When the above notice appears ahead of a section of these classes, I invite you to ‘listen’ to the section while you follow the printed words. The notice suggests you ‘Press’ (select or touch) the universal symbol for ‘PLAY’ in the control section to the right of or just below the notice. Once you have done so, the control keys on your keyboard can be used to control the audio: play/pause, Mute, increase or decrease the volume.
If you are not familiar with the audio control keys on your computer, please select the ‘Tips & Shortcuts’ button in the left column, then read or print and read the PDF file ‘Controlling Your Computer’s Audio’.
Class 7
Backing Up Your Computer
I know one really good reason to regularly back up data … it will save you heartache and big money!
Appealing to reason has little effect on people when it comes to recommending regular backups. The experience of teaching these classes and actually witnessing how much money people are willing to spend to recover their lost data, prompted the first comment in this section. I know from experience, you can save hundreds of dollars, simply by buying a relatively inexpensive external hard drive for backups, then regularly making the backups.
The habit of keeping regular backups of your computer make scary malware, such as ransomware, almost laughable. If not laughable, at least less expensive! You, or someone you hire, simply replaces your hard drive with a new one. You then use your external backup hard drive to restore your backed up system and data to the new hard drive. You can be up and running in just a few hours.
If the old drive wasn’t destroyed, you can even choose to install it into an enclosure that has a USB interface. That way all your old files are still accessible when you plug it into a USB port on your computer. Just be certain you run anti-malware scans on the drive before accessing the files.
The Class Synopsis follows this paragraph. You should notice that individual sections of this class are colored and underlined, indicating that they are LINKS to the appropriate sections. You may click or touch individual sections to jump to them, or simply scroll down (turn the mouse wheel, if it has one) to the section you wish to continue with.
Class 7 Synopsis:
- What is Data?
- Why Backups are Necessary
- Making a Backup
- Backup Applications
- Windows Backup Provisions
- System Recovery Drive
- System Repair Disc
- A Useful Backup Technique
1) What IS data?
There is a technical difference between data and information. Here is the Kindergarten version:
Data - random bits and pieces you pick up about a favorite subject.
Information - an orderly and logical collection of those bits and pieces.
One example might be: You enjoy telling the kids (anyone younger than you that will listen to the story) bits and pieces about when you were growing up. Someone encouraged you to write them down, as you think of them. For the purposes of this class, you used your computer to make notes of each recollection, when you thought of it. Now that you have a large collection of them, you decide to make a single document, organizing them in chronological order. You find using a word processor on the computer very helpful, in that you can 'cut and paste' to organize your thoughts. The computer also makes it easy to add some 'filler' to connect the pieces. Before you know it, you end up with an entertaining version of your life - an autobiography!
For our purposes, it would be emotionally devastating to you, and to interested relatives, if you lost ANY of the above! So, it really doesn't matter if you loose data or information, its all gone, and you probably will not easily recover any of it.
Whether you call it data or information, I say anything you create, modify and save using the computer is something you would hate to lose. A few examples you may not have thought about:
- - When you email someone, you are creating documentation. In many cases, you save important email so you can either refer to it later, or use it to prove you sent or received it or an attachment.
- - You use a Photo application to modify a photograph. If you were to lose a photograph you may have spent the several hours perfecting, you would be more than slightly irritated.
- - Computers, TVs, cell phones and digital picture frames are now capable of displaying the photos you take in ways you never thought possible with film. If you lost or gave away a photograph, there was always your box of negatives to let you replace the photograph. Now, that box of negatives is a digital folder on a computer. If you lost THAT, all the memories left would be in your mind (or not!).
2) Why Backups are Necessary
There are numerous reasons for keeping regular backups of the information on your personal computer. The two most pressing reasons are malicious software and hardware failure.
Malicious software (Malware)
In the twenty first century, we are experiencing another new use for an old term; hacking. The traditional use of the term replaced even older terms; a Rube Goldberg, or Jerry Rigged. I know a number of people that ‘hack’ into used hardware (more or less successfully) to see if they can put it to practical use.
As with every new technology, the average person (untrained in the new technology) can be frightened into believing a huge number of scenarios where anyone can ‘hack’ into the new technology for nefarious purposes. It makes for great movies and TV dramas, but has little base in fact. For example: consider the problems the US government, with all their experts, had trying (and failing) to get Apple to give them access to a terrorists cell phone data.
When last I searched the Internet for the information, there was no documented evidence of a personal computer having been 'hacked' without the hacker having direct access to the computer. The protections built into our personal computer networking hardware so far have prevented that.
The problem that does exist, again for the average untrained person, is inadvertently allowing, and many times inviting, malicious software into their personal computer. That, indeed, can cause problems for the computer owner. That kind of problem can easily be turned into a mild annoyance, simply by keeping regular backups. With proper backups, if you cannot remove the malware, you simply wipe the hard drive, then restore it from the most recent good backup.
