A Computer Technician’s Advice – Backup Your Files Now!

Dave Brooks a professional computer technician from New Hampshire, has written this article to emphasize, once again, and it can’t be repeated too often – the importance of data back up on a regular and consistent basis.

Let’s Talk About Backups

My Name is Dave Brooks, I’m an A+ certified technician currently employed in a small shop in New Hampshire. I’ve been in the computer industry for about 15 years, playing with computers even longer. Other than a brief introductory class many years ago, I am completely self taught.

Bill has generously donated space for wanna be novelists (I’m not a writer by any stretch) to share their thoughts, so I figured I’d take him up on the offer.

Much of the operation of a computer seems to amaze the average user; that they can do what they do even amazes me sometimes. You don’t need to know how a PC works to use it, just like your car, if you have problems you visit a mechanic, you don’t need to know how it does what it does.

One thing you DO need to know is that you MUST back up your computer if you have anything of even remote value to you on it. Hard drives (the device that actually stores your data) are amazing things, their capacity is growing by leaps and bounds and the price per Mega Byte is dropping about as fast.

One of the biggest problems with them is, they can fail at pretty much any time with no notice at all, one minute your working away, the next the drive has developed a catastrophic problem and your years of work and photos have gone to that great recycle bin in the sky.

Depending on the problem the drive has developed it can be relatively inexpensive to recovery your data or it can cost thousands of dollars to send it off to a company specializing in data recovery.

Planning ahead, you can reduce this cost to a mere hundred or two dollars and a minimal amount of downtime. How you ask? An external hard drive and some imaging software. Acronis True Image is a great application and one I recommend to all my home clients.

It is really as simple as installing the software, connecting your external drive, and going through a wizard which will perform a full backup of your hard drive and help schedule recurring backups. When your hard drive fails, it’s a simple matter of installing a replacement, and restoring your recent backup back to the new drive, and you’re up and running with minimal downtime and aggravation.

I’ve had many a customer lose many a file because they had no backup, they usually implement a routine after they experience data loss, but the loss could have been prevented, it’s not a matter of if your hard drive will fail, but when.

In closing I’ll leave you with this thought; BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP!!!

(Click pic for larger)

Checkout the review of DriveImage XML, a free, easy to use, and reliable data back up program, from Runtime Software, on this site.

Dave is a very popular guest writer here, and his articles are always a huge hit – but he’s far too modest. Earlier this year, Microsoft’s TechNet Security Blog, linked back Dave’s  guest article, here on Tech Thoughts, “Think You’re Immune from Online Fraud? Maybe Not!”. Now that’s recognition for a job well done!

Pay a visit to Dave’s site at Tech-N-Go, and checkout the Security Alerts.

If you found this article useful, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Backup Logical Drives and Partitions Free With DriveImage XML V2.14

We talk a lot on this Blog about how important it is to have a current backup of all of your critical data, and given the state of the Internet today with its epidemic of malware, there’s a good chance, that at some point, you may well need this backup.

If you’re not too worried about the malware threat to your data, then consider this. Just like death and taxes are a certainty, the fact that your computer’s Hard Drive will crash one day and refuse to respond, is every bit as certain.

What are you going to do then – if you don’t have a current backup of your critical data, system/device drivers (something many of us forget), and user operating system settings?

How are you going to recover your irreplaceable data; documents, digital photos, email messages, personal and business related work, and important private data?

So backups are important – critically important. Despite the importance of Hard Drive backups, most computer technicians will tell you that typically, computer users’ do not backup their irreplaceable data.

If you should suffer catastrophic Hard Drive failure and you are one of the few, out of the ordinary, computer users who regularly and faithfully backup, you will have a lot of work ahead of you, but you will recover.

If you do not have a backup plan, it’s time you thought seriously about developing one.

Yes, I know there is effort involved in learning how to protect your data by developing and implementing a backup plan. But without a plan, your data becomes a hostage to fortune. Your Hard Drive might be damaged by malware – it might not. Your Hard Drive might fail – it might not. But why take the risk?

The best backup strategy includes imaging your Hard Drives and partitions, since that allows you to restore your important data, your complete operating system, as well as your installed applications, user settings, etc.

There are loads of free applications out in the wild blue that, used properly and regularly, will speed to the rescue. One such free program, that I have no difficulty recommending, is DriveImage XML from Runtime Software.

