PC Help Jansant- A Guide to Back Up and Recovery PC data

Search This Site

Main Menu

Home Page
Computer Guides
Computer Dictionary
Network Setup
Tips and Tricks
Internet Guide
Freeware/Shareware
PC Upgrade Guide
PC Maintenance
Support Forum
HTML Guide

Hard Drive Backup & Recovery Techniques in Windows

Welcome to the backup and recovery of computer data tutorial. Below you will find an explanation to the different types of backup, normal, incremental, differential, and daily backups. How they work, their features, and how to use them to recovery your computers data.

Even in a home Environment, its vital to backup computer data. We all use virus detection software to protect against data corruption and loss due to viruses. Even with the absolute best virus protection, there is still a risk of infection (although remote). Most don't bother protecting their data from other types of dangers such as hard drive failure. People increasingly keep their family photo and video albums on their computers, a wide array of personal information, and other things. Data loss as a result of hard disk drive (HDD) failure or other data corruption can destroy data. Resulting in the loss of vital information and cherished reminders of memories. A sound backup and recovery plan can offer a high level of protection against data loss. Creating a hassle free and robust backup and recovery plan is simpler than it seems. The following explain the methods you can employ to protect your data from loss.

You can use various media to backup your data. You can backup to tape or other off-line media such as CD/DVD, or to an online HDD. Off-line means you need to insert or connect to the data for it to be available. Online means the data is located on a source that is always available, such as a hard drive installed in the computer, network computer, or external hard drive that's always connected. If you backup to a hard drive that you plug into the USB port then remove for safe storage, you would refer to this as off-line media. If you backup to a location on the network that is always available, you refer to this as online media.

In addition to backing up and storing data at the local location, its been a long time practice of business to backup crucial data to a remote location. With the growth of faster Internet connections this is now a practical solution for protecting important data for home users also. Emails, photo albums, work contacts, calendars, and many other types of data contain information users would rather not loose in the case of fire, theft, or some other unforeseen event. Online backup services are convenient and easy to use, you should backup your crucial data to such a service.

Mozy Online Backup. 2GB Free or $4.95/mo for Unlimited Backup. It's simple, automatic and secure!

Media types:

Floppy Disk: Slow and low storage capacity, increasingly computers don't have a floppy drive. Not Recommended
Disk Cartridge: This media such as Zip and Jaz is dropping in price. If your data fits then an adequate choice. Recommended
Tape: Slow but capable of backing up large amounts of data. More suited to commercial situations. Not Recommended For Home.
Hard Disk: Hard disks are dropping in price. Performance and capacity is increasing constantly. Recommended
Reel tape: Older technology found commonly on mainframes. Not Recommended
Optical disk: CD/DVD disks are high quality and have large storage capacity. Some burning software won't backup directly to rewriteable CD\DVD. Backup to HDD then burn backup file created on HDD to the media. Recommended

The simplest method is to backup to online media, making it easy to schedule automatic backup's. Install an additional internal HDD to the computer. Remember to purchase one that's sufficient capacity to store your data. Backup to a network computer. This method requires a network connection between the two computers, and the creation of a shared folder on each computer, or some other form of access to the network computer. Over time the required capacity will increase as you add more data, purchase a disk of at least the same capacity as your main disk. Purchasing an external HDD is also an excellent choice. Below are some external media suitable for backing up your PC and networked computers.

SmartDisk FireLite - Hard drive - 160 GB - external - 2.5" - Firewire - 5400 rpm

Iomega Desktop Hard Drive Value Silver Series - Hard drive - 640 GB - external - Hi-Speed USB - 7200 rpm - buffer: 8 MB

Iomega UltraMax Desktop Hard Drive - Hard drive - 1 TB - external - FireWire / FireWire 800 / Hi-Speed USB - 7200 rpm - buffer: 8 MB

Types of backup:

Normal: Also called a full backup, this method copies all selected files and marks each as having been backed up. All files will be copied to a single file therefore restoring your data is quick. As all files are copied each time data is backed up, backup will however take longer than other methods. To restore only the single normal backup is required.
Incremental: This method backs up only files that have been created or changed since the last normal(full)or incremental backup and marks them as being backed up. Your first backup will be a full backup, then each additional backup will be incremental. Using both full and incremental backup will require first restoring the full back, then the first incremental working through to the last incremental. Restoring data takes longer this way. This is a good method if your backing up data of which only a small amount changes each day. There is no point in backing up all your data everyday as this takes time and uses resources slowing down your computer while your trying to use it at the same time. Quicker backups but slower to restore.
Differential: Will copy all files that have changed or been created since the last normal backup but does not mark them as being backed up. Your first backup will be full then each additional will be differential. This is also a good method if your backing up data of which only a small amount changes each day. To restore data the normal and last incremental backup files will only be required. Remember that each new differential backup will take longer to perform because it backs up all files since the last full backup. I find this the most suitable option, it provides relatively fast backups and restore.
Daily: This method copies all selected files that have been modified on the day backup is performed and does not mark them as being backed up.

Automating backups: You can automate the process of backing up your data. Once you have selected what type of method you will use, and selected your files and folders to backup, Microsoft's backup utility can utilise the inbuilt scheduler to perform unattended backups. This is a very handy feature as you can schedule the backup process to run each night or any other time the computer is not likely to be in use.

