An essential operation to protect data on the computer is to back up data. You also can’t be sure that the computer’s hard drive can work without problems.
When the hard drive fails, all the data on the computer will also disappear completely. Data may be backed up in various methods, such as exporting it to an external hard drive or putting it online via a cloud service.
Several tools help you back up, such as File History, which backs up and restores data when connected to an external hard drive, and Backup System Image in Windows 7. You should use different types of backups to make sure data safety.
What is data backup?
Backup or (backup) data is a form of copying the entire piece of data in your computer, server, server, or any other device capable of remembering and storing your data and storing it in one or more devices with other storage functions for backup data. Our primary memory device loses data during operation due to damage, hacking, power failure, etc. We still have data to restore, limiting damage and loss of this data resource.
So, why do we need to back up data?
Data is a valuable asset to every individual and every business. If you do not want one fine day of all your data stored on your personal computer, tablet, or even mobile phone to evaporate because the device is broken or stolen, you need to back up data.
The server systems of today’s enterprise organisations best show that we need data backup in the process of developing storage operations for the entire gigantic business system for enterprises. Many essential security data sets are compiled on many types of servers.
Our data is in danger of loss as long as an incident occurs, such as when the server hard disk is broken, a power outage results in data loss errors, or a virus encrypts the entire system. Restoring the data from the primary backup source is the only option to rescue the situation at this stage.
The most obvious and apparent is that you need to back up your files to prevent loss. If the hard drive crashes, you can always rebuild the operating system and reload the software, but your data cannot be replaced.
Any documents, photos, home videos, or other private data on your computer should be backed up regularly because they are unique.
If you’ve spent hours ripping CDs or videos on DVDs and unfortunately lost them, you’ll probably go crazy. Backing them up is the best solution to avoid this disaster.
As you can see, backing up data is a simple action that can save you in many emergencies. So don’t be afraid to do this work!
From the example above, we can see the importance of backups. Not only do businesses that operate servers need backup, but even for us, personal data on computers or phones is essential.
When performing data backups, information security experts often recommend that you do it as close to each other as possible.
Because when an error occurs, if you perform regular backups, the data loss will be less than if we let a long time to complete a backup once.
How to perform data backup
For our storage systems, data may be backed up using various techniques. However, we now offer only two main types of storage: Online Backup and Local Backup (local backup) (online backup). We shall learn about these two backup options in this article and their advantages and disadvantages.
Local Backup
A local backup is a form of local backup. These use removable memory devices such as hard drives, portable hard drives, USBs, or even CDs and DVDs for storage.
The Local Backup form of storage has the advantage that we can perform storage quite quickly, at any time. However, this form of storage also has a significant disadvantage in that it is not high security.
The storage devices you use for backup can also be damaged, infected with viruses from the primary device when backing up if you do not check.
External factors often damage especially removable hard drives or USBs. The biggest reason local backup storage is no longer popular is that the storage capacity is quite limited. When the power from the storage devices we reserve for backup is complete, you must buy other expensive memory devices.
Online backup
Today, with the explosion of the internet, people have been known to take advantage of the “clouds” on the internet to keep their precious data safe.
Cloud computing was born, allowing businesses and individuals to store their data and computer files on the internet using a storage service provider instead of storing data locally. Set on a physical disk or computer hard drive.
Today’s Online backup application is very widely applied. For example, users of Apple devices such as iPhones and Ipad. They all have an account called Icloud, and all their data is also regularly hacked up on Apple’s server system, which is a form of pressure using Online Backup that providers help limit data loss incidents for their customers.
The advantage of this form of online backup is safety and reliability. As long as you back up all your data to a reputable provider such as Google Drive, Apple’s iCloud, etc., you can access it from anywhere, from any computer or mobile device.
Any mobile device (tablet, smartphone), as long as there is an internet connection. This is why Online Backup is gradually replacing traditional local backup.
The only disadvantage of this type of storage is that the storage device must be connected to the internet to perform backup and restore. During the backup process, we will take more time (Depending on your Internet connection).
How to back up data on your computer quickly and effectively
However, what is the best way to back up data on the computer? You have a lot of different ways to back up data. This article will summarize how to back up laptop data simply but effectively for everyone.
- Backup data to OneDrive
- Create a cloned drive
- Make a copy of the drive
- Use a backup service
- Create Backups with Windows File History
- Build a NAS
Backup data to OneDrive
5GB of free OneDrive online storage is instantly available to anybody with a Microsoft account. Thanks to File Explorer integration on your PC, it’s easy to move and sync files online between OneDrive and local storage. PC.