DriveImage XML uses Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Services (VSS) to create images, allowing you to create safe “hot images”, even from drives currently in use. Images are then stored in XML files, which allows you to process those files with third party tools.

The real benefit in imaging your full drives and partitions is, you now have the ability to restore your complete operating system, as well as your installed applications, user settings, and the registry. Better yet, you can restore the image to a replacement drive.

An added feature of DriveImage XML is, the included image explorer that permits access to previously created backup images and the extraction of individual files.

Since this program is currently distributed as freeware, there is no technical support offered. Instead, refer to the program’s help file and documentation. If you need additional help, you can refer to the program’s frequently asked questions (FAQ).

Quick facts:

Backup logical drives and partitions to image files

Browse these images, view and extract files

Restore these images to the same, or a different drive

Copy directly from drive to drive

Schedule automatic backups with Task Scheduler

Restore images to drives without rebooting

Free for home use only

Runs from a WinPE boot CD-ROM

Backup, image and restore on FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS drives

User comments – from CNET user reviews:

“Excellent utility!”

Pros: Easy to use; does a thorough job.

Cons: Nothing at all.

Summary: This utility is easy to use and does exactly what it claims. I imaged my Vista laptop, installed a new, larger HD and copied the imaged old drive to the new drive with absolutely no problems. No need to reinstall Vista.

“Amazingly simple to use and does everything promised”

Pros: Easy to use and very useful to save disk images and restore. Never had a problem in the past year.

Cons: None that I experienced.

Summary: Great for regular backups too.

I wouldn’t normally insert review comments from users, but backing up is so critically important that hopefully these comment will lend credibility to just how easy it is to back up.

System Requirements: Windows XP, 2003, Vista, or Windows 7.

Watch the DriveImage XML video tutorial on YouTube

Latest version: July 2010 – DriveImage XML V2.14

Download at: Runtime Software

Another terrific free application definitely worth checking out is Macrium Reflect. For a through understanding of the advantages of this free application check out Make An Exact Copy of Your Hard Drive, on Rick Robinette’s site. You’ll be glad you did.

If you found this article useful, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Download Free DriveImage XML V2.13 – Image and Backup Logical Drives and Partitions

We talk a lot on this Blog about how important it is to have a current backup of all of your critical data, and given the state of the Internet today with its epidemic of malware, there’s a good chance, that at some point, you may well need this backup.

If you’re not too worried about the malware threat to your data, then consider this. Just like death and taxes are a certainty, the fact that your computer’s Hard Drive will crash one day and refuse to respond, is every bit as certain.

I’m not much of a betting man, but I’ll take this bet – at some point your computer will suffer system, or hardware failure.

What are you going to do then – if you don’t have a current backup of your critical data, system/device drivers (something many of us forget), and user operating system settings?

How are you going to recover your irreplaceable data; documents, digital photos, email messages, personal and business related work, and important private data?

So backups are important – critically important. Despite the critical importance of Hard Drive backups, most computer technicians will tell you that typically, computer users’ do not backup their irreplaceable data.

If you should suffer catastrophic Hard Drive failure and you are one of the few, out of the ordinary, computer users who regularly and faithfully backup, you will have a lot of work ahead of you, but you will recover.

If you do not have a backup plan, it’s time you thought seriously about developing one.

Yes, I know there is effort involved in learning how to protect your data by developing and implementing a backup plan. But without a plan, your data becomes a hostage to fortune. Your Hard Drive might be damaged by malware – it might not. Your Hard Drive might fail – it might not. But why take the risk?

The best backup strategy includes imaging your Hard Drives and partitions, since that allows you to restore your important data, your complete operating system, as well as your installed applications, user settings, etc.

There are loads of free applications out in the wild blue that, used properly and regularly, will speed to the rescue. One such free program, that I have no difficulty recommending, is DriveImage XML from Runtime Software.

DriveImage XML uses Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Services (VSS) to create images, allowing you to create safe “hot images”, even from drives currently in use. Images are then stored in XML files, which allows you to process those files with third party tools.

The real benefit in imaging your full drives and partitions is, you now have the ability to restore your complete operating system, as well as your installed applications, user settings, and the registry. Better yet, you can restore the image to a replacement drive.

