Back up your data

Even computer novices know that files should be saved so they aren't lost and can easily be found when needed. But if you don't back up your files as well, all that time you spent saving isn't going to help you find anything if—and when—your computer decides to go on strike.

In this article, I'll explain the basics of backups and show you how to use the Backup and Restore feature in Windows 7 and in Windows Vista. You'll also learn how to back up Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 e-mail so that even if your hard drive crashes suddenly, you've still got access to the e-mail you need. Creating and implementing a backup plan now will save a lot of frustration in the future.

Why backups are important

Files can be lost from your computer in any number of ways—you might accidentally delete a file, or a virus might wipe one out. You can also have a complete hard drive failure. When a hard drive dies an untimely death, it's kind of like having your house burn down. Important personal items are usually gone forever—family photos, significant documents, downloaded music, and more.

Thankfully it's a really simple process these days to back up your content to a second, separate location. By doing so, your files are protected against viruses or complete computer failure. That makes it easy to retrieve and place them on a new hard drive and get going again.

Today, there are many options for backing up your content. You don't need any sophisticated equipment—you can use CDs, DVD's, external hard drives, flash drives, network drives, or even online services. It really depends on what works best for your lifestyle. The most important thing is to perform backups on a regular basis so that the most current files are always available should you need them.

Windows Backup and Restore

Windows comes with a very cool feature called Backup and Restore, which has been improved for Windows 7. To open Backup and Restore in Windows 7, type Backup into the Search box and click the item in the results list. In Windows Vista, click the Start button, and you should see Backup and Restore Center in the menu. Just type the phrase into the Searchbox and click the item from the results to open it.

What makes the Backup and Restore feature so cool is that it simplifies the entire backup process for you. With easy-to-follow steps and prompts, you can decide whether to back up specific files or your entire computer. It's a good idea to at least back up your entire computer when you first set it up; this option captures everything from files to software programs to system settings. If your computer ever stops working completely, you can potentially restore it using the initial entire computer backup.

The rest of the time, you'll just want to back up files that you work with regularly.

Back up your files in Windows 7

1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.

2. Do one of the following:

   • If you've never used Windows Backup before, click Set up backup, and then follow the steps in the wizard.  If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

   • If you've created a backup before, you can wait for your regularly scheduled backup to occur, or you can manually create a new backup by clicking Back up now.  If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Notes:

• We recommend that you don't back up your files to the same hard disk that Windows is installed on.

• Always store media used for backups (external hard disks, DVDs, or CDs) in a secure place to prevent unauthorized people from having access to your files—we recommend a fireproof location separate from your computer. You might also consider encrypting the data on your backup.

To create a new, full backup

After you create your first backup, Windows Backup will add new or changed information to your subsequent backups. If you're saving your backups on a hard drive or network location, Windows Backup will create a new, full backup for you automatically when needed. If you're saving your backups on CDs or DVDs and can't find an existing backup disc, or if you want to create a new backup of all of the files on your computer, you can create a full backup. Here's how to create a full backup:

1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.

2. In the left pane, click Create new, full backup.

   Note:

   You will only see this option if your backup is being saved on CDs or DVDs.

To set up a backup after upgrading from a previous version of Windows

After you upgrade Windows, you will need to set up Windows Backup, even if you had a scheduled backup in the previous version of Windows. This is because there are several changes to the backup program. Instead of selecting file types to back up, you can have Windows back up data files saved in libraries, on the desktop, and in default Windows folders, or you can choose specific libraries and folders to be backed up. You can also create a system image of your computer.
For more information, see How does Windows choose which files to back up?

To set up your backup, follow these steps:

1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.

2. Click Set up backup, and then follow the steps in the wizard.  If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Back up your files in Windows Vista

To make sure you don't lose the files that you create, modify, and store on your computer, you should back them up regularly. You can manually back up your files any time or set up automatic backups.

Note:

The ability to set up automatic backups is not included in Windows Vista Starter and Windows Vista Home Basic.

1. Open Backup and Restore Center by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore Center.

2. Click Back up files, and then follow the steps in the wizard.  If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Notes:

• Do not back up files to the same hard disk that Windows is installed on. For example, do not back up files to a recovery partition.

• Always store media used for backups (external hard disks, DVDs, or CDs) in a secure place to prevent unauthorized people from having access to your files; a fireproof location separate from your computer is recommended. You might also consider encrypting the data on your backup.

The first time you create a backup, it might take a while depending on the number of items you need to back up. After that, backups should be quicker.

Restore files from a backup in Winmdows 7

You can restore backed-up versions of files that are lost, damaged, or changed accidentally. You also restore individual files, groups of files, or all of the files that you've backed up.

1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.

2. Do one of the following:

   • To restore your files, click Restore my files.

   • To restore the files of all users, click Restore all users' files.  If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

3. Do one of the following:

• To browse the contents of the backup, click Browse for files or Browse for folders.

  When you're browsing for folders, you won't be able to see the individual files in a folder. To view individual files, use the Browse for files option.

• To search the contents of the backup, click Search, type all or part of a file name, and then click Search.

Tips

• If you're searching for files or folders associated with a specific user account, you can improve search results by typing the location of the file or folder in the Search for box. For example, to search for all JPG files that were backed up, type JPG in the Search for box. To only search for JPG files associated with the user Bill, type C:\Users\Bill\JPG in the Search for box.

• You can use wildcard characters such as *.jpg to search for all JPG files that were backed up.

To restore a backup made on another computer

You can restore files from a backup that was created on another computer running Windows Vista or Windows 7.

1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.

2. Click Select another backup to restore files from, and then follow the steps in the wizard.  If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

To find files that were restored from a backup made on another computer

If you're restoring files from a backup that was made on another computer, the files will be restored in a folder under the user name that was used to create the backup. If the user names are different, you'll need to navigate to the folder where the files are restored. For example, if your user name was Molly on the computer that the backup was made on but your user name is MollyC on the computer that the backup is being restored on, the restored files will be saved in a folder labelled Molly. You can find the restored files by following these steps:

1. Open Computer by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Computer.

2. Double-click the icon of the drive that the files are saved on, for example C:\.

3. Double-click the Users folder.

   You will see a folder for each user account.

4. Double-click the folder for the user name that was used to create the backup.

   The restored files will be in the various folders based on where they were located originally.

To restore files from a file backup after restoring your computer from a system image backup

After you restore your computer from a system image backup, there might be newer versions of some of your files in a file backup that you want to restore. Because you've reverted your computer to the state that it was in at the time the system image backup was created, Windows Backup won't show any file backups in the Restore Files wizard that were created after the system image backup was created. To restore files from a file backup that was created after the system image backup was created, follow these steps:

1. Open Backup and Restore by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore.

2. Click Select another backup to restore files from.  If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

3. In the Backup Period, select the date range of the backup that contains the files that you want to restore, and then follow the steps in the wizard.

Article by: S.E. Slack