different things may be saved from each computer. The two most common things are pictures and music. Thus you may have file folders on your computer just for pictures and others just for music. Keeping the two separate is an organized scheme that will help you find what you need later on. Each computer may also have documents, such as letters and or spreadsheets. Those too would go into separate folders and not be mixed in with the photographs or music. You may additionally have a list of people contacts and another list of favorites (bookmarks) for your browser. All these things are in separate places and organized in separate folders.
Thus each backup memory stick would have a similar organization of files. Keep in mind that all you want to organize, and save, and backup, is the content. You don't need to save a copy of the music player software, for example, because you can always reinstall it from the original DVD, or download it fresh off the Internet. But the music file itself is unique. A cello solo you recorded at your son's recital is priceless, but it can be played on any easily available music player. In other words you don't have to back up any programs from your computers, nor do you have to back up Windows itself. You do have to make backups of files you created and want to save for future use.
I see you turning pale when you think of the necessity of finding all these files and folder inside the bowels of your computer. I admit that locating some of it can be daunting, but the vast majority of it was something you already did intentionally. You know where all your music is, mentally at least, but finding that Music directory on your computer might make your teeth chatter. The good news is that Windows does a lot of organizing for you and I can walk you through the way to find the most likely places. If you did something that is not automatically done by Windows, then we will have to find those files too. It's a lot easier than you would suspect. I won't burden you any more than I have already, but if you are interested in searching out some of the things I mentioned, let me know. I will show you the most likely places for them to be, complete with pictures and diagrams. LOL
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
Hi Icey
Just a simple tip for you is all. Yogi covered the technical, mine is just a convenience pointer is all.
Back when I was using Windows, rather than let everything land in 'documents and settings' I created several folders on drive C of my own.
So they stayed at the top of the list, I used names like 'AAAbusiness, AAApersonal' on my computer. Inside the 'AAApersonal' folder were sub-folders for 'Correspondence, Pictures, Reference, etc.
This way I only had to run an automated backup every night on only two folders (AAAbusiness and AAApersonal), and all data was then saved.
My wife's computer is similar except she has 'AAAdatafiles' for almost everything, plus 'AAApictures, AAAgames' and 'AAAmyStuff.' For a time she had a folder named 'AAAprogramfiles' where she installed programs, until I told her not all of a program gets installed where she tells it to install.
Inside 'AAAdatafiles' is where she has 90% of her sub-folders.
Most programs allow you to name the location where it saves your user data and generated data. By having everything in a single folder, it makes backups much easier.
Although possible, it is almost impossible to completely restore a computers operating system to any computer other than the one it came off of. There are ways, but it is too complicated to get into. And the way computer architecture is changing so rapidly, there is a good possibility a cloned hard drive won't even work on a new computer.
My newest two computers cannot even use IDE hard drives, SATA only. So I could not just take the hard drive from the old computer and shove it in the new computer like I was accustomed. Plus they have this friggin' EFCI garbage now too.
Almost forgot, Debi uses her 'AAAmyStuff' folder for sub-folders for things like recipes, letters to family, her drugs list and other personal things. She bought this little backup drive which takes care of backing up all the folders she places in the backup list. It saves them as a mirror, not as the old backup set method. Only changed files are resaved so it runs fast. By mirror I mean she can look on the backup drive and access the files directly from there. The old backup set way meant you had to restore the entire backup set to get anything from it.
Although we refer to any form of secondary retrieval system as a backup, I'm shell-shocked over the word backup, after several data losses using backup programs that did just that, made backups instead of mirror copies.
Good Luck
TTUL
Gary
Just a simple tip for you is all. Yogi covered the technical, mine is just a convenience pointer is all.
Back when I was using Windows, rather than let everything land in 'documents and settings' I created several folders on drive C of my own.
So they stayed at the top of the list, I used names like 'AAAbusiness, AAApersonal' on my computer. Inside the 'AAApersonal' folder were sub-folders for 'Correspondence, Pictures, Reference, etc.
This way I only had to run an automated backup every night on only two folders (AAAbusiness and AAApersonal), and all data was then saved.
My wife's computer is similar except she has 'AAAdatafiles' for almost everything, plus 'AAApictures, AAAgames' and 'AAAmyStuff.' For a time she had a folder named 'AAAprogramfiles' where she installed programs, until I told her not all of a program gets installed where she tells it to install.
Inside 'AAAdatafiles' is where she has 90% of her sub-folders.
