It goes without saying that if you have important files on your computer, then it is imperative to make copies of them. Do you have important files? The more you use a personal computer, the more files you accumulate. Some of them, you probably would not want to lose. 

In June 2006, the New York Times reported that Microsoft research showed that 9 out of 10 PC owners do not regularly back up their files. Perhaps they don't know where to begin. If that's you, you've come to the right class. 

The class covers the choices and options involved in making backups. It provides an overview of different types of backups, reviews some software in each category and covers the pros and cons of various hardware used to store backup files. It is not a hands-on class. That is, the class does not offer training in using any particular backup program. The goal is for students to understand the issues, options and trade-offs, so they can chose a backup plan (hardware and software) that works for them. 

The most common type of backup is of your data files. The class covers full, incremental and (my favorite) replication type backups for data files. In addition, we cover backing up critical Windows system files and also "image" backups of entire partitions. For each of these three types of backups, a handful of software programs are reviewed. Almost all the software discussed in the class is free. 

As for backup hardware, the class covers CDs, DVDs, USB flash drives, four types of external hard disks and more. We also cover Internet based or online backups. Don't trust yourself to make backups? There are automatic backups too, that is, backups that take place without your having to initiate them. 

Everyone knows backing up your computer is important, yet most people don't do it. After this class, you will. There will be software demonstrations as time and facilities allow. 

This is a 4 hour class. The material covered applies to Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 2000 and XP. The class comes with an 88 page handout.

Don't wait for the next hurricane to back-up:

• Backups Enabled Systems to Survive Washington Post September 21, 2005. Data Protection Paid Off After Katrina
  Recovering data in the post-Katrina Gulf Coast September 2, 2005. CNET News.com
• Hurricane drives interest in online backups September 1, 2005. CNET News.com
• Safeguarding IT against the next Katrina August 29, 2005. CNET News.com 
• Recovery firms spring to action during storm August 29, 2005. CNET News.com

FYI: This class got mentioned in Newsday on December 2, 2003 (Disk That Go, and Disks to Throw by Lou Dolinar). Quoting: "This class is highly recommended, judging from his Web site and some comments in an e-mail to me ... He's a big fan of Replicator, a free backup program from Karen Kenworthy. Many features, but the neat thing is that it creates backups in the same format as the input, meaning they can be read directly by the program that created them. Definitely worth a look..."  
 

Additional Details  TOP

The class starts by categorizing the files on a computer into: Operating System (Windows) files, temporary files, application files and user data files. The backup requirements for temporary and application files are briefly touched on.

• Backing up your data files

  Data file backups are the standard backups most people use most of the time. This topic covers the concepts and options involved in backup software, as well as a number of different products. There are different types of data file backups, the class discusses: full, incremental, replication and differential. The products are covered from the bottom up, that is, we start with the simplest programs first and then move up the scale of options, complexity and expense. All the backup software discussed is free, with one exception. We cover Windows Explorer, XCOPY, Zip programs, a WSH backup script that I wrote, Replicator from Karen Kenworthy, the backup programs that come with Windows and Second Copy 2000 ($30). We briefly cover higher end backup programs, however, students get an understanding of the concepts and options involved with backing up their data files, so they are prepared to evaluate the more expensive and complicated programs should the need arise.

• Backing up System files

  Why and when to backup critical Windows system files. The pros and cons of this type of backup. A review of relevant software including the System Restore function in Windows XP and Me. We do not cover Registry backups per se because the registry is included in backups of Windows system files.

• Where to backup to?

  A review of assorted external backup media/drives such as: small, medium and large external hard disks, removable cartridge devices, CD-R, CD-RW, DVDs, assorted flash memory devices and web based or online backups.

• Burning (creating) CD’s for Backups

  There are various hardware and software issues involved with using CDs as a backup medium. We start with overview of CD-R vs. CD-RW. Although popular, the class covers quite a few down sides to CD-based backups. There is also an interesting comparison of CDs vs. USB Thumb drives as backup media.

• Burning DVDs for Backups

  The different types of DVDs and their pros and cons. Also, a comparison of DVDs vs. CDs for backups.

• Copying Partitions

  Partition copies are the "gold standard" of backups. They offer guaranteed recovery from any and all software problems. This type of backup is completely separate and distinct from file oriented backups. Partitions can be copied using either Partitioning software (such Partition Magic and Partition Commander) or disk image software (such Drive Image or Ghost). The class covers both. These tools don't copy files per se. Instead, they make bit-by-bit, sector-by-sector copies of the hard drive partition. The pros and cons of copying partitions are compared to file oriented backups.

