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Internet Marketing > Data Backup
Data
Backup : Where to Start?
Backup
Schmackup : I'm Afraid, Very Afraid!
"Why should you be afraid?", I can hear you ask.
I just got an email from my friend Miche who said,
"My laptop is sick at the hospital.
Hard Drive failure.
Am praying data can be retrieved."
Her exact words.
Ohhhh : tremors of fear running up and down my spine!
Why?
Because ... and I have to be honest ... I haven't *backed up*
my laptop for ages!
Oh I can hear your derisive laughter, your looks of scorn ...
I can feel your disbelief.
Me - of all people - admitting this. My friends call me "TechieGirl"!
Well, the best part of my friend's scary dilemma is that it's
forcing me into action!
I'm dusting off the cd burner and plugging into the power, plugging
it into the USB slot - now how *hard* was that? I've got a stack
of blank cds gathering dust on my desk ... why not use them?
Hmm ... why not do a *big* backup on the first of each month,
and a *mini* backup every Monday [or Tuesday or Friday ... whatever
works best for you]?
:::::
Plan it! :::::
OK - stick with me here - open your online Diary or Appointments
Database or hard-copy Diary and make an appointment *with yourself*
- which part of the week could you devote say a half hour to,
to do a quick backup? What about when you sit down to open the
mail, or read a report, do your return phonecalls? If you work
from home, why not start the backup as soon as you get out of
bed so it'll be done by the time you've had your walk, eaten
your breakfast, and showered.
I can hear you saying, "Oh it'll take too long ... I'll
do it later ... tomorrow ... next week ... next month ...".
And then one day I'll be getting an email or a call from you
saying, "If only I'd backed up the computer ..."
Imagine losing all your documents, projects, databases, passwords,
software settings, names, addresses, phone numbers, email names,
website links - YIKES! I'm scaring myself again!!!!
If I lost even *one* thing in that list above, I'd be in BIG
trouble - REAL BIG trouble.
:::::
What do I backup? :::::
Good question. The most important thing NOT to backup is your
software.
You do have all the original cds, don't you? And you made copies
of those cds when you bought the software, right, as a *backup*
in case the original cd failed? Didn't you? Yeah, I thought
so ... no-one bothers to do that, but it's the one thing which
could save your hair from going white overnight after your computer
dies.
MUST backup:
- LOGINS,
ALL passwords, FTP access codes, banking details, etc. Where
do you currently keep this info? Please don't tell me it's
in a little book on your desk ... oh so easy to get lost,
to get put in someone else's pocket, to go walk-about. You
should have a password-protected spreadsheet or document,
or even better - a password-protected database. I have a
database which I open as soon as I create a new login, or
add myself to a mailing list, or join a new news group etc
- paste the info in *as* you create it, to ensure you'll
*never* forget it. Sure, you sometimes get confirmation
emails with this data ... but if your computer has *died*
... get the picture? You can't access the emails!
- CLIENT
documents / projects / websites (if you're a developer),
in fact ANYTHING which could cause grief if you lost it
or didn't have a copy of it. If you've printed a lot of
this stuff, what would you need if you had a *fire* and
lost all your paper files? Think about that. Hard. Now make
a list and maybe have a backup cd for each Client or group
of clients, depending on your business.
- EMAIL
software folder which should include ALL your emails. You
do *keep* all emails don't you? Please tell me you're not
one of those people who deletes emails as soon as you read
them (business ones I mean). Have you ever considered that
emails are a form of *database*? I can search my Eudora
software for any word or phrase and in a nanosecond I have
a list of emails relating to that item (all neatly filed
in their email folders ... but that's *another* article!).
I *love* Eudora's features! Getting back to business, emails
with historical information on projects are invaluable to
see who said what and when they said it. It's a timeline,
tracking resource, for a project's life.
- PHOTOS,
personal, professional - unless you're using them all the
time, these can be kept on CDs on a regular basis. When
you download from the digital camera, save to cd straight
away and save space on your hard drive [note
to "self" : follow own suggestion]. If
you have photos related to a project or client, save them
to the Client cd you created earlier, if there's space.
