Backup Computer Files

Have you ever experienced hard disk failure? It happens. You can replace the hard disk. But what will you lose if some or all your files are suddenly unreadable? How can you ensure that you don’t lose this valuable data? The easy answer is to regularly backup computer files. You can restore the data from the backups, if you have made good backup files.

What if your registry becomes damaged by a computer virus or malware? Windows will not run without the registry. You can make backup copies of the registry, as well.

What Should You Backup?

You would be wise to make a copy of your Windows Registry each time, before you clean it.

Read more about registry maintenance at Registry Repair Review

You need to backup computer files containing the data that your applications use. But you don’t need to backup the applications themselves, if you keep the original installation media (CD, flash drive, etc). Your registry cleaner should include a good backup utility. This is essential. Then it is so easy to backup your registry that it’s no trouble. Windows 9x/Me versions automatically create backups of the registry at startup time. A highly recommended freeware utility for making backup copies of the registry in later Windows versions is ERUNT, the Emergency Recovery Utility NT.

Depending on how your data is organized, making a backup can be a simple task. It is much easier to backup computer files if you organize your data with this in mind. For example, you could store all your data under a single directory (or folder). When setting up your computer you can create a folder called “C:\data” and inside this folder you can create another folder called “C:\data\MS-Word” to hold your Word documents. You can make similar sub-folders for Excel, PowerPoint, and your other software applications. Making a backup of your application data then becomes very simple. Just make a copy of your “data” folder! But be sure to store the backup copy in a safe place. You can burn it onto a CD or keep it on an external disk drive. You could even place your backup on a flash drive (or “thumb drive”). The price of storage media has fallen dramatically and is now quite reasonable.

What Use Is a Backup?

If you can’t use your backup copies in the event of a problem, they won’t be much use. There are sad stories about people who have spent many hours carefully making unusable backup copies of their data. They believed they could just restore their data if necessary, though they never tried this. If disaster strikes, will you be able to restore your system? In order to be sure, you must test your restore procedure to make certain your backups are usable.

With tested backup and restore procedures, you can use your computer with confidence. Backup computer files containing your data — including the registry — regularly. In the event that your computer has a problem, you can restore from your backups.

Go to Windows Registry Cleanup for more
information on registry maintenance