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The Importance of Backup

Backup is one of the most important things that any computer user can do. Computers have become ingrained into our daily lives, and there are things on our computers that we need or want that can never be replaced if lost. This is why backup is so important to us. Family photographs, stories, business papers, tax documents, whatever you keep on your computer that cannot be replaced: this is what you want to backup.

We have all heard stories about people whose computers have crashed and they have lost everything, and you never want this to happen to you. Always keep your files in backup, because you never know when it will come in handy.

System Restore and Computer Backup

One of the greatest utilities in newer versions of Windows (Windows 2000 and Windows XP) is that of system restore. This is a backup system built into your computer that will allow you to restore your computer to a previous state in the case that something happens to your computer making it inoperable or greatly limiting your computing abilities.

If you are infected with a computer virus or have other problems with your system, using system restore to revert to a backup setting for your computer can greatly assist you in restoring your computer to normal in the event of damage to your system.

Operating systems which allow for system restore will usually automatically save settings periodically to ensure that you always have a working system in backup, and will also allow you to backup your settings yourself if you feel that you are doing something which might damage the system.

Having Backups of Your Files in Case of System Restore

One problem with system restore that any changes made between the time of the last system save and the time that you lost use of your system will be deleted in the system restore. If you have important files that have been created in the meantime, it will be important to have separate backups to ensure that you can restore those files as well as your system.

You should also not depend completely upon system restore, as some problems with your computer might prove too difficult for system restore to handle, or the entire system restore system might fail. It is a wonderful utility, but it is not a total replacement of traditional backups using disks or CD-ROMs.

It is not difficult to create backups for your files. CD burners are faster and easier to use than ever, and with CD-RWs you can even use the same disk to create multiple backups of your files, something not possible with the original CD-Rs. CD-RWs are a little more expensive than CD-Rs, but they will save you money in the long run as you can create multiple backups with a single disk rather than having to purchase a new disk every time you want to create a new backup. They are wonderful tools to help you ensure that your files are safe and will never be lost.

Walter Stevens is a contributor at Free-backup.info -- the home of the popular Amazon S3 based online backup solution -- Back2zip. This article is also at http://free-backup.info/system-restore-and-computer-backup.html