Broadband Tech > Security > Security > Proposed FAQ: Backups

Proposed FAQ: Backups

Great topic. I was "raised" on the "grandfather, father, son backup system.

I get close to tears when someone has a trashed out computer system and the best solution is "f/disk and start over with the OS," and they don't have backups of anything. The harddrive can "die" and have to be replaced. You can be one of those that thinks that a UPS is not important (definition: »www.pcwebopaedia.com/TERM/U/UPS.html) and then lightening strikes or the computer is hit with many power surges.

In addition to backups, I suggest the following:

1. Print out the licence numbers for software you own.

2. Print out your email address book, and make a new printout when you add/delete people.

3. If you have important information, i.e., you own a small business, then make more than one backup, of the same data, each time. CD's are getting "bad press," as the quantity of the media, and the storage method affects the longevity of CD's.
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*Team Z* Member
**PCQ&A Forum**

reply to keith2468
Thanks Marti. I've updated my original post to incorporate your suggestions.

Why not put a link to the Microsoft Forum FAQs on how to backup your system????

That way if someone is reading the Security FAQs they can then get further detailed info about how to backup their O/S.

Just a thought.:)
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Just my 2 bits.

reply to keith2468
Another option is to back your data up to another computer over the network. I back up my stuff with a simple Windows batch file, run on the computer to which the data is copied to. Something like this ...

rmdir /Q /S "x:\computername\foldername backup 2"
ren "x:\computername\foldername" "foldername backup 2"
mkdir "x:\computername\foldername"
echo Backing up some shiznit ...
xcopy /e /h "\\network machine\share\foldername" "x:\computername\foldername"

Takes an old backup of a folder, renames it, makes a new backup.

Yeah, it's ghetto, but it works and it's free (no backup media to buy).

edit: disclaimer: please don't use my shitty code for anything important - if the backup process fails twice, due to network issues or whatever, say goodbye to both backups.

reply to keith2468
Keith,

You might want to explain "grandfather, father, son" method of backups.

Some folks think they don't have anything important on the computer. Most of them are not thinking about email messages they want to save, their pictures (from the internet or digital camera), and utility programs that are "free" but no longer available.

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*Team Z* Member
**PCQ&A Forum**

reply to keith2468
A few things that you may or may not want to add:

1. backing up browser favorites (good for those of us who have half the internet bookmarked) and email messages (especially for POP3 users)

2. external hard drives that are sold bundled with backup software such as the:
- Western Digital Media Center
- Seagate External Drives
- Maxtor One Touch family

3. the difference between full and incremental backups

4. what RAID 1 and 5 can do for you, and what they can't

5. backup software aids for non-windows operating systems:
- Unix variants: tar/cpio, dump, rsync (Bill Stearns has a nice solution with his rsync-backup project if you don't want to roll your own)
- Mac OS X: Carbon Copy Cloner

reply to reaver221
Great suggestion, but many of us have one computer. Some of us can share one computer with our spouse and many share one computer with spouse and children or other family members. Not all of us can afford, or need, more than one computer system.

If you have a home network of computers backing up your important information to another computer is not the best solution. One computer, two computers, network, or large company, mother nature can wipe out your building (hurricanes, tornadoes, severe flooding, and even a leak in the roof above the computer). Homes and business buildings are destroyed by fires.
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*Team Z* Member
**PCQ&A Forum**

quote:

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Great suggestion, but many of us have one computer. Some of us can share one computer with our spouse and many share one computer with spouse and children or other family members. Not all of us can afford, or need, more than one computer system.

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quote:

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If you have a home network of computers backing up your important information to another computer is not the best solution.

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quote:

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One computer, two computers, network, or large company, mother nature can wipe out your building (hurricanes, tornadoes, severe flooding, and even a leak in the roof above the computer). Homes and business buildings are destroyed by fires.

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reply to marti

said by marti:

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If you have a home network of computers backing up your important information to another computer is not the best solution. One computer, two computers, network, or large company, mother nature can wipe out your building (hurricanes, tornadoes, severe flooding, and even a leak in the roof above the computer). Homes and business buildings are destroyed by fires.

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reply to keith2468
Nice idea for an FAQ.
You might want to add a little bit of anecdotal data:

I've dealt with recovering a system with failed hard disk when it has been backed up by MS windows and also when it has had the entire partition imaged by 3rd party software.
With 3rd party software, complete system restoration took about 45 minutes. With MS, even though it was supposed to be a complete backup, it wasn't and it took 6 hours.

When a hard drive fails, I really don't want to reinstall windows before 'restoring' my system from an MS backup, only to find that NAV and a few other programs won't work properly, so I have to uninstall and reinstall them, too!