Hardware failure
Class 4 considered computer hardware. Hopefully, you picked up on the idea that a hard drive, which most computers still use for permanent storage, is an electro-mechanical device that stores files magnetically on a metallic disc that spins at anywhere between 5,400 and 10,000 revolutions per minute. Moving parts fail. Therefore, the hard drive will fail, we just don’t know when.
Less certain data loss
In addition to the certainty of failure, there are a number of other potential scenarios for data loss:
- Theft…someone stole your computer.
- Natural disaster…flood, volcano, house fire, etc. (Is it a natural disaster when you drop your cell phone or laptop overboard on a fishing trip?)
- You probably can think of, or have experienced a number of other scenarios.
3) Making a Backup
Simply put, a backup is a duplicate copy on a separate storage device. If your data is extremely valuable, you should have a copy in a separate location as well, to help avoid the disaster aspect of loss.
There are several convenient storage devices that are commonly used for backups:
- - Todays storage of choice for safety, and small amounts of data, would be the CD or DVD. They are easy to make, cheap so they can be made in quantity, and can't be damaged by magnets. Each different type is limited by how much data they can store. In most cases, you can't make a simple 'drag and drop' copy with Windows File Explorer, so you may want or need special software to 'burn' a copy.
- - Flash drives (sometimes called Thumb drives; where did THAT come from?) have become the floppy disc of the 21st century. The name comes from the fact they are 'flash memories' that behave like a USB based 'hard drive'. Plug in a USB flash drive, use Windows File Explorer to 'drag and drop' your data, and you have a backup! The capacity of a flash drive currently (2018) is far less than an easily obtainable external hard drive, but if your storage needs are small, they could be a good choice.
FYI: Many people have picked up the habit of calling a flash drive a memory stick. Memory Stick is a registered trademark of Sony Corporation for the flash memory used in their early digital cameras and game consoles. If it doesn't fit an early Sony camera or game console, it isn't a Memory Stick!
- - USB external hard drives and external solid state drives. These behave exactly like the hard drive inside your laptop, but when you disconnect them, they can be storage separate from your computer. The amount of external storage available is limited only by how much you want to pay! When you use an external hard drive for backup, you do NOT want to leave it plugged in to the USB port all the time! If you did, you would have two hard drives in use all the time. Which would fail first?
- - The last option I have to mention is the Cloud! Many companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Google provide cloud storage for a monthly fee. Most cloud storage is simply space you pay for on a corporation’s computers. The corporation protects your data with their own backups. One advantage is, your cloud storage is available anywhere in the world via Internet by you or anyone you trust with your Cloud password.
- - A sub-category of cloud storage is your personal cloud. Many of us choose NOT to store our data on someone else’s computers, so this option is rather attractive. Many disc manufacturers, such as Western Digital and Seagate, offer a disc drive or system of drives in a stand alone package for your home, that connects to your home network. Assuming you have Internet service in your home, you can connect to your home cloud from anywhere in the world that has Internet service. Your data remains safely in your own home.
4) Backup Applications
When the amount of data you have makes it difficult to 'drag and drop', you may want to consider a backup application. There are free apps, pay for apps, and even those supplied free with the operating system and with 'external' hard drives sold for backing up your computer. The apps will all look different, but they do the same thing. There are at least three kinds of backup you are likely to encounter:
- Image backup. This is an exact 'image' (duplicate) of your hard drive (including the operating system and protected areas on your hard drive needed to restore the Windows operating system). It is the easiest way to backup your operating system (Windows 10-11), along with your applications and your data. If your hard drive fails, or if the computer gets seriously infected with malware, the image can be restored to a new hard drive or solid state drive and you will be back in business in the shortest amount of time possible. You will, however, have lost any changes you made in your computer since you made the image backup. (If you use File History for your data, you can return your data to the point you last ran the File History backup by restoring the image, then restore File History). An image type backup is available in Windows 10 or 11 via the Backup and Restore choice in the Control Panel. Select Create a System Image in the left column of the 'Backup and Restore' dialog box.
- Full backup. Similar to an image backup, but does not include 'hidden' information required to restore your operating system in case of corruption. Usually you must specify to the application each and every folder that you want backed up. Subsequent 'incremental' backups (next item) will take much less time.
- Incremental backup. When you have done a 'full backup', an incremental backup application will examine the computer for any changes, then backup only what has changed since the last backup. I would call this the 'maintenance' backup. It should be done every time you feel you don't want to loose the changes you have made to your data since the last time you ran File History. The File History choice in the control panel of Windows 10 and 11 is a form of incremental backup, and will notify you when your File History drive has been unplugged too long.
There are many discussions on the Internet about how best to make and keep backups. The most important thing for you to understand now is: if you haven't made a backup yet, stop procrastinating and DO IT NOW!
