| It's a fact of life that bad things happen to | | | | capacity, and so on. A discussion of those |
| good people's data every now and then. And | | | | limits is beyond the scope of this article, |
| when it does, too often the victim is not | | | | but the most important thing to remember is |
| prepared for it. Is that the case with you? | | | | that the best backup is the one that works. |
| Are you prepared in advance for a complete | | | | That means that regardless of the media you |
| loss of critical files and data on your | | | | choose, just make a choice and stick to a |
| computer or on your computer network? | | | | backup schedule like glue. |
| | | | |
| If you aren't prepared in advance, you will | | | | There are sevral good backup programs out |
| most likely have to use a data recovery | | | | there that work very well and will do a fine |
| service or data recovery software solution to | | | | job, but most Microsoft Windows users have a |
| help get back as much as you can of what was | | | | great backup program included with their |
| lost. This can be a very good idea if there | | | | operating software. If you are a Windows XP |
| is no other way to recover your files, but it | | | | user that program is called NTBackup. If it's |
| doesn't have to come to that in most cases. | | | | not already installed on your computer insert |
| | | | your Windows CD, find the folder titled |
| This is a classic situation of where an ounce | | | | ValueAdd\MSFT\ntbackup, and run the program |
| of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A | | | | in that folder called ntbackup.msi. It will |
| very simple backup routine that is adhered to | | | | set up the backup software for use on your |
| on a daily basis can usually solve any data | | | | computer in no time and you will even have |
| loss situation quickly and fairly painlessly. | | | | simple to use wizards that will walk you |
| And it won't cost you anything but the time | | | | through doing file backups and restores |
| neded to restore the data files from your | | | | simply and easily. |
| backups, and maybe the program files from the | | | | |
| original disks. | | | | Once the software is installed, it is now up |
| | | | to you to use it faithfully to prepare for |
| There is a wide choice of media that you can | | | | data recovery when it is needed. Maybe you |
| backup your files to, inclusing CDs, DVDs, | | | | never will need it. But don't count on that. |
| external hard drives, other internal hard | | | | You will be so glad that you have a solid |
| drives, tape drives, etc. They all work, it's | | | | reliable way to restore lost files if |
| just that each media choice has it's own pros | | | | disaster ever happens on your computer. It's |
| and cons regarding ease of use, data storage | | | | truly the easy way to data recovery! |