Back it up!

How many of you actually make the effort to backup your files on a regular basis? Have you thought about the consequences of not backing up? Some of you, no doubt, have already suffered from a major computer crash which has resulted in the loss of some or all of your files. Well, stop procrastinating! Find out what backup software is available for your PC and do it now!!

My own backup strategy goes as follows:

1. Every day at 7 pm, my backup software automatically backs up all my changed and new files for the day to CD. This way, I will only ever lose a maximum of one day's work.
2. In addition, also every day, but at 10 pm, my backup software backs up all my changed and new files to an external hard disk. This provides additional backup in case something goes wrong with my CD backups.
3. The final trick is that I keep a copy of my CD backups offsite (at a friend's house) in case of fire or theft. I hand these over every month or so.

You might think this is overkill, but if you think about what you would need to do if your computer was destroyed or if all your files were corrupted, it's worth setting up a system like this. Not only would you need to spend time and money fixing or replacing your computer, but then you would also need to spend hours or days redoing the work that has been lost, not to mention the loss of all your emails, addresses, website bookmarks, and other information. Quelle horreur!

Needless to say, if you get the right software, the whole process can be made relatively painless.

Arguably the best backup software available for either Macs or Windows is Dantz's Retrospect (http://www.dantz.com/en/products/) in its various versions. This is by far the most flexible and most powerful program around. It can:

• backup to a huge variety of storage types (CDs, DVDs, hard drives, magnetic drives, servers, etc) via a network, USB, FireWire and SCSI
• backup according to a fully programmable schedule (eg daily, weekly, rotating weekly, etc)
• backup only the files which you select
• perform incremental backups, that is, backup only new or changed files since the last backup.

Once you have set it up, you never have to remember to backup again - the software will prompt you to connect or insert whatever storage media you are using, and away it goes!

The most basic version, Retrospect Desktop, which is probably the most suitable for the home office, even allows you to do backups over a small network (eg if you have two office computers which you want to back up). At around A$200-250, it is a very small price to pay for peace of mind.