For me, there is no question, I much prefer 45 minutes (with 3rd party software) to the 6 hour MS 'free' solution. I'm sold on doing complete disk images or partition images. In my case I use Norton GHOST 2003, which will do both NTFS and FAT32 partitions.

reply to keith2468
As usual, another great idea Keith. I realize your topic is backups in general, what do you think about linking to some of the popular imaging programs like TrueImage and Ghost, etc. These programs not only offer a good backup solution but also complete disaster recovery from hard drive failures.
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said by dp:

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what do you think about linking to some of the popular imaging programs like TrueImage and Ghost, etc. These programs not only offer a good backup solution but also complete disaster recovery from hard drive failures.

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reply to keith2468

said by keith2468:

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9. Periodically test that your backups are working. Make sure they are readable.

If you are using a special backup utility, periodically test to make sure that it can restore to another computer. (Sometimes they quietly stop working due to operating system or hardware upgrades.)

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said by astirusty:

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A person should actually test a complete restore to a wiped disk. I just got burned by some software that was not backing up all the Windows critical files. The software did give warnings on some files it could not backup, unfortunately it was not reporting it had missed several critical ones. I had previously tried a restore to a partially erased disk and it worked; the critical files were still in place.... A complete test is the only way to be sure.

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I have never used Norton Ghost and having nothing against it. With that said:

Regardless of the Backup/Restore program; I would still highly suggest doing at least one complete restore test. Besides making sure the program works, the backup sets are usable, you have all the software/tools you need; it also makes sure you know how to do a recovery - in the thick of things.

Two prior stories on backup/restore failures:

I have seen an Image restore problem using a professional program (competitor to Norton Ghost) that was caused by the fact the image was perfect (of all things).
Windows XP would nearly boot to the Login prompt and then go no further. The problem turned out to be the fact Windows XP was checking the disk header on the drive and since it matched another disk's header, XP would not startup. The solution was to use an old MS-Dos boot floppy and do a fdisk /mbr to create a new disk header on the restored drive. (Very few people keep one of those around.)

I have also seen a totally different backup program, backup all the data, then successfully verify the data was backed up correctly. Unfortunately this program didn't put the backup catalog on the backup media or on the system drive. Instead it kept it cached. On reboot the backup was worthless (the catalog could not be recreated). BTW: From testing it seemed that the catalog caching problem was a random problem.

reply to keith2468
I'm looking for more feedback.
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Backups are essential in case the hard drive in your computer malfunctions, your computer is stolen, a virus clears your computer's hard drive, or the building your computer is in is destroyed by fire or flood.

A backup from one computer to another in the same building will protect data against a disk drive malfunction, and it will do it in a way where the data can be very quickly searched and restored. However, such backs won't protect data from being destroyed if a virus gets in the network or the building burns down.

What you should back up and need to backup depends on your individual needs, your business needs, how hard it would be to recreate and re-enter the data, and possibly other factors like customer service or legal concerns.

1. You don't have to backup your entire computer, but you should backup critical hard-to-replace data. This might include:
- address books
- Email
- Calendars and schedules
- Documents
- Project work and project data
- Databases
- Freeware installation programs that are no longer available
- Web browser favorites
- Digital photos
- Settings

2. As well as backups of data from your system, you should have backup copies of the disks and CDs you need to restore your system.

Write the license or registration numbers of your software in onsite and offsite notebooks, or use a fine soft-tip pen to write them on the product and backup CDs.

3. At least one copy of your backups should be stored onsite and at least one copy of your backups should be stored offsite.

The onsite copy facilitates rapid restoration in the event of problems.

The offsite copy should be stored where it won't be subject to the same fire or flood as the onsite copy.

As a minimum for a home you might use a son-father-grandfather system. Using this you always have at least one copy of the backup onsite, one copy offsite, and the third copy is in transit or at either location.

Depending on individual circumstances, quite a few generations of backups may be necessary to meet business and legal needs.

4. A full backup is a backup of everything. An incremental backup is a backup of only those things that are new or have changed since the last backup.

Depending on needs, one might do daily incremental backups, and weekly full backups.

5. The duration that you keep (retain) long-term backups may be dictated by legal or accounting guidelines. If you are a business or institution, it is best to check with your accountant and lawyer.

A common practice for mid-sized and large companies is to daily backups that are retained for 1-2 weeks, weekly backups that are retained for a month, and monthly backups that are retained for a 16 months (longer than a year in case year-end balancing problems turn up late).

Frequent short-term backups primarily protect against accidental corruption and deletion.

Long-term backups serve 2 purposes:
(a) in case seldom used files become corrupted and that corruption is not noticed for a long period of time,
(b) in case of legal or accounting difficulty, as an archive of short-lived files to later document discussions, transactions or work.

6. Backups can be kept on diskette, CD, DVD, tape, a second computer, or offsite file server.

- For tape backups to last longer than 12 months, the tapes have to be kept at a steady temperature and re-tensioned (run to the end and rewound) at intervals no greater than every 12 months.

A backup on an offsite fileserver should never be the only backup. There should also be an onsite backup.

A backup on another onsite computer should never be the only backup. There should also be an offsite backup.