Most programs allow you to name the location where it saves your user data and generated data. By having everything in a single folder, it makes backups much easier.
Although possible, it is almost impossible to completely restore a computers operating system to any computer other than the one it came off of. There are ways, but it is too complicated to get into. And the way computer architecture is changing so rapidly, there is a good possibility a cloned hard drive won't even work on a new computer.
My newest two computers cannot even use IDE hard drives, SATA only. So I could not just take the hard drive from the old computer and shove it in the new computer like I was accustomed. Plus they have this friggin' EFCI garbage now too.
Almost forgot, Debi uses her 'AAAmyStuff' folder for sub-folders for things like recipes, letters to family, her drugs list and other personal things. She bought this little backup drive which takes care of backing up all the folders she places in the backup list. It saves them as a mirror, not as the old backup set method. Only changed files are resaved so it runs fast. By mirror I mean she can look on the backup drive and access the files directly from there. The old backup set way meant you had to restore the entire backup set to get anything from it.
Although we refer to any form of secondary retrieval system as a backup, I'm shell-shocked over the word backup, after several data losses using backup programs that did just that, made backups instead of mirror copies.
Good Luck
TTUL
Gary
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
just a comment about that: you don't have to take anything out, you just copy it. so it's still on your computer exactly where it was.it'd be best to use a memory stick, but putting anything back on the machine's going to cause me a headache.
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
Correct. The idea is to have two copies. One that you work with on your computer and the other stored in a drawer (or someplace) if you ever lose what is on your computer. If your computer does crash and needs to be rebuilt, then it's a simple matter of copying the files you stored on the memory stick back to their proper place on the computer.
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
Gary: I use a backup program that I run manually when I feel the need. It could be set to do automatic backups. As is the case with most backup software, I can pick the directories to backup. Your AAA...... labels are a great way to keep things organized in your mind, but Windows stores everything in one location, believe it or not. All your user files are in
c:\Users\dennis and it's subdirectories ( or whatever name the user of the computer chooses for login). Backing up from the \users level captures everything, even program data in c:\Users\dennis\AppData. The first full backup is a killer but every backup after that is incremental so that only the changes are written to the backup storage.
c:\Users\dennis and it's subdirectories ( or whatever name the user of the computer chooses for login). Backing up from the \users level captures everything, even program data in c:\Users\dennis\AppData. The first full backup is a killer but every backup after that is incremental so that only the changes are written to the backup storage.
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Icey
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
Gentlemen - thank you. I now feel as ill as I knew I would, and think I might have to let someone else do all the donkey work. : (
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
You still will have to decide what to save and how to organize it. Doing it yourself is just one more small step in the process.
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Icey
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
A step which fills me with dread. LOL - I'm the worst person ever with computers aren't I?
By the way Yogi, I don't know if this's the right place to ask, but how do I get my avatar back on, or a new one? I've never managed it yet. Either you or someone else's helped me. : (
By the way Yogi, I don't know if this's the right place to ask, but how do I get my avatar back on, or a new one? I've never managed it yet. Either you or someone else's helped me. : (
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
I used to do it that way too Yogi, saved everything in the User Directory.
Learned when you do a clean install, and copy the directory back, it messes up the system.
I thought it would save all the settings, but it doesn't quite work that way on Windows.
Although I do save a copy of /home from each of my computers, I would never copy /home from one computer to another, learned not to do that the hard way too.
All data generated by a program I store in a separate file, in most cases I do so outside of the /home directory.
I do this by having a separate partition on the hard drive solely for datafiles. On Windows this would be equivalent to keeping all of your data on a Drive other than Drive C. That being said, on Windows we simply use a Folder on Drive C, such as AAAdatafiles to keep user data, then copy it to an External Drive. Debi has her own backup drive I don't know much about, she just plugs it in and it backs up everything automatically for her. But in such a way it is like a mirror, I can go in and check the files are there and retrievable, so it is not done using incremental backup sets. Probably more like the way RSync works using the --delete option.
One thing handy about having Linux, I am saving her files up here in the garage, and she doesn't even know it. I mount her external drive, which a program automatically copies the folders marked to save to the external, and let Rsync mirror it to a partition on one of my external drives. I feel it's the safe thing to do after loosing all of her pictures due to a glitch in a commercial backup program, which only saved links back to her hard drive. The company fixed their program, but can't restore the data and images we lost because of it.
