Backing Up Your Data

Like any other electronic/mechanical device, the hard drive in your computer can fail at any time. Therefore, it is important to make backup copies of your important files on a regular basis. For most users once a week is sufficient. The files should be saved on removable media (such as a CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, flash drive, external hard drive, or zip disk) and stored in a safe place.

The first question you should ask yourself is “What should I backup?” Backing up the entire hard drive is time-consuming, not practical, and should not be done. A backup of specific data files is far more efficient. In Windows, there are four general categories of data that should be backed up. These are documents, e-mail, Internet links, and data associated with specific programs.

Documents may include documents, spreadsheets, databases, and presentations (such as Power Point presentations). For the sake of convenience, it is recommended that all documents be stored in the My Documents folder. You may, however, have documents in other locations. It is important to know where you have stored documents so that they are easy to locate/backup.

E-mail data may be stored in one of a couple of ways depending on the e-mail program you are using. The recommended and most frequently used e-mail program on our campus is Eudora. The data is usually located in the C:\Program Files\Qualcomm\Eudora folder. If you have trouble locating this folder or use a different email client (such as Outlook), contact IIT.

If you use Internet Explorer, backing up your saved internet links means locating your Favorites. To locate your Favorites in Windows 2000, double click My Computer, double click Local Disk (C:), double click Documents and Settings, double click user name (this will be your login name). The Favorites folder is located here.

Some programs may save your data and settings in other locations on your hard drive. Examples of these type programs are SPSS, SAS, etc. If you are unsure where these files are located, contact IIT for directions on locating and backing up data from other programs.

The second question you should ask yourself is “How do I want to backup my data?” Typically, backups are stored on some type of removable media – a writeable CD or DVD, flash drive, external hard drive, zip disk. If you do not have any of these devices, you may contact IIT for recommendations of a type of media that should suit your needs.

When choosing media for your backup, keep in mind that you need enough space on the media to hold all of the data you wish to back up. Once you have determined what files you need to back up, you should get a general idea of how much space those files take up. To see how much hard drive space a file or folder is using, right-click on it and select “Properties…” The “Size” (not the “Size on disk”) attribute on the properties window will tell you how much hard drive space the file or folder takes up.

Once you have determined how much space you need, chose your backup media appropriately, keeping in mind that your space requirement may grow as you accumulate more email or files.

• A writable CD can hold 700 MB (or about 0.7 GB).
• A writable DVD can hold between 4.7 GB (or about 4,700 MB) and 9.4 GB (or about 9,400 MB) depending on which type you buy. Be sure to buy disks that will work with your drive -- if you have questions, contact IIT for help.
• Flash drives are variable in size -- up to 16 GB (or about 16,000 MB)
• External hard drives are also variable in size, and may be able to hold as much as (or more than) the hard drive inside your computer.

Regardless of which method you choose, the instructions to back up your data are the same:

1. Open up “My Computer” and plug in / insert your backup media - In the case of a CD or DVD, there should be an icon for your “CD-R” or “DVD-R” drive in the window under “Devices with removable storage” before you insert your media. If you’re using a flash drive or external hard drive, a new icon will appear either under “Devices with removable storage” or “Hard disk drives”. Double click on that icon and leave the window open as you follow through the next few steps.
2. Find the files or folders you wish to back up and copy them - Once you’ve found a file or folder you wish to copy, right click on it and select “Copy”. You do not need to copy everything at once, as you may come back to this step later for other files or folders.
3. Paste the file or folder into your backup media - Go back to the window you opened in step 1, right click inside the window and select “Paste”. A progress window will pop up which will tell you how much has been copied and how much longer it should take to copy your files. It is possible during this step that a window may pop up saying that certain files or folders already exist in the destination folder. If this happens, click “Yes to all” (to confirm replacement of the files) or “Overwrite all”.
4. Copy and paste other files or folders you wish to back up - If you wish to back up any other files or folders, repeat steps 2-3 for each one.
5. Safely remove your backup media - If you are using a writable CD or DVD, open up “My Computer”, then right-click on your backup media and select “Write these files to the disk”. A wizard will pop up and walk you through the process of burning your files onto the disk, then the disk will eject. If you are using a flash drive or external hard drive, double click the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon () in the bottom left of your computer screen, select “USB Mass Storage Device”, click “Stop”, select your backup media, and click “OK”. A dialog box will pop up saying it is “safe to remove your hardware”. Close the dialog box, unplug your backup media, and close the “Safely Remove Hardware” wizard.
6. Store your media in a safe place until you need it again - It is recommended that you keep your backup media in a separate place from your computer. If the data on your backups is sensitive or classified, or very important, you may want to secure it in a separate building or at the very least a separate room from your computer.