• Automatic backups

  These are backups that happen without user intervention and without having to be scheduled. Some application programs, such as those in Microsoft Office, can be configured to automatically make backups of a file before you start changing it. However, only some programs offer this feature and they may not keep multiple copies of the backed up files. Programs such as GoBack, eliminate both these problems. They run constantly in the background and back up every file on the computer as it is changed. The pros and cons of this type of software, which is not a replacement for standard data file backups, is discussed.

Class Topics TOP

Introduction Different Types of Files  Backing up Windows System Files  o ConfigSafe o System Restore Data File Backups o Bottom of the Line: Windows Explorer, Zip, XCOPY o Scheduling Backups o Backup Profiles  o My Backup Script o Replicator o SyncToy o Second Copy 2000  o Top Tier Backup Programs  Backup Hardware  o Cheat Sheet  o External Removable Media Backup Devices  o External hard disks: very small, small, full size, CMS, iPods  o Internet Based Backups (Online or Off-Site)  o Network Attached Storage (NAS) Flash RAM Backup Hardware   o Flash RAM Floppy Disks o Thumb Drives o Flash RAM vs. CDs  o Flash RAM vs. Small Hard Disks Using CDs For Backups  o CD-R and CD-RW o CD Burners o CD Problems  Using DVDs for Backups  Copying Partitions o Disk Image Software o Partitioning Software o Laptop Hard Disk Backups  Backing Up Email  o Outlook and Outlook Express o Thunderbird, Mozilla and Netscape  Backing Up Favorites and Bookmarks  Automatic Backups o Single Applications  o System Wide Automatic Backups One-Two Punch - Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files Examples of Personal Backup Systems

Links  TOP

Articles mentioned in class:

• How to Prepare for One Really Quick Getaway by Damon Darlin New York Times October 1, 2005. More than just computer files. 
• E.R. for Hard Drives by Eric Taub in the New York Times. July 14, 2005. Scared straight. Save $6,000 - back up now. 
• Recipe for Disaster Recovery by Walter Mossberg March 2004 Smart Money magazine. One person's personal backup strategy.
• Backing Up--Still Hard to Do by Stephen Manes in the October 2003 issue of PC World. Everybody needs a backup strategy. Here's mine.
• PC Backup Is a Must Now; This Method Is Simple, Automated By Walter Mossberg October 7, 2004. External hard disks. 

Backing up data files  TOP

Note: links have been purposely suppressed for printing.

• Synctoy a freebie from Microsoft
• Not All Backup Software Is Created Equal by Danny Allen from the August 2006 issue of PC World magazine. June 21, 2006. Reviews NovaBackup, BackUp MyPC, Genie Backup manager, Retrospect and WinBackup. 
• How To: Back Up Your Hard Drive by Michael Brown in Maximum PC magazine. June 6, 2006. Describes using the free version of SyncBack from 2BrightSparks. I would not recommend the program.
• In Case of Disaster, Have a Backup Plan for Your PC New York Times May 14, 2006
• How to Back Up and Recover Outlook Express Data from Microsoft June 2004
• How do I backup my Outlook Express email? August 20, 2004 by Leo Notenboom. 
• Backing up is easy, Part 1: Save the stuff you created, not your program files July 18, 2004 By Al Fasoldt
• Backing up is easy, Part 2: Windows and Mac software you'll love July 25, 2004 By Al Fasoldt
• WinZip is the gold standard   
• Free Zip programs FreeZip, Info-Zip,  EnZip and ZipCentral
• My backup script is free 
• Replicator from Karen Kenworthy is free 
• Second Copy 2000 is $30. It was reviewed in March 2004 by the Net Net Tricks newsletter.  
• Backup 4 All a free backup program 
• A review of Second Copy 2000 in PC magazine. June 17, 2003 
• HOW TO: Install Backup from the CD-ROM in Windows XP Home Edition (Q302894)
• HOW TO: Use Backup to Back Up Files and Folders on Your Computer in Windows XP Professional (Q308422)
• HOW TO: Use Backup to Restore Files and Folders on Your Computer in Windows XP (Q309340)
• Outlook and Outlook Express
• OEBackup is a free backup program devoted to Outlook Express. Read about it Outlook Express Backup by Marc Liron
• DBXtract recovers messages from damaged mail folder 

