Saving your life with regular backups

Posted on June 13, 2007
Filed Under Design |

Windows Backup Steps I take

So last night my system got nailed by a virus or some other bug which totally pissed me off because I was right in the middle of finishing up my network and ready to deliver some project files to a client when WHAM! The sinking feeling in your gut and then the red faced annoyance that I just lost the last 6 hours worth of work for the most part. Yeah panic is what I use to do but experience with such things teaches many lessons.

I don’t run automated backup tools (although I should) because they always seem to slow my machine down so I do everything manually. So, I’m going to briefly outline my simple steps to saving myself from tragedy many times over. Now keep in mind. A good tool to have is good solid backup device like tape drive or external drive and I’m guilty for not using either all the time.

I tend to follow a basic routine when it comes to backups. I have three hard drives available, one of which is external via USB2. Here are my little steps.
1) I run a windows batch file every morning that simply copies several files to the secondary hard drive (FileZilla.xml, my bookmarks for IE and FF, My code snippet DB, my DreamWeaver snippets, my Flash Snippets, my email PST backup, and my chat logs)
2) I always drag and drop large client project files into folders with an underscore on my secondary drive. _clientname/ for example. Why the underscore? because it shows up above all other folders.
3) Once every night I make a WinRar Zip of each client folder simply overwriting the existing one. I do this because in the event of a serious system issue I can quickly run KNOPPIX from my DVD drive and use the FTP feature to simply upload the client folders to one of our servers or the local machines on the network with ease before I try to repair any problems. BTW KNOPPIX i
4) DVD backups religiously. Get a copy of http://www.zero2000.com/cd-catalog-expert/index.html
$30 is absolutely no money when compared to ease of locating your data across dozens or even hundreds of media types.
5) Last I make sure I keep passwords, license numbers for software, and all mission critical elements logged into a simple hard bound journal I got from Office Depot for $14. I can’t tell you how many times I need a password for something I rarely use only to waste time searching when I can have it at my fingertips in moments. This very reason is why I’ll be building a simple stand alone VB application to store such things.

There it is, fast and dirty.

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2 Comments so far
  1. Hudson June 13, 2007 7:03 pm

    Also check out Datacatch Librarian which is way cool as its totally integrated into windows so you can manage your complete removable media library as if it was online. The same with search, its the standard Windows search tool and has Google Desktop Plugin - anyway check it out at http://www.datacatch.com

  2. admin June 13, 2007 7:19 pm

    Very good information thanks, I’m actually going to give it a try. I hate losing data.


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