computer backup

computer backup

When is the last time you did a computer backup?

Doing a regular computer backup is something that we all know we should do, but many people don't think about it until it's too late and they've lost all of their important files due to a crash or a virus. (been there, done that)

If you're guilty of not doing a regular computer backup and lost everything on your computer due to a crash, chances are you made a promise to yourself to not let this happen again.  Kind of like drinking too much and promising not to do it again. (been there, done that too)

So let's say you use windows xp home edition and make a resolution to do a computer backup on a regular schedule.  What's up with microsoft not including a computer backup utility with windows xp home edition?

Windows xp home edition does have a system restore utility that is helpful to restore the computer to an earlier point in time, but they should have included a computer backup utility as well.

So how often do you do a computer backup?  Is there a particular utility or service that you would recommend?

Comments

[The Dreamer]

I backup most of my home desktop each week...In the rotation, I do an ASR every 3 weeks. On other 3 Week cycles its either my Music files (iTunes) or my Media files (DVArchive->DVDs). But, it is XP Pro. 3 or 4 tapes each week, for 22 tapes in rotation.

My machine at work, also gets backed up each week....I was doing ASR every 4 + data each week (5 tapes), but then the harddrive died (it was only 4 months old) and the most recent ASR was corrupt. But, I upped to 8 tapes and do ASRs a bit more often.

My laptop uses XP Home, so I can't do ASR...but I can still do backups...though only when I remember and it is convienent to do so.

OTOH there are machines at work and at home, that never get backed up....

[The Dreamer]

Oh yeah, forgot that the WDC 250GB SATA drive in my desktop at home had died at one point....sure was a pain restoring that from backups.... Replaced it with a Maxtor 250GB SATA drive now.

Not sure what I'm going to do with the refurb WDC sent me in exchange.

Thinking about getting some onetouch units to supplement my backup strategy.

Right now I have a pair of DLT7000s at home, so I get about 33-40 GB per tape. It's only a DLT4000 at work....

[PC technical support]

making a back up regularly will make you feel safe and worry free but this will basically increase the space of your drive. New OS have already backup utility such as Vista and Win7.