Protect Yourself Before Your Hard Drive Crashes

Almost everyone who has used a computer has experienced a hard drive problem at some point. Are you prepared to lose your data? If your hard drive crashes right now, do you have an action plan to follow?

Most people get complacent about protecting the data on their computers. The time to back up your data is before you experience a problem. Don't set yourself up for a disaster if your computer hard drive crashes.

Your data integrity action plan should consist of the following:

1) How often you will back up your data

2) What data you will back up

3) What back up procedure you will use

How often you back up your data can only be determined by how important you feel it is. Answer this question, "If my hard drive crashed right now, would I be alright if I had the data from at least (time) ago?" For some people, a daily backup is required while for others it may be weekly depending on how often you create important data files.

Of course you would want everything but if you could have the data from 1 month, or 6 months ago would that be sufficient? Whatever time is sufficient, mark it on your calendar and set up a reminder on your PC to help you remember. Another idea is to use an automatic backup program where you can set up specific times for the backup program to run.

Should I back up my entire hard drive?

What data you back up depends on how you use your PC. Some of the key directories, if you are using the Windows operating system, are the My Documents, Favorites, Program Files, and Desktop directories.

Remember if you are using multiple profiles on your PC then some of the directories above can be different for each profile and each one would need to be backed up.

You will also want to include your email data. Don't forget to write down the email accounts you have. You should also write down any username and passwords so they are not lost. You should look at every directory to see if it has information that you would need.

Make a list of all the software programs you are using. If you have the physical CDs put them all together in a safe location.Don't forget the CDs for your peripherals like your scanner, digital camera, PDA etc?

Collecting these CDs may remind you of additional data that you need to back up.

If you are running software that you installed from downloaded files, burn them to a CD-R and add it to your collection. If you use a CD-R or DVD-R you can update it as you download and install new applications.

How should I back up my data?

What procedure you use to back up your data can be determined by the amount of data you want to back up. Your data might fit onto a CD or DVD in which case you just need to burn it and you're done.

If it spans multiple DVDs then you might want to consider getting a second hard drive to copy your data onto. If you are not comfortable with adding a second internal hard drive or you are using a laptop then you can purchase an external hard drive to back up your data. An external hard drive that uses USB 2.0 is a very convenient way to back up yoru data. You just have to plug in the drive to the USB port of your computer and you're ready to go.

The information you have on your hard drive could disappear in a flash. If you don't want to spend thousands of dollars to have a data recovery company retrieve what information they can from your hard drive, then take a few minutes right now and create your back up action plan.

If you ever have a data emergency your action plan will be your insurance policy. If you adhere to it, your valuable data will adhere to you!

Jim Scotty maintains a website with the latest news updates on data recovery and protection. This article may be reprinted provided that it is reproduced in its entirety and with the hyperlink and author information kept intact.

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Data Recovery Information:

