5 Tools to keep your data safe

By Lenard Smith
My kids laugh at me about how brutal I am when tell a customer that he or she has lost all their data as a result of some hard drive corruption. I have yet to get a copy of SpinRite, so any customer needing data recovery services is out of luck. What spurned this conversation? My laptop has finally given up the ghost after three years of operation, so I pulled its hard drive and copied all of the information to my netbook, where I done the bulk of my work. I found a computer that I was able to use for work, but when I used my external drive to copy the data, the external drive failed. What is the moral of this story? Backup! Backup! Backup! Here are some programs and services I use when I need to make copies of my data:

Programs
SyncBack I use this on my Windows machines in order to keep fresh backups of my data. The first time the backup takes a while (at least it did for me) but after that the backups are quick. DriveImage XML I use this to image my Windows machines. After extensive tweaking, system updates and installing many applications, having at least one image is ideal in case I screw something up and have to restore my system to an earlier state. I can also select specific files to restore. This program is a must for anyone serious about backing up his or her system. There are other programs out there, like Acronis TrueImage, but this ones free, and I always like free. CloneZilla - When I got my mac mini, which was used, I had no recovery media. CloneZilla was a perfect way for me to get a backup of this mac before I started tweaking it.

Services
Dropbox - This service is free if you only have about 2 gigabytes to back up. Its also useful when I have to move files around, or even store files for download. Carbonite - for about $50/year per computer you can have unlimited storage space to back up any amount of data you need for one computer. Armed with this knowledge you should never have to cringe at any bad news from me when I tell you your computers toast.

Syncback
We will review the installation and usage of the program Syncback. You can download the program from 2brightsparks.com.

Installation
Once you download the program, unzip it, and then run the installation program. Once its installed, you set up the program by initially creating a profile. When you create a profile, you can specify if you want to synchronize your source and destination folders, or just simply backup the source to the destination. Simply follow the prompts for the source and destination, and do a simulation to verify its function. Normally when you run a backup job or simulation, you will get a report of what files and folders will be changed. Click continue to start the process.

Recovery
As with manually copying files recovering files at can simply a matter of copying files back to the source folder, or you can create a profile that copies files back from the destination to the original source folder.

Extra tip
What makes this option an attractive alternative to simply copying files is that you can automate the process. Backup, while it is an important process, is generally an overlooked process, and automating it away is a good way to easily take care of backing up your data. In order to set this feature click the schedule button when you are editing a project, and follow the prompts. One caveat to this is that your user account must be password protected in order to make this work.

Backup with CloneZilla

We have discussed backing up our computer files. This doesnt talk about what happens if the machine gets destroyed and that we have to reinstall all our software. To deal with that issue well talk about imaging a computer, that is, were talking about imaging up computer were taking the entire contents of the hard drive and saving it in one file which is known as an image. This does not replace the necessity for regularly backing up your personal data, only to keep you from taking so much time setting your system back up when it crashes. Before I go any further, please note that if you purchased your computer new, then you have the option to create your own recovery CDs or DVDs which will restore your system to factory settings. I suggest doing this first for anyone with a new computer. I wont explain the techniques here, as they vary widely between computers. If you bought your computer used, chances are you have to create your own recovery method, and thats where I introduce over the next couple of posts two programs that will help you create your own recovery media: CloneZilla and DriveImage XML. I will start with explaining CloneZilla.

Installation
CloneZilla is downloaded as an ISO (CD or DVD image) from www.clonezilla.org. Once the image is downloaded, you can use your favorite CD/DVD burning software to burn a disc. Please be aware that your program has to have the ability to burn ISOs. Thats it.

Usage
Once you down load and burn a copy put the CD inside the computer and instruct it to boot from CD. You will see a boot screen highlighting options you can choose to boot up CloneZilla. You can simply hit the Enter key at this point and allow the system to boot. Its best to have your backup device plugged in now if you havent done so yet. You will be asked for the language and the keyboard type. You can hit Enter to choose the defaults. Hit Enter again to start CloneZilla, and for our purposes choose the first option to copy a partition or drive to a disc image. If you have your external drive plugged in hit

Enter to choose the local device. Hit Enter to continue while CloneZilla searches for your external drive. The next screen gives you a choice of which hard drive you want to use. Use the arrow keys to choose your external drive and hit Enter. Hit Enter to choose the / directory of the drive you chose (this is where the image will be stored.) Hit Enter again, choose the Beginner mode, then hit Enter again. Choose savedisk to back up all the partitions on the disk you want to back up. You will be asked for a name you want for the image. By default the name of the image will be the date you created the image. If youre satisfied with that simply hit Enter. Choose the disk you want backed up, hit Enter, then hit Enter again. You will be asked to confirm that all of the parameters are correct; type y and hit Enter to continue. You can do something else now while the backup operation completes.

Recovery
Once you down load and burn a copy put the CD inside the computer and instruct it to boot from CD. You will see a boot screen highlighting options you can choose to boot up CloneZilla. You can simply hit the Enter key at this point and allow the system to boot. Its best to have your backup device plugged in now if you havent done so yet. You will be asked for the language and the keyboard type. You can hit Enter to choose the defaults. Hit Enter again to start CloneZilla, and for our purposes choose the first option to copy a partition or drive to a disc image. If you have your external drive plugged in hit Enter to choose the local device. Hit Enter to continue while CloneZilla searches for your external drive. The next screen gives you a choice of which hard drive you want to use. Use the arrow keys to choose your external drive and hit Enter. Hit Enter to choose the / directory of the drive you chose (this is where the image will be stored.) Hit Enter again, choose the Beginner mode, then hit Enter again. Choose restoredisk to restore all the partitions on the disk you want to back up. You will be given a choice of image to restore; choose the one you want and hit Enter. Choose the destination disk drive and hit Enter. Hit Enter to continue. You will be asked if you want to continue with the restore. Type y and hit Enter. I use this program myself when I back up my Mac mini. I havent had any problems with the software, although if you want to use this as a way to clone machines (an example would be setting up identical machines with identical software) use the network configuration.