Where to Backup to?  TOP

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• The GoVault drive from Quantum has cartridges of 40GB, 80GB and 120GB. It is based on 2.5 inch laptop hard drives. April 2006. Review
• The Iomega REV drive holds 35GB on a single removable cartridge. Read a review by James Gaskin from October 2005. Like the GoVault above, it is also based on a 2.5 inch hard disk drive.   
• Create permanent folders and share over a network from pcstats.com November 14, 2004 
• Preserving your digital data requires high- and low-tech solutions  USA Today. January 30, 2004. About backup media. 
• The Cornice Storage Element is a 1.5 GB hard disk that is very small and cheap. It can be found in a USB keychain flash storage device. www.corniceco.com 
• Tape's last legs DVD-RAM and Blu-Ray spell doom for magnetic tape. By Tom Yager in InfoWorld. June 13, 2003 
• Storage tape format hits milestone About the sales of tapes in Linear Tape-Open Ultrium format and Quantum's Super DLTtape (SDLT) format. CNET News.com July 22, 2003 
• Slipped Disk Switching to CD-RWs Will Save You Money. About various backup media including Zip disks, CD-RW and keychain storage. The Village Voice. Brendan Koerner. June 2, 2003
• Start-up brings hard drive to the masses June 3, 2003, CNET News.com. About a 1.5 GB extra small hard disk from Cornice. 
• Bye-Bye CD-RW? Prices have come down to the point that DVD is a better backup choice than CD PC World. February 5, 2003 
• Iomega Gets Its Zip Back About the 750 MB zip drives. Forbes magazine, August 2002.
• Storage: Return of the Zip Drive About the 750 MB zip drives. PC World magazine. September 25, 2002
• Rewritable drives and backup. PC Magazine. A collection of many articles about CD burners and DVD burners 
• CMS Peripherals

Automatic backups  TOP

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• Two Notepad replacements, TextPad and NoteTab Light can create a backup of the file being edited when you start editing and can also auto-save every X minutes.
• Programs that automatically back up files as you work:  
• GoBack from Symantec (formerly from Roxio)
• AutoSave from V Communications
• Flashback from Aladdin
• QuickSync and Automatic Backup from Iomega
• Real Time Backup PC Magazine June 2003 
• LiveBackup from Storactive
• DataKeeper from PowerQuest
• GoBack 3 Deluxe Review  PC Magazine June 17, 2003
• Real-Time Backup Review of Iomega Automatic Backup 1.0.2 and AutoSave 1.10. PC Magazine June 17, 2003

Network Attached Storage (NAS)  TOP

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• I wrote a review of NASLite from serverelements.com
• D-Link DNS-323 NAS Review By Loyd Case in ExtremeTech  February 8, 2007
• SMB NAS Roundup December 5, 2006. By Ross Whitehead Jason Clark Dave Muysson at AnandTech. Very long article that reviews seven different NAS devices.
• Now It's Easy to Back Up Data on a Network New York Times March 30, 2006. A review of four NAS devices. 
• Maxtor's NAS Offers Simple Solution PC World March 15, 2005. New Shared Storage Drive offers affordable, easy-to-use networked file sharing.
• Net Drives PC World magazine  December 29, 2004. Got multiple PCs and a network? New net-ready hard drives are a smart, affordable way to back up and share data.  
• Network Storage for Home and Business February 2005 PC World magazine. Their top 10 products. 
• A File Server...in Your Living Room? By Burt Helm in Business Week November 15, 2004 
• Creating a Data Backup Server By Bill Howard, PC Magazine July 13, 2004
• Linksys Network Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives (NSLU2)  reviewed by Toms Hardware July 6, 2004 
• LAN in a Can By Bill Howard PC Magazine June 22, 2004. A review of some NAS devices 
• Buffalo Technology’s LinkStation is the cheapest NAS device I've seen. See a CNet review from February 25, 2004
• Mirra Personal Server is a NAS device
• Mirra Backs Up Files For Access Anywhere, But Has Rough Edges By Walter Mossberg in the Wall Street Journal. January 29, 2004
• Serve a Mirra Image of Your Digital Media PC Magazine January 20, 2004. A review of a NAS device.
• Saving Private Information By Bill Howard January 15, 2004. A review of many NAS devices 
• Maxtor Network Attached Storage 
• Snap Appliance makes NAS devices 
• The Snap Server 1100 reviewed by Ars Technica October 2003. A NAS server for $560. 
• Review: D-Link Central Home Drive By Loyd Case for ExtremeTech October 22, 2003. Sold for $240 in August 2004. 
• The DSM-604H Central Home Drive is a 40 GB network attached storage from D-Link. About $360 in August 2004. 
• The EFG80 - EtherFast® Network Attached Storage from Linksys offers 80GB of space 
• Ximeta NetDisk NDU-160 reviewd by Ars Technica March 2004. About $250. Ximeta web site

