How to back up hard drive
Level of difficulty: Easy
Do you want to backup your hard drive? Here are some easy steps to guide you. It is not possible to simply copy all the files as was possible in earlier times of MSDOS. In modern systems like Windows, the programs may use your hard disk even when you are not accessing it. It may edit, change files or lock them preventing access. The backing up of data files is necessary. But, merely backing up is not sufficient. If a copy of your backup drive is saved and the system crashes, it will be difficult to retrieve those data.
Materials Needed:- software needed to carry out the access method
- hi-speed internet service
- DSL and static IP address.
Step 1
If there is only one hard disk in your system, you will need a USB hard disk which can store the backups. It would be good if the drive is used for backups only. Or else, there is chance of it getting corrupted, infected or accidentally deleted. Plug in the USB drive while you are storing backups. Unplug it as you finish and when you are normally using the system. Instead of using USB, if you use DVD or CD for backup, the process will be a little unreliable as well as tiring. If you have lots of things stored in the hard disk, it will need a number of CDs to backup. The process of burning CD/DVD is slow. It may kill hours. If the CDs or DVDs get corrupted during the process, you will lose data. Even if there is a power cut while you are storing data in your CD or DVD, you may lose backups. The CD/DVD can no longer be used in this case. It is recommended that you make a backup whenever you store some vital things in the computer. Or else, if your system gets infected, you may lose important data.
Step 2
The software that performs complete backup of the computer is often referred as hard disk imaging program. It captures the pictures of the hard disk when you used it. While restoring the system, this will help in showing the exact state of the hard disk at the time of the backup. There are various programs to help you out with the process. Some of them are free while some should be purchased.
Step 3
One of the popular programs is, Acronis True Image. Many of the users prefer this for it’s easy to use graphical interface. The backup of this program may be stored into hard disks, CDs/DVDs and network drives.