I know, I do things way to complex for what is needed!
But after the lightning took out my NAS and computers, I'm sure glad I had all those redundant backups, hi hi...
TTUL
Gary
Learned when you do a clean install, and copy the directory back, it messes up the system.
I thought it would save all the settings, but it doesn't quite work that way on Windows.
Although I do save a copy of /home from each of my computers, I would never copy /home from one computer to another, learned not to do that the hard way too.
All data generated by a program I store in a separate file, in most cases I do so outside of the /home directory.
I do this by having a separate partition on the hard drive solely for datafiles. On Windows this would be equivalent to keeping all of your data on a Drive other than Drive C. That being said, on Windows we simply use a Folder on Drive C, such as AAAdatafiles to keep user data, then copy it to an External Drive. Debi has her own backup drive I don't know much about, she just plugs it in and it backs up everything automatically for her. But in such a way it is like a mirror, I can go in and check the files are there and retrievable, so it is not done using incremental backup sets. Probably more like the way RSync works using the --delete option.
One thing handy about having Linux, I am saving her files up here in the garage, and she doesn't even know it. I mount her external drive, which a program automatically copies the folders marked to save to the external, and let Rsync mirror it to a partition on one of my external drives. I feel it's the safe thing to do after loosing all of her pictures due to a glitch in a commercial backup program, which only saved links back to her hard drive. The company fixed their program, but can't restore the data and images we lost because of it.
I know, I do things way to complex for what is needed!
But after the lightning took out my NAS and computers, I'm sure glad I had all those redundant backups, hi hi...
TTUL
Gary
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
Ha Ha Ha - well, my bug eyed friend, it's not as complicated as us geeks make it out to be. If you can find the memory sticks, I'll help you find what you need to copy. It may not be perfect, but some backup is better than no backup.
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Icey
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
You're right about that Yogi - and apologies to Gary for the "face", but I could hardly understand a word!
I plan on letting someone else back everything up for me. Feeble indeed, but the thought of it brings me out in a sweat. I've somehow managed to follow your (simplified) instructions regarding other problems I've had, and then everything's been fine, but believe me Yogi, it wasn't without the feeling of a coronary being close to hand!
I don't know what's the matter with me when it comes to techie things. I admire those with the intelligence to pick things up easily, but for me, it's a nightmare. I'm the same with mobile phones. My son's iPhone and Blackberry totally finished me off. I felt physically ill. Oh dear .... fancy admitting this to everyone, but at least it'll hopefully give you a laugh - and thank you for your offer. I may take you up on it if I can't get someone to do the honours very soon. I'll creep away now.
I plan on letting someone else back everything up for me. Feeble indeed, but the thought of it brings me out in a sweat. I've somehow managed to follow your (simplified) instructions regarding other problems I've had, and then everything's been fine, but believe me Yogi, it wasn't without the feeling of a coronary being close to hand!
I don't know what's the matter with me when it comes to techie things. I admire those with the intelligence to pick things up easily, but for me, it's a nightmare. I'm the same with mobile phones. My son's iPhone and Blackberry totally finished me off. I felt physically ill. Oh dear .... fancy admitting this to everyone, but at least it'll hopefully give you a laugh - and thank you for your offer. I may take you up on it if I can't get someone to do the honours very soon. I'll creep away now.
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
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Icey
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
Windows 8? No chance - just the 7.
There's been a violation of iCloud accounts anyway, with hackers getting into celebrity ones - probably just to show that it's not as safe as Apple thought.
There's been a violation of iCloud accounts anyway, with hackers getting into celebrity ones - probably just to show that it's not as safe as Apple thought.
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
Anything you can access with a name and password is fairly easy for hackers to get into.
If you really think about it, what they call encryption is really a joke only providing a 'warm fuzzy feeling' to those who think it helps.
If you password is simple or hard it does not matter either. Whether you use "Dog" or "ILoveLifeInSouthernLiving!@#$%^&WhereItSnows. Both passwords can be encrypted into 256 random characters that equate to your password. Whether you do this at your end before sending the password, or send your password and it is done at the other end, it is still just a line letters, numbers, and symbols.
Working with only once source, perhaps the code could not be broken. But that is not how hackers go about breaking the password. They go for the largest list of passwords to analyze. They hack into a location and download the entire name and password file, then set their computers to trying different combinations and near the speed of light.
Pretty soon the hundreds or thousands of lines of passwords suddenly look like something in English.
