Data Backup Software and Service

The article aims to give a step-by-step instruction about how to use the Backup utility built in the Windows Server 2003.
Backing up the Server
There are several ways for Server users to back up their files. You can manually back up data, use the Windows built-in backup utility or use the third party Backup software, among which some are free, such as Autobackup, SyncBack, EASEUS Disk Copy. Windows Backup utility’s features and functions may be not comparable with the third party software, but indeed its compatibility is unparalleled. Steps of backing up files in Windows Server 2003 with backup utility are as the following:

First of all, you must be logged on as a member of the Administrators group or the Backup Operators group.
To Back Up Selected Files or Folders
1 Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup. The Backup or Restore Wizard starts.
2 Click Advanced Mode.
3 Click the Backup tab.
4 On the Job menu, click New.
5 Expand the drive or folder that contains the items that you want to back up. Click to select the check boxes next to the files, folders, or drives that you want to back up.
6 In the Backup destination box, specify the destination for the new job. To do so, do one of the following:
If you want to back up files and folders to a file, click File.
If you want to back up to tape, click a tape device.
NOTE: If a tape device is not connected to your computer, File is the only backup media type that is available in the Backup destination box.
7 In the Backup media or file name box, do one of the following:
If you are backing up to a file, specify a path and file name for the backup (.bkf) file. Or, click Browse, specify a file name and location where you want to save the file, and then click Save.
If you are backing up to tape, click the tape that you want to use.
8 On the Tools menu, click Options. Specify any additional backup options that you want on the appropriate tabs of the Options page. Click OK.
9 Click Start Backup.
10 If you want to set advanced backup options, such as data verification or hardware compressions, click Advanced. Specify the options that you want, and then click OK.
11 Review the settings on the Backup Job Information page. Specify whether you want this backup to replace the information that is already present on the destination media, or add this backup to the existing information.
12 Click Start Backup.

Most of people cannot live without computer. Your computer, apart from being a machine that has made life so much easier and lets you do almost everything you can imagine, is also a big box containing lots and lots of one thing - data. Computer is the bed for data. Just be nice with it to keep your data there or it will make your life or work into disasters.

For the most part, this data is safe until your computer crashes. If you haven't backed up, your data is gone! This situation is so common that the art of the 'backup' has spawned an entire industry. Today there are dozens of firms offering different data backup solutions.

There are 4 important data back up strategies for Windows users, most of them being almost the same for Mac users except for the change in the software type. Check them out and start backing up.

Back up Offline Files on your computer
Offline files and folders are stored on your computer; you know the files that are available to you when you're no online. Use an external storage device to back up them. Such drives are plug and play and very easy to use. Another smart way is to back them up online, such as Google Documents. You may upload your files there as a backup.

You may also choose back up software, there are many. There is a free tool called AceBackup for this purpose. There's one more tool which I came across known as IdleBackup. It's an excellent tool which is free and automatically backs up files while you're away from your computer. LifeHacker has a detailed description about the entire process and how it works.

Back Up Browser Preferences
Your browser is your gateway to the internet. It stores data which includes your bookmarks and passwords and many other customized settings which should be backed up. If you are using Internet Explorer then you can export your bookmarks and save them to the external drive. Regarding the passwords, there are some paid tools to export and store IE passwords.

For Firefox users, there is much more data, like the extensions and preferences. Fortunately, the backup is not that tough. Check out this post - 3 Useful Methods to Back Up Your Firefox Preferences. My personal favorite is the FEBE extension which backs up everything with a single click. I used to restore all my Firefox preferences easily, after reinstalling Windows.

Back Up Emails
Now emails are as important as any other data and they need to be backed up. If you are using any web based email account, a separate Gmail account can function as an online email backup center for those accounts. You can go ahead and set up the Gmail mail fetcher for the purpose.

If you are using desktop email app like Outlook, you can export and backup the emails using the Import and Export Wizard. You could even export and backup emails from Outlook to Gmail online.

Sync Tools
We have discussed how to backup your data, however if you don't organize and sync the data in your computer and the external storage device then that's work half done. You need to setup tools which would also sync the data between the devices. IdleBackup, which I've mentioned above does incremental back ups which means it only backs up those files which have changed. So in a way it takes care of the sync task.