5) Windows’ Backup Provisions
There are several things you can do to help backup your data with Windows. A very quick and easy data backup service in Windows is called File History. Backing up your operating system is another issue we will cover later.
To make use of File History, you must first decide how much data you need to back up. People will fall somewhere into a range from being a data user (browse Internet, watch videos, social networking, etc. - basically viewing data, not saving it!) to being a data generator (writing documents, keeping and modifying photos, videos, etc). Each person will have different amounts of data they wish to back up.
Small amounts of data can be stored on Flash Drives or One Drive (Microsoft’s 'cloud'). Larger amounts may need a USB external hard drive to save it all.
You can get a rough idea of just how much storage you would need to backup the data currently on your machine by using a feature in Windows File Explorer. If you have been using the six (or more) folders we talked about in the class on the file manager; open Windows File Explorer and expand your 'C:' drive (select the arrowhead to the left of the title of C: drive in the navigation pane), menu select Users, then select Properties. Windows File Explorer will display to you the total size of the data files you have on the computer. This is the minimum size of a flash drive or external drive (HD or SSD) you need for just one copy.
Please NOTE: If you have not been using the aforementioned special folders (displayed under ‘This PC” when you open the Windows File Explorer app: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos) in which to build your file system, you will need to add any other data folders to the File History list.
Once you have decided how much storage you need, plug the storage system into a USB port on your computer, and search the Control Panel for the File History application to begin your backup. Follow on-screen instructions to select the proper drive and start the backup. The process is relatively quick. The File History dialog box will display when the last file copy was done and the words 'Run now' when it has finished. Once the backup is complete, you may remove the drive and only plug it in once a week, or whenever you have accumulated new data you don't want to loose! The computer will remind you in case you forget.
It used to be, when you bought a new computer, a set of discs came with it to restore your operating system if the hard drive became unstable or failed completely. Now it is up to the user to create a recovery drive using a USB flash drive (at least 8 Gigabytes capacity) or external hard drive! It is one of the first things to do when you buy a new computer. You can still make make one if you have been using your computer for some time, and it is not having problems. The how-to varies from computer to computer, but you can search for 'Create a Recovery Drive'.
Poke the Windows logo key on your keyboard and start typing Create a Recovery Drive. Check the screen as you type! The computer will find it before you get done typing. If the Create a Recovery Drive entry appears at the top of the list and is highlighted, just poke enter to start the tool. Otherwise, move your pointing device cursor to the entry and click to start the tool.
When the tool opens the first dialog box, make sure you check the box that will include system files before you continue. Then just follow instructions.
The recovery drive is used to return your computer to factory condition!
Following the generation of a System Recovery Drive (or a System Image), you are given the option of generating a System Repair disc. You can also select this option in control panel, Backup and Restore applet. You only need one these if you have multiple computers running the same version of Windows.
When your hard drive has failed, or the operating system won't boot, the System Repair disc is what will help repair the boot, or it can read a System Image to restore the image to a new hard drive.
See 'Image Backup' above. You MUST have used the Backup and Restore facility in control panel to make a System Image BEFORE your hard drive fails! Be aware: Using a System Image to restore your hard drive only restores it to the hour and minute the system image was made. All data and applications added since the backup was made will have to be restored AFTER the system image is restored. File History can restore the data, but you have to restore the applications if you added any after you made the System Image.
8) A Useful Backup Technique
A few years ago my wife and I joined a volunteer organization that was heavily computer based and assisted the general public doing online research. We assisted people with their research at the local public library on library computers, but used the organization’s own dedicated computers to access some services not available at the library.
Our organization consisted of nearly 200 people, many of which volunteer their time at the library. Our computers were in use only when our people were present and locked up otherwise. This made for many on/off cycles and many different people using the computers. I was asked if I would mind trying to maintain the serviceability of the computers.
The greatest detriment to keeping them running would be the large number of people doing research on them. The range of users abilities was probably as great at the number of people, therefore I had to expect failures. That said to me backups, backups, backups.
The route I chose has worked well now for at least 5 years. My wife and I work the Sunday shift (afternoon) as much as we can to allow people with local families time together. My monthly computer schedule for each computer:
Every Sunday - Check for Windows updates, install as needed. Run manufacturer support agent to find new drivers and firmware. Clean Registry of unnecessary items. Empty temporary Downloads folder. Empty trash.
First Sunday - Run Windows Defender deep scan. Run Windows ‘Disk Cleanup’. Plug in the external drive and use Windows to ‘create a System Image’ of each machine. Even though the computers appear to be identical, there is a Windows license associated with each individual computer. There is also some other licensed software on each computer. A System Image keeps all things in order.
Second through last Sunday - Run Windows Defender quick scan. Plug in the external drive and use Windows to run ‘File History’.
Only once, during that time, did something get ‘invited’ into the computer so a simple ‘restore’ wouldn’t work. That time I actually had to ‘zero out’ the hard drive before the ‘restore’ worked like it should.