Flash Ram Backup Devices  TOP

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• Lexar JumpDrive Secure II USB Flash Drive Anandtech October 21, 2005 
• Yes, you can take it all with you By Michelle Kessler, USA TODAY. March 21, 2005 
• Flash Drives: Always on the Go, Without Moving Parts by Douglas Heingartner from February 17, 2005. A very bad article. See my comments on it.  Alternate Link
• The USB Flash Drive Alliance FAQ
• From Storage, a New Fashion by Michel Marriott in the New York Times September 23, 2004
• What's Behind The USB Drive Revolution by Fred Langa in Information Week June 21, 2004 
• You can take it with you: 13 tiny USB flash drives CNet April 2, 2004. Reviews of 13 flash ram keychain storage devices
• Key Chain Drives Take Off Forbes Magazine January 23, 2004 
• A Road Test of 'Keychain' Drives November 12, 2003, By Walter Mossberg in the Wall Street Journal
• Now, Even Your Watch Can Help You Carry Your Computer Files by Kevin J. Delaney in the Wall Street Journal. September 25, 2003
• Flash Memory: Pick a Card An overview of the various flash memory cards, including their underlying technologies, their uses, and their prospects for the future. PC Magazine September 2, 2003 issue. by Bill Howard
• Clearing up memory-card clutter David Coursey, AnchorDesk on ZDnet. August 27, 2003. About keychain storage devices and flash ram memory card formats. 
• USB Memory Drives: Beyond Simply Storage About the IBM 256MB USB 2.0 Memory Key and the Iomega Mini USB Drive PC Magazine August 5, 2003 issue
• Memory Cards Get Smaller, Faster, Cheaper. IDG News Service March 13, 2003
• Struggling With Memory Cards By David Pogue. The New York Times. February 6, 2003 About the proliferation of competing card formats.
• What Can You Squeeze Into a USB Pen Drive? Vendors of the key chain-sized drives get creative, cramming music, biometric locks, tiny cameras, and other extras into the storage devices. PCWorld.com November 25, 2002 
• Bridging The Flash Format Gap With Multi-Format Readers/Writers Tom's Hardware. October 2002. A long article reviewing universal flash ram memory card adapters from Atech, Belkin, Carry, Imation, Kingston, PQI and SanDisk. 
• Keychain Drives Get Better Forbes Magazine October 4, 2002. Mentions the Kanguru MicroDrive+ which accepts SD and MMC cards.
• Flash Memory and Small Storage PC World Magazine September 19, 2002. A good overview of the many types of Flash RAM storage
• Unlimited Storage That Fits in Your Pocket PC Magazine September 18, 2002. A review of the original SanDisk Cruzer. It got four stars.
• New Storage For Digital Cameras Forbes Magazine August 2, 2002. About the XD Picture Card from Fujifilm and Olympus
• Mini megabytes: USB flash drives. An in-depth look at seven different models. August 2002. CNet. They liked the EasyDisk
• CF Card Readers PC Magazine June 30, 2002. Reviews of the SanDisk ImageMate, PNY Dual Slot USB Flash Card Reader, SCM Dazzle 6-In-1 Universal Card Reader, Lexar FireWire CF Digital Film Reader and LaCie Hexa Media Drive 
• Booming market seen for USB drives CNET News.com. November 11, 2002. The market for flash memory-based USB storage devices is expected to grow rapidly over the new few years.
• Sony shrinks its Memory Stick July 12, 2002 Sony is looking to take a bigger piece of the market with a smaller memory card.
• New Computer Memory Keychains Store, Transfer Large Files Easily Introductory article by Walter Mossberg, Wall Street Journal, February 21, 2002
• The New Floppy by Walter Mossberg. Smart Money. January 14, 2002. 
• Secure Digital ready to make mark on flash. CNET News.com. July 13, 2001. 
• Stamp-Sized Storage Forbes Magazine. June 2001. About the SD - secure digital memory cards
• Hard Drive On A Keychain Forbes Magazine. May 2001. About the DiskOnKey from M-Systems
• How Flash Memory Works
• Home pages for the original SanDisk Cruzer and the newer Cruzer Mini