Related Articles

3 Ways Computers Can Hurt Your Ministry - Part 1 - Ineffective Data Backups
Our computers have become almost indispensable ministry tools. What would you do if the worst happened and you had to function without your computers? Would your ministry survive?This article is the first in a 3-part series on how to protect your ministry from serious computer-related loss.
How To Use Spyware Elimination Software
Spyware elimination software is designed to detect andeliminate spyware. A large number of spyware eliminationsoftware products are available.
The Importance Of Email Backup
Viruses, software failures, power failures, human errors, hard drive failures are only a few examples of what could destroy the data on a hard drive, including all documents, pictures, emails and other files!Most home computer users don't need an expensive backup solution; as they only need to burn the folders with important documents and pictures to a CD-RW from time to time; this ensuring that in case of a disaster they can easily get them back. Togeder with documents and pictures, it's a critical operation to save the emails, attachments, address book and other important data from within the email client; otherwise in case of a computer problem the user will find himself in the impossibility to get them back, and this can be a really unwanted situation especially for webmasters or people who rely on their emails.
Disaster Recovery- Managing the Risk
Helping your business survive in the event of an unforeseen disaster: Most business failures are not from bad business but from bad business practices.Most companies that fail are the ones that have not planned how their business will continue to function in the event of a disaster.
Data Backups - One Key to Business Survival
Your customer data is a precious resource that can literally be worth its weight in gold! If used properly, it can be mined over and over for additional sales and referrals. Do you use this gold mine to increase the profitability of your business?You should! It can mean the difference between business survival and failure.
When Disaster Strikes: How Long Would Your Business Survive if Files On Your Computer Disappeared?
A Tornado? In Birmingham? In The United Kingdom? Unthinkable!Yes, in July 2005 (while I was putting finishing touches to my cave-house in Spain) my house, along with many of my neighbours' houses was struck by a powerful tornado that literally tore up the streets. Leaving people homeless as their homes were bulldozered (with all their possessions inside).
Computer Data Backup - Data Backup Solution Will Give You A Peace Of Mind
Imagine that you have been working on a file for the entire day and there was a power surge that caused your computer to 'black out'. It would have been a frustrating experience for us as we had put in a lot of time and effort into it.
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery - Selecting A Business Continuity Strategy
The risk analysis and business impact analysis have identified risks to key business functions. Also, the potential impacts and probabilities of these risks as well as the costs to prevent or mitigate damages and the time to recover will have been established.
Its All In The Planning - Surviving Disaster
ITS ALL IN THE PLANNING - PREPARING FOR THE UNTHINKABLE* Make it clear who needs to do what, and who takes responsibility for what.* Appoint deputies for key roles.
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery - Business Impact Analysis
Business impact analysis is a critical part of the business continuity planning process. This step quantifies data and gets into the real world issue of potential losses that can negatively impact your business.
Avoiding Hard Disk Data Recovery Services
As a home computer owner, one of the greatest threats to yourinformation and to your wallet, is hard disk failure. When yourdrive crashes, you will quicky realize how valuable theinformation you can no longer access is.
Data Backup for Beginners
It's 10pm. Do you know where your data is?Data.
Big Time Disaster Recovery Solutions Available for the Little Guy
There was a time - not too long ago - that Data Disaster Recovery solutions were available only in the domain of multinational corporations and big business in general. However, with the proliferation of high speed internet access and the ability to store large amounts of data in a much more cost effective manner due to plummeting storage costs, the ability to perform a secure backup of data to a remote location engineered specifically for the purpose of securely storing massive amounts of information is now in the reach of the general public.
Learn How To Make Data Backup Over The Internet!
Why should you backup your data on the Internet?There are several reasons.* The backup is located at a secure place for away from your computer.
How to Effectively Back Up Your Data
What to backup, and what to loseThe oldest "computer expression" is that there are two kinds of computer users, those that backup their data and those that will. Often, it takes a "data disaster" to compel otherwise responsible people to make a regular habit of backing up their data.
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery - A Business Not a Technology Issue
Hackers, hurricanes, fires, flooding, power outages, denial of service attacks, application failures, employee error, sabotage and now terrorism are helping companies to focus on the necessity of a business continuity plan.Through the late 1990s as companies prepared for Y2K, many IT executives, risk managers, CFOs and corporate managers realized that recovering computing systems, networks and data was not enough.
Do You Have The One Key Ingredient Necessary For Disaster Recovery?
It is not rocket science, we all know that we should have a disaster recovery plan in place for our business regardless of its size. When disaster strikes, it seldom discriminates on the size of the company.
Do I Really Need To Backup?
Okay, computers a machine, right? Okay, maybe not yours. Youhave this special relationship, but that a subject foranother article.
Data Backup Solution: Why You Need a Backup Plan in Place - Part 2
In the first part of this article series, I talked about the three main threats to the data on your computer. I talked about the need for a data backup solution that protects your data properly.
Protect Yourself Before Your Hard Drive Crashes
Almost everyone who has used a computer has experienced a hard drive problem at some point. Are you prepared to lose your data? If your hard drive crashes right now, do you have an action plan to follow?Most people get complacent about protecting the data on their computers.