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BACKING UP A COMPUTER

First of all why backup a computer. You may have important information that you cannot lose under any circumstances or
you just want to have a copy in case of any accident. Fortunately taking backups is not a tedious task as lot of people tend to
think it is. All you need is a bit of time to backup and stick to your backup plan.

First of all let us look at a backup plan.

BACKUP PLAN

Do you need to back up your computer everyday, once a week or once a month.
Office Work you can't bare to lose - everyday.
Otherwise stick to once a week or once a month depending on how cautious you want to be with your data. Remember to label your backup CDs/DVDs or backup files with a date so you know which one is the most recent copy and which ones you don't need now. You don't want to spend hours scouring through CDs DVDs and files to find out which one is the most recent.

BACKUP METHODS

A simple way to backup files and folders is to copy or burn your files to a CD-R or DVD-R. This is very simple and all you need are
some blank CDs or DVDs. This is useful for backing up important data upto around 5GB since otherwise burning will take some time if you do not
have a real fast CD/DVD Burner. The disadvantage of using CDs or DVDs to backup your data is that you will need a lot of blank CDs or DVDs if you plan to backup everyday.

Another method is to have a huge flash drive and transfer your IMPORTANT files to it. I stress on important since nowadays you cannot backup
everything on a computer with a single flash drive.

You could also use some freeware to backup your hard disks. This can backup EVERY single file and folder on your hard disk.
My favourite is DriveImage XML. Another popular backup freeware is called Sync Backup. These software are for Windows Only
If you have a fast internet connection you can backup 2GB of your files to Mozy.com. Therfore Mac users can upload it to the Internet if they do
not have Time Machine.

Therefore I would prefer the freeware alternatives to backup your computer as you can always restore your computer, exactly as it was before. But it is up to you to decide which method you prefer.

Learn more about this author, Althaf Hameez.
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