External Hard Disks  TOP

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• Review: Three One-Touch Backup Drives Desktop Pipeline. October 18, 2005. External hard drives from Maxtor, IOGear, and Seagate let you back up your data at the touch of a button.
• External Hard Disks from everythingusb.com 
• Small or Smaller? Ultraportable Hard Disks at Toms Hardware July 12, 2005
• Cheaper, Faster and More Versatile: External Hard Drives from CoolMax, Maxtor and Seagate Tom's Hardware March 8, 2005 
• External Storage: Little Big Drives By Bill Machrone in PC Magazine September 21, 2004 issue 
• External Drives for the Office and the Road from PC World magazine. Reviews of 9 different models. May 2004 
• CMS Brings External SATA Drive and Bootability to Windows By David Morgenstern in eWeek November 15, 2003 
• External Drive Shootout: Maxtor OneTouch vs. Seagate External  ExtremeTech November 6, 2003 
• No More Backup or Drive Install Woes About the Maxtor OneTouch line. By M. David Stone in PC magazine August 26, 2003
• Storage Gets Smarter Forbes Magazine August 26, 2003. About the Maxtor OneTouch drives. 
• Maxtor to release new backup drive About the Maxtor OneTouch drives. CNET News.com August 25, 2003
• Smart and Simple: Portable 2.5" Hard Drives from Fujitsu and Valueplus  July 29, 2003 Tom's Hardware 
• A one paragraph review of ABSplus 5.0 from CMS Peripherals in PC magazine June 17, 2003 
• Update Your Backup Plan About external hard disks. PC Magazine Jim Seymour April 2, 2002
• A Big and Flexible External Drive About a Maxtor 200 GB external hard disk (5000DV). February 12, 2003. ExtremeTech.
• Maxtor's OneTouch Backup Hard Drive. A review of the 120GB model 5000DV. PC World magazine October 31, 2002 
• Maxtor works to simplify data backup An article about the 5000 line of Maxtor disks. CNet. October 10, 2002
• One-Touch Data Salvation An article about the 5000 line of Maxtor disks. Forbes magazine. October 11, 2002
• A Hard Drive for the Hip Pocket. The New York Times July 26, 2002. Reviews a handful of external hard disks
• Archos Puts 20GB in Your Pocket Review of a small, light, 20GB disk. By Lincoln Spector for PCWorld June 5, 2002

Online (aka off-site) Backups  TOP

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• Store It on the Web from the July 2006 issue of PC World magazine June 2, 2006 by Jon L. Jacobi, Erik Larkin, and Steve Bass. These 17 free and low-cost services make it easier than ever to back up and share your files online. At the time, they preferred the Online File Folder service from GoDaddy. 
• Novell NetDrive v4.1 User Guide from Novell
• NetDrive installation instructions and software download from Loyola College 
• GoDaddy Online File Folders - screen shots
• The Online Storage Gang  January 31, 2006. A review of 13 companies. They liked OmniDrive, Box.net and Streamload.
• How to disaster-proof your files by Marilyn Sweet in the Denver Business Journal November 7, 2005 
• Box.net offers 1 GB for free
• Flood might destroy your PC, but not off-site backup files by Mike Himowitz Baltimore Sun. September 8, 2005
• Hurricane drives interest in online backups September 1, 2005. CNET News.com. 
• A Tidy Option for Data Pack Rats By Bob Tedeschi in the New York Times June 2, 2005. About Xdrive, Streamload, Yahoo Briefcase, and Apple's iDisk 
• Help for Digital Pack Rats by Bob Tedeschi in the New York Times January 24, 2005. About online file storage including xdrive and streamload
• Yahoo Briefcase
• Online Backup Services PC World November 18, 2004 Safe, simple options for backing up. Plus: A lesson from Kim Novak.
• All Your Data, All the Time, Anywhere? by Stephen Manes PC World magazine November 22, 2004. Broadband will render local storage obsolete. Or will it? 
• Online Backup Services One paragraph overviews of @Backup, IBackup, Connected TLM and OnlineBackupCenter. PC Magazine June 17, 2003
• Data Backups Have Never Been Easier. Business Week. June 21, 2002. About TLM. 
• Protecting Desktops and Laptops the Right Way A review of Connected TLM 6.1, eSupport Essentials 4.02, NetBackup Professional 3.5 and Overland Data Neo LXN4000. PC Magazine. February 26, 2002. 
• Online backup: be careful out there CNet October 28, 2002. Problems with Connected TLM and SwapDrive
• Online storage: Risky move for your files. ZDnet News April 23, 2002. About online storage companies that went out of business overnight.
• Utilities: Disk Tools PC Magazine. June 26, 2001. TLM
• Utilities: Disk Tools PC Magazine June 26, 2001. iBackup

