http://articles.wegetyoustarted.com/rss.xml A blog about wegetyoustarted.com daily 365 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://articles.wegetyoustarted.com/?a=36506 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>Computers today are used in every part of life. They are used for communication, work, play and even to buy food. Therefore, when you lose a computer or even just a file from your computer, it is like losing your best friend. You can't back up or replace a best friend, but you can backup files, or your entire computer if desired.<br /><br />Several back up methods exist. Some computers will automatically back themselves up; you just need to find the folder where the back up is stored. If your computer does not have this function, or you are not sure if the function exists or is working, manually back up your files. For example, after creating an important Microsoft Word document, save it at least twice in at least two different locations. <br /><br />If however, you lose your entire hard drive, it won't matter how many times you have saved the same document. To avoid this dilemma, save your files on something other than the computer's hard drive. Floppy disks are not commonly used, but they will work for small files. Be ware that floppy disks can be unreliable and often crash just as your computer did. <br /><br />USB Drives are becoming more popular as a back up tool. A USB drive is a small device that holds large amounts of information. It works like a floppy disk in that you can place files, delete files or move files around within the USB. All recent computers have USB ports that should be able to read any USB device.<br /><br />CD ROMs are also a popular way to back up your files. A CD ROM looks just like a music CD you would buy in a store, but can hold up to 700 MB of information. This allows for large files or a large amount of small files to be stored on this disk. Once you put information onto a CD ROM, you can not add files or change the files on the disk. This can be one way of ensuring nobody else tampers with your work, but can also be frustrating when you would like to back up a newer version of your work. In this case, a CD RW disk may suit you better. RW stands for re writable disk. On this kind of disk you can add, delete and rewrite files until the disk is full. When using the rewrite option, be sure you do not accidentally rewrite something you wanted to keep the back up of.<br /><br />Both CD options can be done on most home computers. You will need a CD (possibly two in case the first one ends up as practice!), and a CD burner. Almost all computers sold today, or sold recently, are equipped with a basic CD burner and burning software that is generally simple to use. If your computer is not equipped with these devices, you may purchase a basic CD burner and software for a relatively inexpensive price. Once you have created your back up CD, take care to keep it in a cool dry place where it will be safe from damage.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach Florida. Find more about this as data recovery at <a href="http://www.wegetyoustarted.com/">http://www.wegetyoustarted.com</a></p> 2006-11-24T17:58-05:00 http://articles.wegetyoustarted.com/?a=36505 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>Data recovery could possibly be the best words you will ever hear. If your computer never crashes and you never delete anything on accident, then those words will never apply. However, every computer user at one point or another will face the dreaded feeling of losing one file, or hundreds of files. Information can be lost through human accidents, natural disasters or viruses. Today's computer viruses can be deadly for your computer. The chances of getting back what the virus has ruined is about the same as any other deletion cause. That likelihood can be high, depending on how much time and money you are willing to spend.<br /><br />Once a file or files have been deleted; assess how valuable those files are to you. How much time did it take to create? How much money did you use creating it, or how much money was it making you? Do the resources still exist to recreate the file? Once you have answered these questions set a limit to how much time and money you will spend trying to recover the file information. Often times once you get started searching for a file it can be difficult to stop. Keep in mind that even if the file is found, it may be corrupt and therefore unusable. <br /><br />The first step to finding deleted files is to check the Recycle Bin, or Trash for Macintosh users. If your file is listed in the Recycle Bin restoration is simple. If you are not so lucky, try a data recovery software program or a human specialist. When working with a specialist, tell them everything you know about the files lost. Were they text or photo files? What kind of file was it (TIFF, PDF, etc)? What did the file contain? The more information you can provide, the easier it will be for the specialist to locate the file. Keep in mind text files and small files are much easier to recover successfully than photo files or large files.<br /><br />If your entire hard drive is lost you have fewer and more expensive options. If parts of your hard drive have broken, such as the aperture arm or platters, try running a data recovery software program. If that is not successful you will need to bring the hard drive to a specialist. Using highly trained skills and the known filing structure and formats, a specialist can generally recover your data. If not, he can at least rebuild your hard drive so you are not without a computer. Any recovery specialist will be costly and require payment even if the drive was not recovered.<br /><br />To avoid these types of situations, back up important files (or your entire hard drive) using disks, USBs, CDs or a server. Even having two of the same file in the same place will help you if you accidentally delete a file. Backing up files will take you much less time and cost much less money than a data recovery solution, so plan ahead and back it up!</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach Florida. Find more about this as data recovery at <a href="http://www.wegetyoustarted.com/">http://www.wegetyoustarted.com</a></p> 2006-11-24T17:55-05:00