Note: You should backup your system files as well as your personal data files. In Windows 2000 using the backup wizard, if you choose the option "back up everything on my computer" or "only back up the system state" the system files will be included. If you choose the option "backup selected files, drives, or network data" you must select system state when choosing what to backup. Not every backup job needs to have the system files included, but you should always have a current backup of your system files. If your operating system fails you will need a recent copy of the system files to recover.

Creating your backup

You can start the backup program by selecting it from the start menu as in the image below, or by clicking start, selecting run, and typing ntbackup in win2000. Microsoft operating systems vary only slightly, if you can't locate your backup utility use the windows help menu and search for "backup". The backup utility is normally found within system tools folder from the start menu.
Note: with windows 2000 you must be logged in as a user with either administrator or backup operator privileges.


Once your backup program opens you will see a window similar to the image below. You can use a wizard to create your backup and restore your data from a previous backup. You can select the "Backup" tab to create your backup and select the "Restore" tab to restore data previously backed up without the wizards help. Note the button "Emergency Repair Disk" button, this does not backup any data, it creates an emergency repair disk. If you did not make an emergency repair disk when you installed windows I suggest you make one now and store it in a safe place.


Select the "Backup" tab. This is where you select the files and folders to backup. You can select whole drives, whole folders or individual folders, you can even back up files located on another computer. You can also select to backup the system state, this will backup your registry files. You can only backup the registry state of the local computer not a remote/network computer. You can backup the contents of shared folders if you have the correct privileges.


Make your selection from the left window to select complete drives or folders, the right side for folders or files. I selected the C: Local Disk and System State, you will notice when you select C: other selections will be automatically made.


In the drop down menu "Backup destination" leave this selection as "File".
In the text box "Backup media or file name" Browse for the location you wish your backup to be stored. Type a name for your backup and select open, choose a descriptive name so it's easy to recognise what it is. This will be the name of the actual file. I recommend you create a folder to keep your backups in.


Next go to the tools menu and select "Options".This is where you will select what type of backup to create. Select the "Backup Type" tab, from the drop down menu select Normal. You can select other options here also, have a look through and familiarize yourself with the choices. Click OK.


Next save your backup job, if you plan to schedule your backup to automatically start you will need to save it first. From the drop down menu "Job" choose "Save selections as". Again choose a descriptive name so you know what the job contains at a glance. If you wish to make changes to this backup job in the future, from the "Job" menu select "Load selection" and choose the job. Remember to save any changes by selecting "save selection" from the same menu.


Click "Start Backup". You can schedule your job to run sometime in the future. If you schedule your job for the future, you will be prompted for your password, remember you must have administrator or backup operator permissions to backup and restore data. Give your job a name in the scheduler and select properties and set your schedule. Click OK. Your backup will run according to your selections in the scheduler. If you wish to change the schedule at a later date you can. If you wish to run the backup job without scheduling click "Start Backup" in the pop up box.


A new box will open showing the progress while it catalogues the files, then another will open showing the progress of your backup.


To create incremental or differential backups go through the same procedure but in the options box you choose one of these instead of normal. Save this as a new job with a new job and file name. This is where using descriptive names becomes important. If you create a normal backup to run every Monday and differential backups to run every other day of the week. In total you will create seven backup jobs, without descriptive names things can get very confusing. Remember differential backups only require the last normal and last differential backup when restoring. It is possible to create only one differential backup to run six days of the week, each day would over write the job from the last day. I don't recommend taking this short cut. If your computer is infected with a virus on a Wednesday and you don't realise until the Friday, you no longer have the option of going back to the differential backup from Tuesday. It would have been overwritten by Wednesday's backup which would have been overwritten by Thursday's. I recommend creating a different job for each day of the week. It takes longer to set up, but will offer you more options when you need to restore your data. You can create a job for every day of the month if you like, and archive the backups on a monthly basis. It all depends on your needs.
Note: if the backup process marks your files as being backed up, this will be seen by all backup processes. Remember this when your creating your backup regime. Having multiple sets of normal and incremental/differential backup sets on the same files, folders or drives will create problems. Use only one normal and incremental/differential backup set on any group of files. If you wish to create a second backup set on the same files use the daily backup as this option does not mark the files as having been backed up, it will copy all files regardless of it's marking.

Restoring Your Data

Restoring your data is easier than it seems. Open the backup program and select the "Restore" tab. Your backup jobs are listed by the date first created. Tick the files/folders you wish to restore, you may be prompted to browse for the backup file. Decided where to restore the files to, "Original location", "Alternate location", or "Single folder". You can choose to restore all or only some of the files/folders in the backup volume.


If you are restoring data to a fresh install of your operating system you will not have the list of previously backed up data to choose from. In this case from the "Tools" menu select "Catalog a backup file..." and browse for the location of your backup file. Then choose where to "Restore files to" as in the previous step.


From the "Tools" menu select "Options", click the "Restore" tab. Decide if you wish to replace the files on your computer, replace only if the file on the disk is older, or always replace the file on your computer. Consider these options very carefully. If you previously decided to restore the files to the original location, you will be unable to undo any changes the restore process makes to your files. Take time to consider the result before proceeding any further. Once you have made your well considered selections click "Start Restore". The Backup program will tell you when it has completed the restore process.

Web-Site Administrators Local Time

feedback - terms of use - contact - sitemap - advertise - webmasters

©PC Help Jansant