Burning (creating) CDs for Backups  TOP

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• Warning: those irreplaceable CDs won't last forever by Mike Himowitz in the Baltimore Sun March 30, 2006
• Scratch-Less CDs are scratch resistant and expensive
• Are DVDs and CDs Disintegrating? by Lance Ulanoff in PC Magazine. August 30, 2005. Making CDs and DVDs last as long as possible.
• Some errors when burning CDs: File name too long, Directory name too long, Mystery Compatibility problem (all from Easy CD Creator v6)
• Polishing gadget can rescue scratched or abraded disks by Mike Himowitz September 23, 2004 Baltimore Sun. About a device for cleaning CDs and DVDs - removing scratches. 
• Windows XP CD Burning Secrets September 16, 2003 by Ed Bott 
• Time To Check Your CDRs  By Fred Langa, InformationWeek. November 3, 2003 Ensure that your CDs remain archived for a decade or longer
• Understanding CD-R and CD-RW Disc Labeling from the Optical Storage Technology Association. 2001. They also have Understanding CD-R and CD-RW Disc Handling, Storage and Disposal and Disc Longevity. 
• Plextor PlexWriter Premium Review of a CD burner. PC Magazine July 3, 2003
• How to Buy a CD-RW Drive PC World magazine. No date
• Roxio's Complete Guide to Buying a CD-R/RW Drive  No date
• High-Tech Branding Irons For Custom CDs and DVDs By Walter Mossberg. June 11, 2003. About two Epson printers that can print labels directly on special CDs and DVDs.
• How to treat CD-Rs as if they were CD-RWs About multi-session recording. By Al Fasoldt July 27, 2003
• Drag 'N' Drop To CD-RW Easily PC World magazine. May 30, 2002
• How to Burn Without Getting Singed An introductory article with instructions for Easy CD Creator 5 and Nero 5. PC World. July 2002
• Burning CDs in Windows XP. How does Win XP’s inbuilt CD-burning software work? What are its limitations? How to you work around them, or fix common problems? By Alex Nichol. Last updated June 7, 2003. 
• Is Your Data Disappearing? by Fred Langa in Information Week, July 23, 2001. All CDs do not have the same life expectancy.
• Stop Buffer Underrun Cold Screen Savers on TechTV June 25, 2001 
• HOW TO: Back Up Information to a CD in Windows XP (Q306524) This is if don't have CD-burning software which typically it comes with CD burner 
• Compact Disc Recorded in Windows XP Is Missing Files or Folders or Is Unreadable
• CD-ROM Drive May Not Be Able to Read a UDF-Formatted Disc in Windows XP (Q321640) 
• CD-ROM Drive May Be Unable to Read UDF-Formatted Disc (Q193551) in Windows 2000
• Andy McFadden's CD-Recordable FAQ
• CDR Media Code Identifier a free program that reads a hidden area of a CD disc and tells you about the disc 
• CD Media World learn about CD discs
• CD Burning Basics by Ben Peipelman September 15, 2000
• Media Sciences, an independent testing lab, has advice on the care and feeding of CD discs and software links 
• Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists by Fred R. Byers October 2003. Co-published by the Council on Library and Information Resources and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Alternate PDF link  Alternate Link
• CD Recording FAQ
• CD-R Info
• CDBurnerXP Pro is a freeware CD/DVD writer program that can burn CD-R, CD-RW DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW discs
• Deepburner is free CD and DVD burning software