Backup with DriveImage XML

CloneZilla is useful in backing up your entire system, including programs and changed settings, but what if you have to retrieve one file? You would have to restore the entire backup to get that one file. If you have a Windows system, consider using DriveImage XML instead.

Installation
DriveImage XML may be downloaded from http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm. The installation is fairly straightforward. You can simply use the default settings to quickly go through the installation. To back up your hard drive run the program and choose Backup. You will be asked for which drive you want backed up and the location in which you want to store your disc image. Grab a Coke and a movie while the backup runs. Depending on the size of the drive the backup can take as little as 30 minutes and a much as 2 hours.

Restoration
To restore an image run the program as normal, but choose the Restore option. You will be asked for the location of the backup image and the destination drive. The restore process generally takes less time than the backup process.

Conclusion
If you have a Windows XP/2003/Vista/7 machine DriveImage XML will work for a complete backup of your computer system. A few things of which you should be aware: first, if you use DriveImage XML to back up a system drive, restoring a system drive may require some extra effort to make it bootable. Second, utilities such as this and CloneZilla are best used as bare metal recovery tools, where a hard drive has been replaced.

Backup with Dropbox

Setup
Go to http://www.getdropbox.com and set up an account. There is an installation program you download and install (there are windows, mac and linux versions.) when you run the installation program you will be asked for your log in information and where you want to set up your dropbox folder.

Usage
Once you set up your Dropbox folder simply store files and create folders in it like any other folder. The Dropbox client will synchronize the file between all of the clients that have been set up with your specific account. Lets say you are on a machine on which you havent set up Dropbox, but you want access to your files. Go to the Dropbox site, log in, and you will be able to upload files to your Dropbox, or download files from your Dropbox.

Recovery
You can recover a file that has been backed up using Dropbox using one of two methods. You can restore a single file simply by logging in to the Dropbox web site and downloading the file you want to recover, or you can set up Dropbox on any computer, and all of the files will be downloaded to your computer. If you have small backup requirements, or want to be able to move lots of small files around, Dropbox is for you. The main drawback to using Dropbox is the storage limit. The free version of Dropbox limits you to a maximum of 2 GB. If you need to back up more data, then you may consider other options like Microsofts SkyDrive, which has a limit of 25GB. Even better yet is Carbonite, which offers unlimited storage for about $59/year.

Backup with Carbonite

Carbonite is an online storage system similar to a Dropbox mentioned last post with a few fundamental differences. Where as in Dropbox you can set it up on multiple machines for one account Carbonite will only allow you to set up one account per computer. While there is a free version of Dropbox Carbonite only has a 15 day trial version after which if you still wanna use Carbonite you have to pay. Also Carbonite will allow you to store an unlimited amount of files, while Dropbox has size limitations.

Installation
Go to http://www.carbonite.com and register for an account, have your credit card ready because youll need to buy this private which it is approximately $59 per year what do you have signed up for the account you can download quiet and have it installed what exactly one machine.

Usage
Once the Carbonite client is installed youre going to get an icon in your Windows tray, indicating whether or not Carbonite has completed backing up all of your specified folders and data. By default your Documents and Settings folder (or Users folder in Vista/Windows 7) is backed up. If you want to add more folders go to Windows explorer right-click on the folder you want backed up, and the context menu pops up youll see the carbonate option. Choose the Back this up option. Similarly if you want to exclude a folder or file from being backed up right-click on the file or folder, choose Carbonite, then choose Dont back up. Please be aware that your computer needs to be connected to the Internet for Carbonite to keep the backups up to date.

Recovery
If youve deleted a file that was backed up by Carbonite, you can download it individually by logging in to the Carbonite web site, clicking on the Remote Access button at the upper right hand corner of the page. You can then navigate to the appropriate file and click the file, which will be downloaded to your computer. If you have had to restore your computer to a previous state, or have switched computers, you can recover all of your files by installing the Carbonite client, transferring your license to your computer, and instructing Carbonite to restore any or all of your files. Carbonite is a wonderful solution if you have internet access and you need an unlimited amount of storage. Remember, there is a 15 day trial, so take advantage of the trial and play with it!

Summary
Backup! Backup! Backup! Now, what did I lose? I lost my netbook and laptop backups. I got lucky, because the hard drives of the systems I backed up hadnt failed. So Im back to backing these up again. This is what we should take from this incident? 1. Test your backups. It is a good idea to restore these files somewhere and test your media periodically to make sure your backup is okay. Thats why I give a synopsis of a recovery technique with each program or service I described. 2. Have multiple copies in different places. It doesnt do you any good to have everything in one place and you lose everything, including your backups.

About the Author

Ive had over nine years of experience repairing computers, setting up web sites, troubleshooting network problems, instructing clients in software packages, and setting up information systems to get my clients the results they desire. I help people with whatever computer problems they have, and if you would like some assistance with your own issues, feel free to email me at Lenard@lsmithconsults.com, or just give me a call at (405) 771-0287. For more tips and tricks on how to use your computer more effectively, you also can go to my web site: http://www.lsmithconsults.com.