Other good tools which let you sync data between two locations are SyncbackSE and the free tool, Microsoft SyncToy. SyncbackSE comes with a free trial and is probably the best backup and sync tool available. It also offers a free version called Syncback Freeware which is a pretty awesome tool too.

Hope you like the backup strategies mentioned and make use of them to back up your data everyday.

Backup should be essential to those who spend a lot of time on computer or use the computer for storing important personal or business dealings. By backing up, if your computer crashes or has virus infection, you can still get your files back easily on backup disks or other safe places where you choose to back up your data.
Backup software is important for every user, since computers are so unpredictable, you may never know what will happen to your personal files. There are so many backup software choices for users. Here I will recommend several free ones for you.

EASEUS Todo Backup

Are your system, photos, music and financial data protected? EASEUS Todo Backup is potent FREE backup software providing system backup & restore, hard disk or partition backup & restore, disk clone to protect your system and disk. It can back up whole PC, including the operating system plus your data, applications, settings and everything!

Meanwhile, EASEUS Todo Backup is useful if you want to replace the older smaller hard disk by a newer larger hard disk without reinstalling the operating system and applications once again.

EASEUS Disk Copy

EASEUS Disk Copy is free software, which can create an exact (Mirror Image, Disk to Disk) copy of your old disk, including the operating system, applications, personal preferences, custom settings, and all of your vital data. Disk Copy can be used for backup, cloning, or upgrading your original small hard drive to a new larger drive. It will offer you a rapid and simple method to copy all or part of a hard drive to another hard drive.

SyncBack

Easily backup, synchronize, or restore your files to another drive, FTP server, ZIP file, networked drive, or removable media. Highly configurable, SyncBack includes: detailed, easy to read log files; email results; simulated backups and restore; file filters; sub-directory selection; copy verification; background backups; auto-close of programs; easy and expert modes; profile groups; compare files, and an extensive context sensitive help file.

AutoBackup

Autobackup is an excel auto-save replacement, tailored for those who find auto-save inadequate for their needs. Unlike auto-save, auto-backup will never prompt you to save files, or replace your original files without asking. Instead it will automatically save your files to a folder specified by you, at a time interval you define. You will also be able to define how many backup copies you want to keep.

TaskZip

TaskZip is a great little backup tool which runs as a system agent. It will automatically archive specified files and folders into a single ZIP file (although ZIP-64 is not supported so don't try to backup huge folders). TaskZIP also allows you to password protect the ZIP file archives. And although TaskZIP has no restoration features, it stores archives as standard ZIP files. Backing up with TaskZIP is fairly easy if a bit kludgy (hey, it's free!). Just set up one or more "Backup Jobs" and let it run quietly in the background. The program's scheduler can run backups at any time, and you can set recurring schedules for running daily, weekly, or monthly backups.

Comparator

Comparator provides folder mirroring and data synchronization (again similar to Windows briefcase) optimized for use on a single computer (not across a slow network). Comparator has strong data backup and data restoration features but it requires quite a bit of user interaction (which might be a good thing if you have complex backup tasks.)
Comparator uses a two-panel comparison display to allow you to quickly and easily see where changes to files have been made. This allows for quick custom backups in case you do not want to backup all files every time. You won't need to open two Explorer windows to make painstaking comparisons but you'll still have the Windows system menu available to you by right-clicking a file.

Lou Backup

Lou Backup is an extra-ordinarily simple backup tool intended for backing up Visual C source code files -- but also quite useful for backing up any collection of folders. Supporting multiple projects, directory and folder exclusion and backing up of only modified files, Lou Backup can manage multiple "projects" simultaneously which works nicely if you want to manage multiple backups on a single computer.

Backup all your data into one disc! Can you imagine that? Now, it comes true, because of the development of Blu-Ray Disc.

Blu-ray Disc (also known as Blu-ray or BD) is an optical disc storage media format. Its main uses are high-definition video and data storage. The disc has the same physical dimensions as a standard DVD or CD.

The name Blu-ray Disc is derived from the blue laser (violet colored) used to read and write this type of disc. Because of its shorter wavelength (405 nm), substantially more data can be stored on a Blu-ray Disc than on the DVD format, which uses a red (650 nm) laser. A dual layer Blu-ray Disc can store 50 GB, almost six times the capacity of a double-dual layer DVD (or more than 10 times if single-layer).