An added feature of DriveImage XML is, the included image explorer that permits access to previously created backup images and the extraction of individual files.

Since this program is currently distributed as freeware, there is no technical support offered. Instead, refer to the program’s help file and documentation. If you need additional help, you can refer to the program’s frequently asked questions (FAQ).

Quick facts:

Backup logical drives and partitions to image files

Browse these images, view and extract files

Restore these images to the same, or a different drive

Copy directly from drive to drive

Schedule automatic backups with Task Scheduler

Restore images to drives without rebooting

Free for home use only

Runs from a WinPE boot CD-ROM

Backup, image and restore on FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS drives

User comments – from CNET user reviews:

“Excellent utility!”

Pros: Easy to use; does a thorough job.

Cons: Nothing at all.

Summary: This utility is easy to use and does exactly what it claims. I imaged my Vista laptop, installed a new, larger HD and copied the imaged old drive to the new drive with absolutely no problems. No need to reinstall Vista.

“Amazingly simple to use and does everything promised”

Pros: Easy to use and very useful to save disk images and restore. Never had a problem in the past year.

Cons: None that I experienced.

Summary: Great for regular backups too.

I wouldn’t normally insert review comments from users, but backing up is so critically important that hopefully these comment will lend credibility to just how easy it is to back up.

Finally, here’s a comment from regular guest writer Rick Robinette, on the importance of backing up data, which he posted to Tech Paul’s Blog, recently.

Somehow we need to find a way to educate people about the importance of backing up data that is important, or critical to them, or their organization. I have actually seen people cry because their data was gone.

System Requirements: Windows XP, 2003, Vista, or Windows 7

Watch the DriveImage XML video tutorial on YouTube

Latest version: January 10, 2010 – DriveImage XML V2.13

Download at: Runtime Software

Another terrific free application definitely worth checking out is Macrium Reflect. For a through understanding of the advantages of this free application check out Make An Exact Copy of Your Hard Drive, on Rick Robinette’s site. You’ll be glad you did.

If you found this article useful, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Free DriveImage XML – The Best Way to Backup Data?

It’s time, once again, for me to bug you about data backups. I’m being a little bit facetious, but it’s been more than two weeks since the last reminder – “Handy Backup – Complete, EXTENSIBLE Backup Solution”.

Now I’m not much of a betting man, but I’ll take this bet (I always bet a sure thing) – at some point your computer will suffer system, or hardware failure.

What are you going to do then – if you don’t have a current backup of your critical data, system/device drivers (something many of us forget), and user operating system settings?

How are you going to recover your irreplaceable data; documents, digital photos, email messages, personal and business related work and important private data?

There are loads of free applications out in the wild blue that, used properly and regularly, will speed to the rescue the day you lose your bet. One such free program, that I have no difficulty recommending, is DriveImage XML from Runtime Software.

DriveImage XML uses Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Services (VSS) to create images, allowing you to create safe “hot images”, even from drives currently in use. Images are then stored in XML files, which allows you to process those files with third party tools.

The real benefit of course in imaging your full drives and partitions is, you now have the ability to restore your complete operating system, as well as your installed applications, user settings, and the registry. Better yet, you can restore the image to a replacement drive.

An added feature of DriveImage XML is, the included image explorer that permits access to previously created backup images and the extraction of individual files.

Since this program is currently distributed as freeware, there is no technical support offered. Instead, refer to the program’s help file and documentation. If you need additional help, you can refer to the program’s frequently asked questions (FAQ).

Quick facts:

Backup logical drives and partitions to image files

Browse these images, view and extract files

Restore these images to the same, or a different drive

Copy directly from drive to drive

Schedule automatic backups with Task Scheduler

Restore images to drives without rebooting

Free for home use only

Runs from a WinPE boot CD-ROM

Backup, image and restore on FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS drives

User comments – from CNET user reviews:

“Excellent utility!”

Pros: Easy to use; does a thorough job.

Cons: Nothing at all.

Summary: This utility is easy to use and does exactly what it claims. I imaged my Vista laptop, installed a new, larger HD and copied the imaged old drive to the new drive with absolutely no problems. No need to reinstall Vista.

“Amazingly simple to use and does everything promised”

Pros: Easy to use and very useful to save disk images and restore. Never had a problem in the past year.