- FINANCIALS.
All your spreadsheets, MYOB or whatever other software you
use to track financials. Every document which the tax department
might one day want to see ... for the past 7 years. Business
plans, budgets, everything relating to your business which
you'll need to continue to *be* in business.
- FAXES
- do you use online faxing
like I do? Where every incoming fax comes into my inbox
as an email? From now on, whenever one arrives, put it into
a folder called FAXES or save with your client data. Faxes
are also a record of what's transpired - another form of
database. Plus if you use this kind of fax service, you're
saving trees. :o>
- INSURANCE.
Keep quotes etc on your computer? You'll be needing these.
- DATABASES
- all of them. A must. Trust me, you'll kick yourself if
you need one of these you didn't bother backing up.
- COMPUTER
DESKTOP. OK - what's still sitting on your desktop
which hasn't be put away or filed yet? Probably a bunch
o'stuff - clear this up before you backup, make your job
that little bit easier.
- EXCEPTION
to the SOFTWARE RULE above - if you've bought any
software online, or downloaded any software or programs
of any kind for which you did not receive a cd, then back
it up. If you've still got the Installer file, save that
- it'll save time.
- BROWSER
Settings - go through your browser Preferences screens,
take snapshots (like printscreen) of those settings - it'll
save you a TON of time if you have to set up your email
and ISP settings at a later date.
- PDFs
: have you downloaded any pdfs or purchased any ebooks?
Are they all in the same download folder, or in a PDF or
eBook folder? You'll want to save these.
Oh
boy - I just looked at my hard drive - 222 folders of stuff
- I need to do some serious sorting and computer *housekeeping*
before I do a backup, otherwise it'll take forever to sift through
all that stuff!
So
here's the list of things to do:
- tip
: do it in bite-sized pieces, baby steps, little chunks
each day
- make
a list of things you want to backup - think about your client
info etc
- do
your computer housekeeping, put things away in folders,
then put those folders in main folders to tidy up your own
special filing system - do this on one day so it's not too
overwhelming
- on
the next day, make sure you have spare cds - you might need
a few, depending on how much filing needs to be done; go
buy cds if you need to. Consider buying Read Write cds,
rather than the regular cds - if you want to be able to
add info to cds later.
- if
you've got an internal cd burner in your computer, you're
a lucky dog - if you've got an external one, plug it in
and make sure it works
- when
you're ready, start the software you need to backup (usually
Toast or something similar)
- be
prepared for this to take at least an hour, maybe more if
you've got a ton of stuff, but *don't * put it off! An hour
spent now could save you *weeks* of worry and work in the
future!
- when
you've done the first *big* backup, pat yourself on the
back, you've accomplished a very important business task!!!
While you're feeling smug and proud of yourself,
think about when you should do your next backup. How much work
would you be ok about losing? One day's worth? One week's worth?
How about a month of work? Whichever is the one you choose,
make *that* the amount of time before you do your first *mini*
backup. Don't be afraid to set other backup procedures for times
which suit you, your projects, your clients.
The main question you need to ask yourself is,
:::::
DON'T FORGET :::::
Label your cds. How are you going to file them? In a cd box?
Will they be in a hard plastic shell or sleeve? Where would
it make sense to *see* the client name on the cover, when it's
in the box? How easily would you be able to find a cd in that
box? You can write on cds with thick permanent markers, or if
you're really keen, you can print onto cd labels (available
from many stationery companies).
Keep 2 backup copies.
If you don't work at home, it might be worthwhile keeping a
backup copy of the backup - one at work, one at home. Just in
case.
Now that I've scared myself silly, I'm off to dust the cd burner
and make a latte - don't expect me to reply to your emails over
the next few hours, I'm doing a backup!
© Teena Hughes is the Director of Build
A Website!, a website where you can build your own site
online - with no skill - no fear - with no additional costs
to update your site. Teena has been involved in the I.T. industry
for over twenty years and has written many articles and ebooks,
and loves to help people get their business started.
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