This tutorial will show you the best way to back-up the data on your computer. This backup procedure will use free software wherever possible and strive to create a process that is easy to maintain.

This how-to will show you the 3 things you need to do to ensure that you never loose data again. The first will show you hot to create a clean starting point of your operating system and basic software such as Microsoft Office. The second shows how to backup your files locally onto a large USB disk drive. Finally, important files are backed up online.

If you're upgrading vista to windows 7 or reformatting your hard drive, performing a quick backup is a good way to avoid data loss if and when problems occur.

Quick Backup Guide

Option 1:

1. Connect an large external hard drive to your computer.
2. Carefully locate all of your documents, e-mail, music, movies, bookmarks, etc and copy those files to the new hard drive.
3. It is impossible to copy applications. You must reinstall them from their source disks or download them again from the Internet.

Option 2:

1. Use Acronis True Image (described below) to create a complete image of your hard drive.
2. This is the best way to ensure that you don't loose any data.
3. While you will still need to copy your documents, e-mail, music, etc to an external hard drive if you're upgrading your operating system, creating a full system image will allow you to revert to your origional setup (ie: go back to where you started) without any hassle.

Even if you're a home user, using this process is the most effective way of storing your data. If you run a business or are responsible the data that your business uses, this approach will be invaluable. The key advantages to the method described here include:

1. You will have a clean, error free base installation of each operating system. Never again will you need to spend hours installing Windows, updating drivers and system software. Re-insatlling your operating system to factory perfect settings will take less than 20 minuets!

2. This process will backup your files "locally" or in your own home / office for fast and reliable backups and restores.

3. This process will backup your files "remotely" and securely on the Internet so that in the event of theft, fire, or other disaster, your data will be safe and easily retrievable.

What you'll need: An external USB hard drive. About an hour.

1. Run a virus scan to ensure that your files are clean. Connect a USB hard drive to your computer. Copy all of the files that you use to the hard drive. This might include your MP3 collection, movies, documents, photographs, etc. Disconnect the USB hard drive to ensure that the files will remain safe.

2. Format the hard drive inside of your computer (not the USB drive). There's a really great tutorial on how to do this at: How to Reformat a Laptop

3. Starting with your virus software, re-install all of the software that you use every day.

4. Last, create a disk image using software such as [Acronis True Image http://www.acronis.com/]. This will create a compressed copy of the work you have done so that when you would like to format your computer in the future, you won't have to waste time installing your opperating system or software. In 20 minutes and with only a couple of clicks, your computer will be restored to this exact, clean point.

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If you would like to backup your files online I suggest that you use Mozy. Mozy allows you to backup 2 gigabytes of data for free. After that, they have reasonably priced monthly plans. Mozy provides you with software that you download and install on your PC.

If you would like to backup your files locally, I suggest that you use SyncBackSE. This software also has a free unlimited version and works very well. It will work automatically on your Windows PC to backup your files and will only alert you if there is a problem. Many users have used this software for years without any trouble.

Most I.T. professionals recommend that you use both online (remote) and offline (local) backup. This is pretty easy to setup and only means that you need to point the Mozy software to backup the files that SyncBackSE has archived locally.

You can download the SyncBackSE free version here: http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html#freeware

Personally, I keep most of my important files in the "My Documents" folder. So setting up SynBackSE is easy - I just tell the software to backup that folder.

I also keep "incremental" backups. An incremental backup is simply a copy of the files at different times and comes in handy if I make a mistake and want to "go back in time" to find a specific version of the file.

Here is a great video showing how to setup Mozy:

Basically, you just need to download the Mozy software and configure it to backup the files that SyncBackSE has archived.

A lot of people overlook this step and when it's time to restore a backup, are left frustrated. Testing takes very little effort but does take some time.

Testing is as simple as allowing your backups to run as scheduled and restore them.