Burning (creating) DVDs for Backups  TOP

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• Why the Rush to Blue? PC World magazine September 21, 2005. You've heard the hype surrounding forthcoming high-capacity formats Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD. What challenges lie ahead?
• New double-layer DVDs have twice the capacity By Mike Langberg in the Mercury News August 23, 2004. Quoting: "The new system is too expensive for now and has a few bugs that will soon be ironed out. But this will be a very useful technology in about a year."
• Memorex Announces 16X Dual-Layer DVD Burner July 7, 2004
• Understanding DVD Formats
• Beware the Fading Dye: Writeable CDs, DVDs Vary a Lot in Quality By Lee Gomes in the Wall Street Journal June 21, 2004
• DVD-RAM Hits Surprising Speeds Rewriteable DVD formats may soon equal the performance of their write-once relatives. by Lincoln Spector in PC World June 8, 2004
• DVD Authoring Terminology from manifest-tech.com
• Iomega DVD Drive Does Double Duty about the Super DVD Writer 12x Dual-Format external USB 2.0 drive. It supports double-layer discs, but finding them could pose a problem. PC World May 25, 2004
• Iomega Announces Dual-Layer DVD Burner May 24, 2004. ExtremeTech.
• A review of the Sony DRU-700A Dual Layer DVD Burner by Loyd Case at ExtremeTech May 17, 2004
• Dueling Visions of a High-Definition DVD New York Times April 29, 2004
• Blue Laser Products Emerge PC World April 26, 2004. Sony and others ready high-capacity next-generation storage systems.
• DVD Dual Layer Primer by Kristopher Kubicki at Anandtech.com March 29, 2004
• Dual DVD Drives Take Over by Lincoln Spector, PC World March 25, 2004. More vendors adopt DVD +/- drives, easing choices for customers
• New DVD burners double capacity AP. March 22, 2004. Expect drives very soon that accept blank DVDs with two data layers. 
• Fast-Lane DVD Burning With quicker drives and more-potent software, the time is right to take the rewritable DVD plunge. Tests of a dozen drives and seven software suites. PC World magazine. March 9, 2004
• Burn Your Own DVDs for Backup or Video Playback How to install a DVD drive and transfer video. PC World. November 25, 2003.
• The Burning Question: A Complete Guide to Burners, Media, and DVD Authoring About making DVDs. PC Magazine October 2003
• How to burn a DVD A video from PC World magazine. No date. 
• Five Multiformat DVD Recorders Extreme Tech October 6, 2003 By Loyd Case. Reviews the Pioneer DVR-A06, Asus DRW-0402P/D, Iomega Super DVD Writer, Memorex Dual Format Drive and the Plextor PX-708A. 
• Is It Time to Upgrade to Rewritable DVD? Determine the right DVD format for you; make sense of speed ratings. PC World magazine. September 2, 2003
• How to Buy a DVD Re-writable Drive  PC World magazine. No date. 
• A review of the LG GSA-4040B DVD burner, the first to support all five DVD flavors. CNet. July 29, 2003. Similar review August 28, 2003. 
• Burning DVDs Of Any Format Forbes Magazine Ten O'Clock Tech June 20, 2003
• Iomega debuts DVD combo drive CNET News.com June 18, 2003. It does CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM
• DVD+RW, Dual-Drives Dominate PC Market By Doug Olenick TWICE June 6, 2003
• Pioneer Unveils Multiformat DVD/CD Unit PC World magazine May 19, 2003 
• Sony Speeds Multiformat DVD Drives. Upgraded drives can record data twice as fast as previous models. PC World May 15,2003
• Bye-Bye CD-RW? More choices, price drops favor DVD. PC World. February 5, 2003. 
• Sony offers upgrade for DVD rewritable drives. CNet November 20, 2002. Owners of Sony DRX-500UL and DRU-500A drives, get an error message and can't record on low-quality discs. Sony has a free firmware upgrade on its web site.
• DVD Burners Hit Prime Time A review of 13 drives. PC World magazine. October 30, 2002 
• CNet review of the internal Sony DVD burner model DRU-500A. October 1, 2002 
• A Truce In The Format War. About the different DVD formats. Forbes. September 2002
• ZDNet review of an internal Sony DVD burner. September 2002 
• PC World Spotlight on Rewritable DVD Drives Ratings and reviews of five models August 2002 
• DVD Burners: The Right Time to Buy? PC World July 2002 issue Recommends a wait-and-see strategy
• DVD+RW Drives: Ready for Primetime? ExtremeTech April 23, 2002 By Loyd Case 
• The web site of the DVD+RW Alliance
• PC Magazine Product guide to rewritable drives and backup devices 

System File Backups  TOP

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• Winternals Offers SP2 Safety Belt By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols August 24, 2004. The Winternals Recovery Manager is a well-regarded system recovery program. It enables administrators to quickly roll back Windows computers to a "known good" state when SP2 deployments, or other updates, go wrong. 
• Recovery Commander Gives XP the Boot Backup utility expands on the features found in System Restore. by Lincoln Spector, PC World February 13, 2004
• When System Restore Doesn't about a bug in System Restore PC World November 25, 2003 
• Using System Restore from Camtech 2000 
• ConfigSafe to back up system files
• CPR recovers system files when Windows can not start up
• System Rollback A review of System Restore, CPR System Health Suite and GoBack 3 Deluxe. PC Magazine June 17, 2003
• Safekeeping the Registry by Jerry Honeycutt. For Windows XP. From Microsoft March 17, 2003
• Windows XP System Restore an article from the September 2002 issue of Windows & .NET Magazine
• Langa Letter: Maximizing ''System Restore'' In WinME and WinXP July 15, 2002 Fred Langa Information Week magazine
• Recovery Manager backs up and restores system files on all computers on a network
• About System Restore from MSDN 
• Frequently Asked Questions Regarding System Restore in Windows XP from Microsoft Technet April 30, 2002
• System Restore from Microsoft no date 
• The file types monitored by System Restore from Microsoft last updated May 2004 
• HOW TO: Restore the Operating System to a Previous State in Windows XP (Q306084)
• Antivirus Tools Cannot Clean Infected Files in the _Restore Folder from Microsoft about Windows Me
• Use System Restore to Undo Changes if Problems Occur from Microsoft August 2001
• How to Back Up the Registry in Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition
• HOW TO: Backup, Edit, and Restore the Registry in Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me
• Description of the Windows Registry Checker Tool (Scanreg.exe) For Windows 98 and ME. From Microsoft
• How to Customize Registry Checker Tool Settings for Windows 98 and ME. From Microsoft
• Expert Guide to Windows 98 by Mark Minasi See Chapter 3 for backing up the Registry
• HOW TO: Backup, Edit, and Restore the Registry in Windows 2000 from Microsoft
• HOW TO: Back Up, Edit, and Restore the Registry in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 from Microsoft

