Backing up your PC:
This task is often overlooked but is perhaps the most important one to carry out regularly. A proper backup can save you from losing important data due to accidents or hardware failures, recover from virus and ransomware attacks, and ease transferring data to a new computer.
What do you need?
You need a good backup program.
There are many programs around and some are free to use if for personal/home use, others are paid for regardless of usage. You will hear many opinions about which is best/better but you want one that does a complete backup (full backup)/image, and also allows for incremental or differential backups and scheduling. Some names to look for are Acronis, Easeus, Paragon & Genie.
Incremental (Inc) means that after your first backup which is a full backup every backup after is what has changed from the previous one eg 1st Backup is all the data, 2nd is what has changed since the 1st one, the 3rd is what has changed since the 2nd and so on. This creates ongoing smaller backup files + the initial full backup. This form of back up uses the least amount of space and time to backup but requires the longest time to recover from. This is because you require the full backup + every Inc backup file to be processed to recover your data.
Differential (Diff) means the 1st backup is a full one like the Inc, 2nd one is what has changed since the full one (and at this point is the same as the Inc), the 3rd one is what has changed since the full backup, the 4th is what has changed since the full backup. To recover using a differential backup you only need your full backup and the last differential one. This is less time consuming to recover from than Inc but takes longer to do the backups. It also uses more space on your recovery media than Inc.
Full backups are everything on your PC/Disk and take the longest time and most space to backup but is the fastest way to recover your data from as you don’t need to read any other backup files to complete the recovery. Images are the same thing as full backups and they contain everything needed to recover your system in the event of a failure.
You can also backup just your important data such as your documents, photos, contacts, and similar but you have to remember you will need to re-install all the programs and operating system if your PC is lost or irrepairable.
Backup Media
This is what you store your backups on. These can be tapes, USB Sticks, external hard drives, DVD/CDs, network locations and the Cloud. For most home users external hard drives have become relatively inexpensive and depending on your PC storage you may be able to get several full backups or a mix of full and Inc or Diff backups on a drive.
You should keep three copies of your backups on seperate media, with one being stored offsite (Cloud, friend’s house, bank or some other secure and safe and easy to get to place). The reason for this is to ensure you always can find a copy if burgled, or a fire or something else destroys your home.
How often?
To be relatively secure you should do a full backup every day but this becomes cumbersome so try for a full backup at least once a week with Inc or Diff every other day (your choice of either). Once you have two full weeks of backups then after the third time you can delete the first week’s set. You just repeat this every third time.
Anything else?
Yes, you need to test your backups to ensure they work. The simplest test is to try and restore a file or some files from your backup. You don’t have to restore to the same location just restore for example a document to a new folder and check it is correct, if it is good then you can delete the new folder and restored document. This is not a perfect check but is reasonable. If it isn’t a good restore then you should do another backup and see if this is good, if it is then you can delete the bad one/s.
