Over time, that 'new PC' begins to morph into something unique - and dynamic! Your PC tomorrow is different than it was today! You've added new programs, created documents, edited movies, Photoshopped your pictures and so much more. Just to make it interesting, you also ran a bunch of Windows updates.
What does this mean? Not much unless:
- A sudden power outage during a disk write process results in corruption of your system
- A well-meaning but accidentally-malicious user deletes critical files and then empties out your recycle bin
- You are struck by a sudden virus attack
- Your hard disk does the unthinkable and has a complete failure
Operating System Not Found
 |
| "It can't happen to ME!" |
At this point, you smile knowingly are give yourself a big pat on the back - because unlike the guy in the cartoon, you DID install an external backup drive, and you DID install GOOD backup software, and you DID make sure your backups ran periodically, and you DID verify the backup images were VALID.
So NOW, you are going to be able to RESTORE your machine, even to a new BLANK hard disk drive! More important, and write this down: You will restore it to just as it was when you "photographed it" (backed it up). This is wildly different from the tech support guy at PC Company XYZ telling you how to revert the machine to the day you first bought it. Can you IMAGINE losing all of your custom file settings, plus of all of your hard work (documents, photos, movies, MUSIC) and all of your installed PROGRAMS?
Unlike the ancient DOS machines of years gone by, you can't simply clone your personal files, in the event of drive failure, you will also need to reinstall not only the OPERATING SYSTEM, but all of the PROGRAMS you added yourself. Things like JAVA, Adobe products (Acrobat Reader, Acrobat, Flash, Photoshop and more), and Microsoft and other third party apps such as Office 2010 or 2007, QuickBooks, Quicken, and so on.
In plain language, this is VERY BAD NEWS, and depending on just how critical your data is to YOU, you could be very sad if you haven't backed up!
Microsoft finally built in a decent backup program into Windows 7, but for our purposes I am going to talk about a free piece of software from ACRONIS called True Image Home (Western Digital Edition). Now this software is "Free* if you purchased an external Western Digital hard disk drive, or if your are fortunate enough that your PC Builder gave you a Western Digital internal hard disk drive instead of one of the other hard disk brands out there (e.g. "Seagate"). Also, you can buy Acronis True Image 2011 or run it free for 30 days on a trial basis. The full version you buy does more than the 'free' version from Western Digital. The full version allows easy scheduling, and actually replaces Windows Backup in Control Panel, giving you a robust and easily understood interface that is much clearer and easier to operate (IMHO) than the standard backup built into Windows 7. (You can revert back to Windows 7 built-in backup at any time if you change your mind about Acronis True Image 2011.)
Another plus of the paid version is that it will awaken your system from SLEEP MODE, and can be configured to perform the backup, then TURN YOUR MACHINE COMPLETELY OFF. This saves power, both when in sleep mode and of course when powered off. So you get reliable, consistent SCHEDULED backups. The paid version also allows off-site "online" backups on the Acronis servers. All things considered, I consider Acronis True Image 2011 (paid version) to be "the way to go" for people who are SERIOUS about protecting their machine setup and their personal files.
The "free version" doesn't offer scheduled backups, but can create backups manually by starting the program and then asking to backup NOW. This is better than NO BACKUP, but requires you to REMEMBER to do it, and let's face it, that's the stumbling block that trips most of us up sooner or LATER.
I suggest and recommend the Western Digital My Book Elite external drive, which have dropped to sub-100 prices for a 1TB model (1 Terrabyte is 1000 Gigabytes). PC storage is overstated. A Billion Bytes (a Terrabyte) is not exactly 1 billion bytes of data, but that's a story for another day. For you, the typical non-techie user, BIGGER IS BETTER when buying external drives, but don't go bigger than 2TB (2 Terrabytes) or you'll have problems with Windows 7 not 'recognizing' the drive. At present, this is a 'known issue' with Windows 7.
 |
| Western Digital MyBook Elite with Electronic Contents Label |
Shown above is the Western Digital My Book Elite, and you can see the pictorial "gas gauge" on the book spine showing how much space is still available. The white area is space in use, the black area is available for more information ("data") to be stored.
Some folks have more than one external hard drive, one for pictures, one for backups, and so on. Now, because you have a WESTERN DIGITAL drive (external), you can go to Western Digital's website and download the free version of Acronis True Image 2010 Western Digital Edition.
This fine software will make easy work out of creating the RIGHT KIND of backup (a FULL SYSTEM IMAGE) which would protect you if your main internal hard disk drive were to go bad (either from hardware melt-down or accidental or malicious actions like erasures, reformats, virus attacks, and so on).
For the novice user, a hard disk drive is like a magnetic tape recorder...it's great until it fails...then it's a lot less great!
The Acronis True Image software (also available for outright purchase from www.acronis.com) allows you to do most of the common tasks associated with hard drive failures and/or upgrades. Backup and Restore are the two key functions I'm speaking about, but CLONING to a new larger drive is also a common task when space begins to dwindle. Warning: If you have RAID ARRAY configured in your system BIOS (startup file that runs before Windows 7 loads), the CLONING option won't work properly. That's because the extra drive you're trying to clone to isn't configured as RAID (it's configured as IDE or "non-raid"). On my Dell Studio XPS 9000 i7 system, I blew my RAID array trying to clone that array to a non-raid device while the operating system was running.
Western Digital support desk will help you with the Acronis True Image (Western Digital Edition) software, and I highly advise visiting with their support to be sure you have the program set up properly.
 | ||
| Screen Shot of Acronis True Image WD Edition |
 | ||
| The About Screen Showing 2010 Version |
In my view, buy the full version of this software. It is robust, simple to use, and offers automatic verification of your backups each time you create one (that's very important - you need to know the backup is 'valid' (not corrupted or unreadable) BEFORE disaster strikes. You also can easily burn a BOOT CD which you would use to RESTORE your hard disk if it failed, or if you decided to put in a LARGER (upgraded) hard drive.
My point is that setting this program up is quite simple and worthwhile. Spend $100 for a good sized hard disk (suggestion: Western Digital) and then grab the software from their website. Then run a full system image backup. Afterwards, use their software to VERIFY your backup is good (not corrupt). Chances are you're golden in case of hard disk failure. Questions? Contact WESTERN DIGITAL SUPPORT.
No comments:
Post a Comment