Copying Partitions  TOP

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Miscellaneous  TOP

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• Keep Your Data Backups Safe, Simple, and Fast by Jon L. Jacobi from the February 2006 issue of PC World magazine. Create your own easy-to-maintain backup plan.
• PCWorld.com - Backup Tips Keep Your Data Backups Safe, Simple, and Fast
• Drive Savers the last resort for people who do not backup their important files 
• OnTrack Data Recovery another last resort. The offer a free Data Advisor program that runs from a boot floppy. 
• An Easy Way to Back Up Phone Contacts Wall Street Journal by W. Mossberg February 15, 2006 
• Avoiding Data Disasters by Larry Magid at CBS News August 30, 2005. An overview of backup options. 
• Continuing on About Backing Up by Larry Seltzer in eWeek August 23, 2005. Pros and Cons of various backups 
• Back Up or Else! PC Magazine Robert Lipschutz August 17, 2005. A long article that discusses, among other things: Traditional Backup, Continuous Backup, Imaging Software, Backup for Home Networks, Online Backup Services, External Hard Drives and Optical Drives. 
• Backing into disaster By Chad Dickerson in InfoWorld January 28, 2005. About testing recovery procedures and insuring that backups are up to snuff. 
• What backup program should I use? by Leo Notenboom. No date. 
• Revving Up Data Storage by Arik Hesseldahl in Forbes August 13, 2004. About the Iomega REV drive 
• Backup doesn't have to be boring--really by Rafe Needleman CNet June 21, 2004 
• Easy, Automated Backups Iomega's Rev USB removable-media drive gives you a large amount of storage space and swift transfer speeds. PC World magazine June 2, 2004
• PC Magazine reviewed many backup programs in the June 8, 2004 issue 
• Recipe for Disaster Recovery by Walter Mossberg March 2004 Smart Money magazine. One person's personal backup strategy. 
• Keeping Files by Sending Them Away by Lou Dolinar in Newsday. November 4, 2003. An intro to backups. 
• Full Disclosure: Backing Up--Still Hard to Do Everybody needs a backup strategy. Here's mine. by Stephen Manes in the October 2003 issue of PC World magazine. Excellent article. 
• At last, home servers Products from Ispiri, D-Link and Seagate provide much-needed consumer storage options. By Toni Kistner in Network World, September 29, 2003. Ispri is now called Mirra. 
• Easy Backups With WinZip and Freeware PC World magazine August 27, 2003. Not so easy. Requires WinZip which is $29. Also requires free software: WinZip Command Line Support Add-On, Paul Saletan's DateFile, and Jem E. Berkes's Ask.
• Breaking Traditions in Small-Business Backup To avoid disaster, you need to think about what data you need to recover—and how quickly. By David Morgenstern PC Magazine June 12, 2003 
• A review of five Traditional Backup programs: BackUp MyPC 4.85, Handy Backup 3.9, NTI Backup NOW! Deluxe 3.0, Retrospect Professional and WinBackup 1.73. PC Magazine. June 17, 2003
• Hard-Drive Repair Horror Always back up your data before sending out your PC for repair. PC World May 28, 2003
• Backup Nice and Easy by Neil J. Rubenking in PC Magazine. September 3, 2002. Overview article that touches on all aspects of a backup strategy with an eye toward simplicity.   
• Fast, Easy Backups For Win98 / ME / NT / 2K / XP by Fred Langa 
• How to Back Up, Restore, or Move Outlook Data (Q287070). Explains how to find the .pst file that Outlook 2002 uses and also lists other Outlook 2002 related files that you might want to back up.
• Common .pst File Questions by Sue Mosher Windows IT Pro Magazine. February 5, 2002. Tips about dealing with the .pst file where Outlook stores everything, including advice on backing it up.
• Will Your Next PC Have a Panic Button? BIOS maker builds PC "bomb shelter" that safeguards core utilities, applications, and maybe more. PC World magazine. February 18, 2003
• You can get back lost PC data — maybe About recovering files both after deleting them or after serious physical damage to the computer. By Monte Enbysk on Microsoft's bCentral (no date) 
• Lost data can cripple your business Seven tips about making backups. Oriented to small businesses. By Monte Enbysk on Microsoft's bCentral (no date) 
• Saving Dying Data Forbes magazine. September 12, 2002. About the permanence of computer storage.
• How to Evade Data Disaster Twenty Six smart strategies for backing up your most vital files-and for recovering them if you didn't. From the June 2002 issue of PC World magazine 
• Personal Backup Strategies Part 1 By Joel Strauch on ExtremeTech April 3, 2002. Part two. 
• Death of a Hard Drive by Bruce Kratofil in BugNet, October 1998. One persons experience.
• A not so flattering picture of me teaching this class at the NYPC User Group (opens new window).