Oakfield Computer Services

Things to back up include :-

My Documents
Folders you've created, on the desktop for example.
E-mails. Do you know where Outlook, Outlook Express or Thunderbird store their files ?
Address book

Nothing in this life is permanent.

Hard drives last about 5 years, (cared-for) CDs and DVDs up to ten years, memory sticks up to ten years data retention.

Every time there's a power cut, the life of the hard drive is threatened.

Every time your computer freezes and you use the front panel power button to force the computer off, your hard drive could be damaged beyond repair and data recovery.

As an additional word of caution don't switch the computer off at the mains plug, it's bound to damage the hard drive.

The digital camera is ubiquitous today. Photography has never been so simple. Over a few years most people will take thousands of images taking quite a few gigabytes of disk storage.

Those images of your children growing up are priceless, the cost of preserving them modest in time and money.

Use an external hard drive for these, CD's and DVDs for archive, and memory sticks for day to day backups of work in progress.

If it's that valuable make more than one copy, send two DVDs of photos (one for use, one for safe keeping) to grandma and grandad.

Look after CDs and DVDs, they're vulnerable. Always put them away in their jewel cases. A scratched CD or DVD will have corrupt data on it. Treat your Windows recovery CD or DVD (for Vista) as if it were your passport.

Avoid using proprietary backup software, learn to use Windows Explorer to copy the files from My Documents, My pictures, iTunes to an external drive.

External hard drives are cheap today, with plenty of choice in the £40 to £60 pound range from Novatech, Maplins and PC World. Top