BACK-UP

[Kiya]

After reading of Horus & Grandad doing their back-up's I thought it was time I was doing that....but, don't know how to !

I have put things over to my external hard drive in the past but I don't know if that's the same thing ?

Help please

[Horus]

Generally speaking Kiya 'backup' is when you are making another copy of something just in case you lose the first one. Some people have special programs on their PC's that will automatically 'backup' any changes they make to their PC onto another storage drive, although more often this is done in industry. Remember that there is no point in backing up programmes such as 'Word' 'Elements' or such like as these can easily be just put back onto your PC again from the supplied installation disks should the programme crash or become corrupt. What cannot be replaced is all of the files you produced when using those programmes, so for example all of your 'Word' docs would be lost. Or if you have created lots of stuff using 'Elements' then that too would be lost. All you really need to do to keep a backup is the following, start by keeping all of your finished items whether they be documents or images in separately named folders. For example all of my walks with Annie when I write them down are stored in the Main Folder called "MY DOCCUMENTS" inside of that main folder I have all of the separate 'sub' folders such as 'Salt Line Walk', 'Canal Walk' etc. so basically everything I write using 'Word' is saved to the Main Folder "MY DOCCUMENTS". So providing that at regular intervals (depending upon how much writing I do) I just 'Copy' the WHOLE of the Folder "MY DOCCUMENTS" onto another separate drive from my PC, then I have two copies, or "a backup" of everything I have written

I only need to copy the COMPLETE folder and it will contain everything that I have saved in that main folder, including all of the 'sub folders' that are in it. Each time I simply 'Copy' that folder onto the spare drive it will tell me that it already exists and then ask me if I want to 'Overwrite' it? You simply say 'Yes' and all that it does is to replace the old folder "MY DOCCUMENTS" with the latest folder "MY DOCCUMENTS" which will contain everything as before, but also any changes you made by adding more documents or maybe deleting some you didn't need. You do this for any types of file you want to save a copy of, so you could have (like me) a 'Main' folder called "All Images" on your PC and lots of sub folders in there for each time I save a set of pictures to that folder, so again it may have hundreds of sub folders, each one with a different name so I know how to find it again.
Here is an example with the >>> showing the folders inside of other folders
ALL IMAGES >>> Contains
2009 Photos >>> Contains all images taken that year inside of other named folders
2010 Photos >>> Contains all images taken that year inside of other named folders
2011 Photos >>> Contains all images taken that year inside of other named folders
2012 Photos >>> Contains all images taken that year inside of other named folders
2013 Photos >>> Contains all images taken that year inside of other named folders
2014 Photos >>> Contains all images taken that year inside of other named folders
2015 Photos >>> Contains all images taken that year inside of other named folders
2016 Photos >>> Contains all images taken that year inside of other named folders
Get the idea?

So once again all I have to do is to periodically 'Copy' the whole of my folder "All Images" to an external drive to back them up. You only need to copy the whole main folder once and then just keep updating each years folder as you add them or make any changes, as that will be quicker than copying the whole main folder which could take a while. Hope this makes some sense to you, basically just backup your data (documents and image files) to the external drive.

[Kiya]

Thanks so much for all the info for back-Up

I've copied lots before onto my external hard drive so I think I've been doing it right...........just have to remember to keep up to date with it.

Thanks again

[Horus]

No problems Kiya, as I said its just a matter of having another copy of any important documents or images stored elsewhere on a separate hard drive than you PC in case that one were to crash at any time.

[Kiya]

Not so long ago my modem got struck with lightening....frazzled ..........if it was to happen again would my external hard drive be affected

Its plugged in all the time but not always switched on

[Horus]

You never can tell with a lightning strike Kiya, modems are the most common thing to get frazzled because they are connected to a telephone wire and if that happens to get hit, even a long way away it can still cause a 'spike' on the vulnerable chips and other stuff in them. It can also happen with a PC and many people fit 'Surge Protector' to the power supply in case there is a similar 'spike' on the mains circuit. To be honest I do not bother and have never had a problem in that regards, but it can happen. It is maybe better if you only use the backup drive on the odd occasion to just unplug it when not in use, your PC will instantly recognise it again when you plug it back in again. As for the PC, well it is always good advice to pull the mains plug if there is a good thunderstorm in the area just in case the power lines get hit.

[Kiya]

Good advice from you again Horus..........Thanks for your help