I know I need to back up my files, since someday the hard drive will crash and I will be seriously out of luck. I’ve heard that Windows XP will automatically make exact copies of the data on the main hard drive if a second internal hard drive can be installed. What are your thoughts on this approach?
-Bob Wolfe, Kalamazoo, Mich.
A. You asked for my thoughts, Mr. W., so please bear with me while I set the scene and then express some misgivings about the Windows tool you are looking for. Windows XP does, indeed, include a backup module that will make compressed copies of all the files on the main hard drive and then store them on a second hard drive – either an internal drive bolted into the computer’s case or an external drive plugged into one of the PC’s ports.
You can check this out by clicking on Start and then All Programs, then opening the Accessories item holding the various Windows components. In Accessories, select System Tools and then Backup. This pops up a wizard to walk a user through the process of making backups.
To investigate, you should look for a link called Advanced in the first wizard screen. This lets users select just a few folders for backing up and then restoring rather than consuming a large amount of time having the computer back up everything on the drive.
While automatic backups sound extremely useful, there can be unanticipated woes if one isn’t forewarned. There is a real danger of confusion if a user messes around arranging and rearranging the files and folders on the computer once files are backed up. Most of us do this kind of tidying up all the time but if the Backup/Restore is in place, the system can wind up restoring files that aren’t lost but just moved. So it’s important to set up a system for filing and stick to it like Velcro.
Second, it’s worth pointing out that the more data that gets backed up, the more complex the backup files become, and this increases the danger that the restored files will become corrupted just when they’re needed most. So no matter how much you come to lean on this automatic system, it remains a good idea to make uncompressed backups of the most important files on removable media, such as CDs or DVDs.
