Backup
from
PC Mobile Help
A division of PC Mobile, Inc.
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Backup from PC Mobile HelpA division of PC Mobile, Inc. |
You should back up any files that you do not want to lose if your hard disk "crashes". This includes any financial records, documents, letters, and any other files that you create yourself. Software programs can be re-installed if needed, so there is no need to back them up.
Microsoft Backup® comes with Windows. However, if you cannot find it on your system, you can install it. See How to Install Microsoft Backup for instructions.
You need to back up your data on a regular basis. How often and how depends on several things:
| What you do with your PC |
If you have data that includes transactions on a daily basis, then you will want to back up every day if you don't want to risk losing it. |
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| What kind of backup devices you have | Network Drive, Floppy disk, CD-RW, Tape, Zip Drive, etc. | ||||||||||
| How much data needs to be backed up | You will want to match the backup device with the amount of data you plan to back up. | ||||||||||
| When to Back Up | Develop a strategy. Most people like to keep one set for a month, then rotate through other sets once a week or even once a day, depending on how often you change your data and how much work it would take to manually add the data back in if you lose it. You may wish to keep one backup set for a whole year, because when you replace a backup set, the data that was deleted before your oldest set is lost. | ||||||||||
| How to use the Backup software | Backup often opens up in Wizard mode, which I do not
recommend. Un-check the box that says "always start in wizard
mode" if you see one. You want to click on the Backup tab to do
your own custom backup. Select the files you want to back up (see
below). Save your selections by choosing Save Selections from the
Job menu. That way you can just open that job the next time you go
into Backup. On the bottom of the windows, select the destination of
the backup job. You can browse or just type in the
destination. You can explore the backup options via the menus.
Now you are ready to do the backup. Click Start.
You can also schedule backup jobs. Once you have loaded your backup selections, click the Schedule tab and follow the prompts. |
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| What to Back UP | Normally, you should keep all your personal data under your
My Documents folder. However, there are a few other types of files
to look for to include in your backup set. You will do a Find Files
and folders for the file types listed below. If you're in XP, tell
it to look in hidden files and folders down in the options area of the
search window. The location of these files is visible if your choose
Details from the View menu after it finds the files. Back up the
folders that contain these files. The find window will probably find
more files than you want to back up, but just choose the folders that
contain the data that you want to back up. You will recognize the
file names if you work with them. The date modified may tell you
more about whether you have worked on the files recently or not.
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