Cons: None that I experienced.

Summary: Great for regular backups too.

System Requirements: Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista

Watch the DriveImage XML video tutorial at YouTube

Latest version: October 03, 2009 – DriveImage XML V2.12

Download at: Download.com

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Backup, Backup, Backup With Free DriveImage XML

We talk a lot on this Blog about how important it is to have a current backup of all of your critical data, system/device drivers (something many of us forget), and user operating system settings, in case of system or hardware failure.

Given the state of the Internet today with its epidemic of malware, chances are pretty good that at some point you’ll need this backup.

With DriveImage XML, a free, easy to use, and reliable program, from Runtime Software, you can go one step further and image both hard drive partitions and logical drives. According to the developer the latest release, version V2.02, is now faster than ever.

The real benefit of course in imaging your full drives and partitions is, you now have the ability to restore your complete operating system, as well as your installed applications, user settings, and the registry.

Recently, one of my colleagues copied a dying hard drive to a new drive in less than an hour, directly from Windows XP using this versatile free application. Pretty impressive for a free application, I thought.

DriveImage XML uses Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Services (VSS) to create images, allowing you to create safe “hot images” even from drives currently in use. Images are then stored in XML files, which allows you to process those files with third party tools.

If, or when, it becomes necessary, you can now restore the image to the same or a replacement drive. You also have the option of copying the drive image directly to a new drive, just as my colleague did.

An added feature of DriveImage XML is the included image explorer that permits access to previously created backup images and the extraction of individual files.

Since this program is currently distributed as freeware, there is no technical support offered. Instead, refer to the program’s help file and documentation. If you need additional help, you can refer to the program’s frequently asked questions (FAQ).

Quick facts:

Backup logical drives and partitions to image files

Browse these images, view and extract files

Restore these images to the same, or a different drive

Copy directly from drive to drive

Schedule automatic backups with Task Scheduler

Restore images to drives without rebooting

Free for home use only

Runs from a WinPE boot CD-ROM

Backup, image and restore on FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS drives

System Requirements: Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista

Watch the DriveImage XML video tutorial at YouTube

Latest version: DriveImage XML V2.02

Download at: Download.com

If you would rather give Windows native backup utility a try, checkout TechPaul’s “How to Install Backup on XP Home” for a quick and easy tutorial.

Let’s Talk About Backups

This is a guest post by Dave Brooks a professional techie from New Hampshire, USA. Dave has written this article to emphasize, once again, and it can’t be repeated too often – the importance of data back up on a regular and consistent basis. Pay a visit to Dave’s site at Tech-N-Go and checkout the Security Alerts.

Let’s Talk About Backups

My Name is Dave Brooks, I’m an A+ certified technician currently employed in a small shop in New Hampshire.

I’ve been in the computer industry for about 15 years, playing with computers even longer. Other than a brief introductory class many years ago, I am completely self taught.

Bill has generously donated space for wanna be novelists (I’m not a writer by any stretch) to share their thoughts, so I figured I’d take him up on the offer.

Much of the operation of a computer seems to amaze the average user; that they can do what they do even amazes me sometimes. You don’t need to know how a PC works to use it, just like your car, if you have problems you visit a mechanic, you don’t need to know how it does what it does.

One thing you DO need to know is that you MUST back up your computer if you have anything of even remote value to you on it. Hard drives (the device that actually stores your data) are amazing things, their capacity is growing by leaps and bounds and the price per Mega Byte is dropping about as fast.

One of the biggest problems with them is that they can fail at pretty much any time with no notice at all, one minute your working away, the next the drive has developed a catastrophic problem and your years of work and photos have gone to that great recycle bin in the sky.

Depending on the problem the drive has developed it can be relatively inexpensive to recovery your data or it can cost thousands of dollars to send it off to a company specializing in data recovery.

Planning ahead, you can reduce this cost to a mere hundred or two dollars and a minimal amount of downtime. How you ask? An external hard drive and some imaging software. Acronis True Image is a great application and one I recommend to all my home clients.

It is really as simple as installing the software, connecting your external drive, and going through a wizard which will perform a full backup of your hard drive and help schedule recurring backups. When your hard drive fails, it’s a simple matter of installing a replacement, and restoring your recent backup back to the new drive, and you’re up and running with minimal downtime and aggravation.

