Backing Up Your Data...Part 2

The Importance of Backups-Part 2: Local/Offline Backup

So in our first article of the 'The Importance of Backups' series, we covered one of the easiest methods of backing up your personal data (Online Backups).  Today we're going to cover how to do a local backup on some form of external media.  There are several options for performing a local backup:




-Using a file sync program to do periodic backups of user specified files and directories
-Using an automated method of performing backups that runs without user intervention
-And using automated tools that come with external hard drives.

First, if you're pretty sure you don't need a solution to do a full system backup every week (or every month) that a simple program to sync files to an external hard drive or USB flash drive may be the best solution for you.  And there are many, many available solutions (some paid and some free).  For the sake of convenience we'll be looking at some free solutions for the home user.  I highly recommend using an external hard drive to run periodic backups for several reasons: convenience, ease of use, and accessibility.

So assuming you have an external hard drive (or even a USB Flash Drive would do in a pinch) you can look into a free solution from Microsoft called: SyncToy 2.1.  It's an extremely easy to use solution, that is free and when used in conjunction with the built in Windows Task Scheduler you can quickly and easily setup a customer backup routine to fight your needs.  Check out the video below on how to download and setup SyncToy 2.1.





To follow this video you'll need to download SyncToy 2.1 from:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=15155
And you'll need to be running Windows XP or newer.


This same solution can also be used for other backup programs that may not offer a way to schedule a backup job.  Some of the more fancy solutions allow this scheduling fairly easy.  It is solely dependent upon the software solution being used.

Another method of performing a local backup would be to use an external hard drive.  A lot of external hard drives come with a software utility for backing up your files.  I presently use a WD MyPassport Drive which came with their 'WD Smartware' software packge.  I don't currently use their built in solution for backups; however, it is extremely user friendly and easy to configure.  The only catch is of course the drive has to be connected to it's dock or USB cable for the backup job to complete successfully.  If you're in the market for an external hard drive, be sure to do your homework on what utilities certain brands may provide.

There are of course plenty of other apps out there that can be used for offline/local backup; however, this is only one of many.  If you have a preferred backup method, leave a comment and tell others about it below.  Our next Backup Article will cover Hard Drive Ghosting/Imaging for a quick rollout of your operating system install in event of a critical problem completely destroying your current install.  Check back soon!