A Few Tricks I Learned about Backing Up Your Computer Work Including Your Website

It's not if your hard drive will crash it's when and even your website server could crash. How updated are your backups...?

http://kirkhamsebooks.com/Marketing/...es/Backups.htm

A Few Tricks I Learned about Backing Up Your Computer Work Including Your Website

It's not if your hard drive will crash it's when and even your website server could crash. How updated are your backups...?

I didn't start out backing up my work, but I did learn the valuable lesson of having ready to use up to date backups for both hard drive and website. Since many of you don't have a website, let's discuss some ideas on backing up your hard drive....

Two Hard Drives

Whenever I get a new computer I always order and have installed a second hard drive. Negotiate no installation fees if you're buying a new computer. Make the second hard drive as big or preferably bigger than your c drive which in most cases is your primary drive.

Next, for us Window users, if you click on Start, Programs or All Programs depending on your system, you'll see a special folder called Startup. Anything in this folder runs on startup of windows. Right mouse click on this foler and select open. See my video on how to access your Startup folder.

Writing your Backup batch File or Downloading a Free Backup Bat

In the Startup folder left mouse click on file, scroll down to New, left mouse click on txt document. Name your file backup, press Enter on your keyboard, press enter on your keyboard again to open your text file. Type in ...

Xcopy c:\*.* Backuphard driveLetter:\ /s/c/e/I/d/y

Now select Save As and give your file the .bat ending. your text document with the .bat ending. Delete the text file and keep the bat file. If you have too much trouble with all this I can write a program to do this for you. Naturally they'd be a slight charge for my time. As of the date of writing this I can't seem to get the eight year old out of the habit of eating everyday.

Now every time you open your desktop you'll get an automatic backup to your second hard drive. You can download this same batch file by joining my Hard2FindSoftware Yahoo group and go to the files sections. You'll find some other free software in there as well.

That's great Rick! But I don't have a second hard drive. What else can I do to backup my work?

I do a lot of work on my pocket pc. In fact a lot of the software I write uses text information files so I can work away from my computer and avoid down time while picking up the wife at work or the boy from his after school program. Therefore the memory card I use is also compatible with my pocket pc.

If you don't have one yet get a large memory card or usb storage device. This is a must. If your whole computer crashes it may be in the shop for a while. Be sure to tell the repair tech about your second hard drive if you have one for a backup, but in the meantime you're on a deadline and your work is in your crashed computer. You could go to a friend's computer or use your laptop, but where's your work It's on your usb storage device!

Now here's the big secret, so tell your significant other so everyone else will learn this secret. Instead of doing your work on your hard drive and having to remember to copy your work to the storage device, do your work on your storage device and copy it to your computer!

You can have a similar backup batch file on your usb device or you can use your Run command to copy the xcopy command line. Warning though, I've noted several times when my usb storage device or memory card changed drive letters on me for no reason at all. So you can add different drive letters to your bat as this happens (Vista will yell at you but not very loud) or you can select different command lines from the run command or once again I can write a program for you as part of an overall package.

The command would be

Xcopy StorageDeviceLetter:\*.* c:\ /s/d/i/e/y/c

Notice the back slash \ and the forward slash / made popular by the internet.

By doing your work on your storage device it's always up to date and if you find yourself at a strange computer with your storage device you can still get work done by using the up to date information in your storage device.

Yes in case anyone is wondering the storage device for your digital camera can store any type of data including your work.

Great advice Rick! I do happen to have a website. How do I back that up?

Make an exact copy of your website on your storage device and on your hard drive. I have a folder named www.KirkhamEbooks.com In that folder are subfolders just like on my website for martial arts, health and fitness, internet marketing etc. (it's a huge site and has something for everyone). My backup on my hard drive is so exact that if I open explore (not Internet Explorer), highlight the www. In the top window, delete it and click Enter on my keyboard the equivalent of that web page on my website loads into Internet Explorer! That's how precise the copy of my website is and you can follow the same procedure in case of a crash!

To make your web pages you may use my online HTML editor or my article and sales page templates just like I am right now as I sit at Kakaako Park (older footage) here in Honolulu watching my son and his friend slide down the hill on cardboard writing this very sentence.

All you have to do now to backup your work is follow the same procedures for backing up your hard drive. It's that simple.

Conclusion

Whether following my advice or using any of the programs I've listed for you the time to think of backing up your work is when you're NOT having trouble with your computer. This coming from a graduate of the school of hard knocks of computer training and forced formats. Stay out of my school and plan ahead.


About the Author

J. Richard Kirkham has been in sales related fields for over 25 years. Over half of that time in a health related field. He's a dual certified teacher and martial arts instructor. He has expertise in alternative teaching methods and positive reinforcement methodology. He's written several books in the printable electronic format and has made downloadable videos and DVDs and has published software.

Fee free to use the ideas which I've provided for you here or you can use one of the popular backup programs I've listed for you http://kirkhamsebooks.com/FreewareNS...arBackups.html

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