I’ve had many a customer lose many a file because they had no backup, they usually implement a routine after they experience data loss, but the loss could have been prevented, it’s not a matter of if your hard drive will fail, but when.

In closing I’ll leave you with this thought; BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP!!!

(Click pic for larger)

Checkout the review of DriveImage XML, a free, easy to use, and reliable data back up program, from Runtime Software, on this site.

Backup and Image Hard Drives/Partitions Free – DriveImage XML Updated

We talk a lot on this Blog about how important it is to have a current backup of all of your critical data, system/hardware drivers (something many of us forget), and user operating system settings, in case of system or hardware failure. Given the state of the Internet today with its epidemic of malware, the chances that at some point you’ll need this backup, are enhanced.

With DriveImage XML, a free, easy to use, and reliable program, from Runtime Software, you can go one step further and image both hard drive partitions and logical drives. According to the developer the latest release, version V2.01, is now faster than ever.

The real benefit of course in imaging your full drives and partitions is you now have the ability to restore your complete operating system, as well as your installed applications, user settings, and the registry.

Recently, one of my colleagues copied a dying hard drive to a new drive in less than an hour, directly from Windows XP using this versatile free application. Pretty impressive for a free application, I thought.

DriveImage XML uses Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Services (VSS) to create images, allowing you to create safe “hot images” even from drives currently in use. Images are then stored in XML files, which allows you to process those files with third party tools.

If, or when it becomes necessary, you can now restore the image to the same or a replacement drive. You also have the option of copying the drive image directly to a new drive, just as my colleague did. An added feature of DriveImage XML is the included image explorer that permits access to previously created backup images and the extraction of individual files.

Since this program is currently distributed as freeware, there is no technical support offered. Instead, refer to the program’s help file and documentation. If you need additional help you can refer to the program’s frequently asked questions (FAQ).

Quick facts:

Backup logical drives and partitions to image files

Browse these images, view and extract files

Restore these images to the same, or a different drive

Copy directly from drive to drive

Schedule automatic backups with Task Scheduler

Restore images to drives without rebooting

Free for home use only

Runs from a WinPE boot CD-ROM

Backup, image and restore on FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS drives

System Requirements: Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista

Watch the DriveImage XML video tutorial at YouTube

Latest version: DriveImage XML V2.01

Download at: Download.com

If you would rather give Windows native backup utility a try, checkout TechPaul’s “How to Install Backup on XP Home” for a quick and easy tutorial.

Backup Image Hard Drives/Partitions with Free DriveImage XML

We all know how important it is to have a recent backup of critical data, system/hardware drivers (something many of us forget), and user operating system settings, in case of system or hardware failure.

Well with DriveImage XML, a free, easy to use, and reliable program, you can go one step further and image both hard drive partitions and logical drives.

The real benefit of course in imaging your full drives and partitions is you now have the ability to restore your complete operating system, as well as your installed applications, user settings, and the registry.

I was very impressed when just this past week, one of my colleagues copied a dying hard drive to a new drive in less than an hour, directly from Windows XP using this versatile free application.

DriveImage XML uses Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Services (VSS) to create images, allowing you to create safe “hot images” even from drives currently in use. Images are then stored in XML files, which allows you to process those files with third party tools.

If, or when it becomes necessary, you can now restore the image to the same or a replacement drive. You also have the option of copying the drive image directly to a new drive, just as my colleague did. An added feature of DriveImage XML is the included image explorer that permits access to previously created backup images and the extraction of individual files

Since this program is currently distributed as freeware, there is no technical support offered. Instead, refer to the program’s help file and documentation. If you need additional help you can refer to the program’s frequently asked questions (FAQ).

Quick facts:

• Backup logical drives and partitions to image files
• Browse these images, view and extract files
• Restore these images to the same, or a different drive
• Copy directly from drive to drive
• Schedule automatic backups with Task Scheduler
• Restore images to drives without rebooting

System Requirements: Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista

DriveImage XML will backup, image and restore drives formatted with FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS

Watch the DriveImage XML video tutorial at YouTube

Download the application at Download.com

If you think backing up has limited value checkout “You’ll Thank Me One Day” by TechPaul.

For another view on How to Install Backup on XP Home, checkout Tech for Everyone a great Blog chock full of great advice.

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