Bobby$o#17 - Dog - MyPassword - MaryJane - AuntHilda - 01Feb82TickTock...
Once they achieve cracking the encryption, they now have everyone's password on the system and they can now log-in as those thousands or millions of people.
Now they use things like KEYS, a public key and a private key, but are they any more secure?
If a key is public and anyone has access to it, how can it be blended with a private key, without the public key source knowing how the private key reads? I don't understand the system well enough to say yay or nay about it.
Where I work, they use an interesting system which comprises keys, passwords, and shared codes, all sent over e-mail. However, there is a part of the code never placed on-line and done by voice telephone, or snail mail through the USPS.
Only me and my boss know what our shared code is. Those departments I work with also have shared codes done the same way. For each folder I work on, a new code is generated and e-mailed to me daily. Hidden within the code is the modified shared code with a time stamp. My part of the shared code can only be generated on the same computer which created it. Since I work from three computers, the computer I use to open the file, must be the computer the code is set to allow to open the file. I cannot open it from any other computer. Could a hacker? I don't know, possibly. But since we only work on very small portions of the whole per folder, they wouldn't learn much if they did manage to get into one of the folders. Then they would have to know the code to open the document as well.
Is my company being overly safe or just plain ridiculous? Leaks have cost them millions of dollars in lost revenues, so I don't blame them for being overly cautious.
TTUL
Gary
If you really think about it, what they call encryption is really a joke only providing a 'warm fuzzy feeling' to those who think it helps.
If you password is simple or hard it does not matter either. Whether you use "Dog" or "ILoveLifeInSouthernLiving!@#$%^&WhereItSnows. Both passwords can be encrypted into 256 random characters that equate to your password. Whether you do this at your end before sending the password, or send your password and it is done at the other end, it is still just a line letters, numbers, and symbols.
Working with only once source, perhaps the code could not be broken. But that is not how hackers go about breaking the password. They go for the largest list of passwords to analyze. They hack into a location and download the entire name and password file, then set their computers to trying different combinations and near the speed of light.
Pretty soon the hundreds or thousands of lines of passwords suddenly look like something in English.
Bobby$o#17 - Dog - MyPassword - MaryJane - AuntHilda - 01Feb82TickTock...
Once they achieve cracking the encryption, they now have everyone's password on the system and they can now log-in as those thousands or millions of people.
Now they use things like KEYS, a public key and a private key, but are they any more secure?
If a key is public and anyone has access to it, how can it be blended with a private key, without the public key source knowing how the private key reads? I don't understand the system well enough to say yay or nay about it.
Where I work, they use an interesting system which comprises keys, passwords, and shared codes, all sent over e-mail. However, there is a part of the code never placed on-line and done by voice telephone, or snail mail through the USPS.
Only me and my boss know what our shared code is. Those departments I work with also have shared codes done the same way. For each folder I work on, a new code is generated and e-mailed to me daily. Hidden within the code is the modified shared code with a time stamp. My part of the shared code can only be generated on the same computer which created it. Since I work from three computers, the computer I use to open the file, must be the computer the code is set to allow to open the file. I cannot open it from any other computer. Could a hacker? I don't know, possibly. But since we only work on very small portions of the whole per folder, they wouldn't learn much if they did manage to get into one of the folders. Then they would have to know the code to open the document as well.
Is my company being overly safe or just plain ridiculous? Leaks have cost them millions of dollars in lost revenues, so I don't blame them for being overly cautious.
TTUL
Gary
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Icey
Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
Sounds as if it's the luck of the draw then Gary, and you've taken what steps you can to protect your documents.
Unless it's for national security or a person wants to keep their financial details as safe as they can, I wonder if it really matters any more though? Some people hack out of nosiness, some just because they can, but when information gets stolen which could relieve you of money, that's when it's nasty and can cause a load of trouble.
Selling details on to third parties so that they can flood you with advertisements for their products seems neither here nor there to me. I ignore spam and don't get much of it anyway.
Unless it's for national security or a person wants to keep their financial details as safe as they can, I wonder if it really matters any more though? Some people hack out of nosiness, some just because they can, but when information gets stolen which could relieve you of money, that's when it's nasty and can cause a load of trouble.
Selling details on to third parties so that they can flood you with advertisements for their products seems neither here nor there to me. I ignore spam and don't get much of it anyway.
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forumadmin
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Re: Feeble question from Icey ...
off topic posts were [split] into another topic
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