This method suits users who prefer to choose files and when to back up data. Remember, to use this way of backing up data on your computer; your device needs a constant Internet connection to ensure smooth syncing. If you make changes to the synced file while offline, data synchronization will occur when reconnecting the device to the network.
If 5GB isn’t enough for your business needs, don’t hesitate to download the Office 365 plan with 1TB of storage and all your favourite Office apps. If you want more storage space, you can buy 100GB for just $2/month.
Like OneDrive, Google Drive also gives you a great way to save documents on your computer. The Google Drive app is now called Backup and Sync. Although it supports accessing Google Drive files, you can still use it as a backup tool. This allows you to back up files to the cloud even if they are not in the Google Drive folder.
Google Drive offers 15GB free to all users, so it’s an attractive primary backup option for everyone. If you need more storage, sign up for Google One for 100GB for just $2/month, 200GB for $3/month, or 2TB for $10/month.
Here’s how to back up files with Google Drive:
- Install the Backup and Sync utility, open it and sign in with your Google account. If you haven’t set up a backup from scratch, click the Backup and Sync icon in the System Tray in Menu > Preferences.
- Select the folder you want to back up on the My Computer tab. In addition to the popular locations in the list, you can add more using the Choose Folder link. You can also click My Computer to give it a more understandable name.
- Click Change to back up all files or just photos and videos. You can also ignore files using specific utilities in Advanced settings.
Create a cloned drive
Creating a cloned drive is similar to creating a clone of the industry, but with some specific differences. A cloned drive is an exact (uncompressed) copy of the original purpose, which can be used to boot up a computer. For example, if you cloned the internal hard drive to an external USB drive, you could plug it in, choose to boot from USB via BIOS, and run Windows from the external drive.
Clone drives, especially when copying directly to another internal drive, are a great way to upgrade hard drives and create backups.
This method’s only disadvantage is that it takes longer than cloning, and you can only keep one mirror on one drive, so if you make any changes to the primary drive after the replication version will not be updated in case of damage.
How to backup your Windows 👇🏿👇 computer
Make a copy of the drive.
Disk cloning involves creating a compressed version of everything you store on the drive, such as your operating system, settings, and files, which can be used to restore your computer in an accident damage case.
While creating a cloned volume will take up most of a drive and is not easy to update with the changes you make on the primary purpose, cloning allows you to save multiple copies on a single volume (as long as there is free space) and has Incremental and Differential backups.
Incremental backup keeps track of all changes made since the last Incremental backup, but to restore your computer, you need a full backup plus an Incremental backup.
Differential Backup keeps track of all changes made since the full backup was created, so you need a complete copy and the latest Differential backup to restore your computer.
In the event of damage, a copy can be restored using a recovery environment, either built into Windows or created on a separate USB stick. To create a copy, you can use third-party software like Macrium Reflect or Acronis True Image or take advantage of the backup system built right into Windows 10.
Use a backup service.
In the long run, using an online backup service like IDrive or CrashPlan is frequently much more expensive than an external drive, but it provides you peace of mind in case the unexpected occurs. Yours may be destroyed.
These services often have applications installed on the computer, scanning files that need to be protected (such as system files and important documents), encrypting them, and then sending them to the cloud to keep them safe. You can also create copies of the system for safekeeping in many unexpected situations.
Many online backup companies will send you a hard drive with encrypted data in case your hard drive is damaged, but you can also access and sync files online; some even have a built-in File Explorer. If you’re worried about outside situations that could corrupt your computer’s backups, backing up online backup services is a great option.
Suggest some third-party programs to help you store your computer data safely:
iDrive
For large businesses that need to back up multiple computers, IDrive is always the preferred choice. Thanks to the multi-device backup feature, you can back up any device you own, from a PC running on any operating system to any phone brand. IDrive even handles private hard drives.
With IDrive, you can sync data across all connected devices. You can “clone” your entire PC anytime with all the files and folders inside.
CloudBerry for Windows OS
MSP 360 was once known as CloudBerry Lab. It is an excellent computer data backup software. CloudBerry Backup allows you to back up files and folders to the cloud of your choice. For example, you can upload data to Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, HP Cloud, and Rackspace.
CloudBerry uses 256-bit encryption to keep data safe when moving to the backup server.
BackBlaze
BackBlaze is the alternative to backing up data on other computers for businesses worldwide. It is an excellent choice for backing up your data or on employees’ computers because of its automatic and unlimited backup capabilities.