7. Backups of sensitive information should be secure. Backups can be encrypted, but backups should still be protected against theft and damage.

Backups for a small business might be store in the owner's home, a relative's home, accountant's office, or bank.

Backups for a home might be kept in the homeowner's bottom drawer at work.

8. Backups can be made:

8.1 By inserting the CD or diskette into the drive, and using Windows Explorer to drag and drop files onto it.

8.2 Using Start / All Programs / Accessories / System Tools / Backup.

8.3 Using a .bat file such as:

rmdir /Q /S "x:\computername\foldername backup 2"
ren "x:\computername\foldername" "foldername backup 2"
mkdir "x:\computername\foldername"
echo Backup now starting …
xcopy /e /h "\\network machine\share\foldername" "x:\computername\foldername"


8.3 A utility such as Norton Ghost or TrueImage.

These utilities have the advantage that you can generally backup and restore an entire hard drive, without having to individually re-install any programs. They can save considerable time in getting backup and running in an emergency.

For Mac OS, Carbon Copy Cloner.

For *ix, rsync-backup.

Backup software comes included with many external hard drives. But keep in mind, if the building the computer and external hard drive are in is destroyed by fire, both the original copy of the data on the computer and the backup copy on the external hard drive will be destroyed at the same time. The loss of both the original copy and backup can also happen if a hard-drive destroying virus strikes while the external hard drive is connected, or if there is a lightening strike or severe power surge.

9. Periodically test that your backups are working. Make sure they are readable.

If you are using a special backup utility, periodically test to make sure that it can restore to another computer. (Sometimes they quietly stop working due to operating system or hardware upgrades. If you are saving an old computer for emergency use for restoring the backups to, ensure that it is upgraded to have a sufficiently large hard drive.)
- Test by restoring your backup to a computer that has a wiped or formatted hard drive.
- Then make sure that all the programs still work and can still update the address books, files, and so on.
- If you are a small company using a consultant, witness the backup and restoration process to see that it works, and that it works in a timely manner that meets your business needs.

10. RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) is a way of spreading data across multiple disks, encoded in a way that if any one disk drive fails, that disk drive can be replaced and the data on it can be re-generated from what was stored on the remaining disk drives.

It suffers the same restricted benefits as backing up to an external hard drive at the same location. It only provides protection against electrical failures of a single hard drive.

*** If you are a company that depends on computers for its continued operation, you should seek the assistance of an IT professional in evaluating your needs and seeing that they are met.

Additional info:
http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-6264-1032933.html
http%2a//www.website-promotion-ranking-services.com/comp/article_85.shtml" >www.website-promotion-ranking-se···85.shtml
http://www.taobackup.com/

Easy Backups With WinZip and Freeware
BBR Microsoft Application Tips and Tweaks
BBR Windows XP FAQ

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(Virus&Hijacking FAQ+Submit suspected malware+Security FAQ)

reply to keith2468
Hi keith2468 , really good job, as always! You have already covered some of this, but couple points for consideration:

1) To show the economic importance of these procedures, you might add an explanation like: "The risk is huge. What part of your business requires computers to function effectively? How much would it cost your business to be effectively shut down (with expenses continuing) for a half a day, or one day, or one week or longer in both short and long term losses."

2) If any part of the back-up process is not extremely common (i.e. back-up software, hardware, medium) having duplicates of these needed parts of the restoration process available on _and_ off-site (in severe weather regions, including out-of-state) may be key.

What is common today, generally becomes less and less so over time. A policy of insuring both the viability, and the usability of data, through testing and transfers to more current media when needed, should be established.

Each media has some finite life span (known or unknown), under the best of conditions, which not always the norm.

3) Don't know how the experts feel about data protection services (Vaults...), but that may come in handy. There is some added risk of disclosure.

4) Care in storage, especially for magnetic media: Climate control (temperature, humidity, electro-magnetic...).

If you are in SE Florida, on the ground floor, choose the _second_ drawer from the bottom, but not too close to the Monitor, UPS, Power supplies, speakers (shielded or not), cell phone, microwave, telephone, TV, electric tooth brush, exposed south facing window, (or smelter )

[edit: clarity]

reply to keith2468
I've published the FAQ here:
»Security »What should I do about backups? / How do I back up my hard drive?

I'm still looking for more feedback.

reply to keith2468
Excellent topic. I use Powerquest Drive Image and then write copies to a DVD. I've taken the whole thing one step further by using Drive Copy to copy my entire hard drive to another hard drive and then moved the second drive off site. This has gotten me back up and running as quickly as I retrieved the drive and put it back in the computer. I had a relatively new HD fail without warning and this gave me a window to get another new drive without a lot of downtime. I still had to replace updated data from CD or DVD but it was a minor inconvenience instead of a panic.

It should be mentioned that any major hardware upgrades may make a full system restore unusable from an older backup. If you change a major component, the system may not boot from a restored backup.