Blaze offers simple management on an easy-to-use admin dashboard at a reasonable price, $70/PC. This application allows you to access data stored on any device. It runs fast, as the name suggests.
Using BackBlaze to back up your data, you can schedule or automatically back up. One person can recover as many files as they want in the event of a problem. Every time the backup status changes, you will be notified, and you may transfer data with only a few clicks.
Despite its affordable price and wide range of features, BackBlaze never interferes with users’ secure data. The data is always encrypted when it transfers files from the PC to the storage drive. Users can set their encryption so that BackBlaze cannot access them.
FBackup
FBackup is a beginner-friendly backup tool. Once you define a backup job by selecting the source, destination locations, and storage type, you can run it immediately or schedule the operation. FBackup provides a way to store files on your computer from your local drive, online to the cloud, mapped network locations, and other connected devices.
You can have a backup as a zip file or completely clone the data in the original format. The software provides many commands to perform specific tasks before and after file backup. For example, the Cleanup Data command removes pre-archived data before creating a new backup.
FBackup has a free plan, but it also has many limitations, such as not being able to backup files from popular sources: OneDrive, and Azure. So if you want all the features, choose a particular plan with different prices. Together.
While FBackup is an excellent choice for personal users and small businesses, its features still don’t match IDrive or CloudBerry.
Create Backups with Windows File History
Using Windows File History is one of the easiest ways to create backups of files and documents. You may decide whether to back up to an external disk or a second internal drive.
There are plenty of configuration options to tweak, so you can make backups as often or as infrequently as you want.
When a secondary drive is connected, the backup happens automatically. You can choose which files and folders you want to back up. File backup does not include the operating system, so you should make a copy or a clone of it.
Build a NAS
Network Attached Storage (NAS) is a group of drives (you might also find a single NAS drive) connected over a network. Any user on the web can access NAS, which is why they are perfect for backing up multiple computers at once or for anyone who wants to create a media server at home.
Depending on your NAS, you can create a system that keeps backed up files even if a drive fails in your computer or the NAS. Choosing this method is like creating your cloud storage at home, but it will often be much cheaper to use over a long period. Although the NAS system is gradually becoming easier to use, it is still suitable for people with computer experience.
Observations to make when backing up data on your computer
Important files should be backed up:
Users will back up files and data or the entire system when backing up data.
Backing up files or folders that users need to save, the backup process is quick because you select the data you want to back up.
With the whole system backup type, when the user will back up all folders in the system, installed programs, and other data.
This process takes a long time compared to the necessary data backup. To be able to perform a system backup, you should use the available tool or download it.
Usually, people use the built-in feature of the computer, like a System image backup, to create a system backup. But this feature allows users to restore a system backup on the computer since the Windows installation will run fine on the original operating system.
So if you need to back up your data, you should only back up the necessary files and folders.
What data should be backed up?
The priority when backing it up is critical personal data. On a Windows computer, essential data will be located in the C:\Windows\USERNAME folder.
This default folder contains data folders, including Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, and Downloads. Besides, there are Desktop folders and important folders like OneDrive, Dropbox, and Google Drive if users need to use more cloud storage services.
One more item is the hidden AppData folder when displaying hidden files. This folder stores setting and data for user accounts.
So when backing up, you should back up all data in the account folder on your computer, including the AppData folder.
Folders not in the account should also be backed up, such as application settings in the C:\ProgramData folder.
What data backup restrictions?
The Windows folder or Program Files is a folder that users should not back up. The Windows folder contains Windows system files you cannot back up to move from one computer to another. Windows will automatically install those data on the new computer.
You should not touch these system applications because they will affect the computer’s system, which is very important. If you use another machine, the operating system will automatically install those data to your new computer without worrying too much about this problem.
The Program Files folder contains the applications installed and used on the system. The application folders will appear when you reinstall the application.
Perform regular backups:
Users should regularly back up data. It should be done every day if possible. Backup tools only back up data that has changed so that it won’t take much of the user’s time. Performing regular data backups can make your computer run faster and don’t spend as much time searching. And it will save you from unnecessary troubles.
Backing up data is essential to limit the risk of hard drive failure. During the backup process, you should choose to back up crucial data through a tool available on your computers, such as File History, or a cloud storage service is an excellent idea.
Final thought
The thing you need to remember when backing up data on your computer is the experience when you want to back up data yourself without having to ask for the help of others.
Backing up data is very important because it will directly affect the computer’s fast or slow operation and even the computer’s life.
Above I have introduced to you how to back up data on your computer simply and effectively. Hopefully, through this article, you will capture helpful information and choose for yourself the most suitable backup method.
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