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 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
Backing up is easy, Part 2: Windows and Mac software you'll love


July 25, 2004


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, The Post-Standard

   Life can be full of unpleasant surprises. That's why computer users need to save copies of their important files. Doing this is called making backups.
   Last week I tried to dispel the mystery over the kind of files you should copy when you do a backup. All you need to back up are items you created -- your word processor files, your financial information, the images you created using your digital camera, that kind of thing. These are all documents -- yes, even images are documents -- so, in brief, you need only back up your documents.
   (Last week's article is online at http://aroundcny.com/technofile/texts/tec071804.html.)
   There are exceptions, of course. If you're a grandparent like me, you might want to back up documents you didn't personally create, such as the digital photos your grown children send you by e-mail. But the idea is simple: Save stuff you made; don't bother saving stuff Microsoft (or Apple) made. This means you never have to back up your software, since you can always reinstall it.
   This approach turns backing up from a nightmare into an easy task. In nearly every case, you already know where your documents are or you can find out easily. On modern Windows and Macintosh computers, your documents are in folders named for their contents -- "My Documents" on a Windows PC or simply "Documents" on an Apple Macintosh, for example. Both systems also have clearly named folders for digital photos -- "My Pictures" or just "Pictures" -- and the same sort of naming method for music and movies.
   Files in those folders are what you need to back up. To make this easier to grasp, think of making a copy of the entire folder in each case.
   You can do that by dragging the folder to a second hard drive or to a recordable CD or data DVD. Backup can be THAT simple. You don't need fancy software if you want to keep things as basic as possible. Now and then, maybe once a week, you drag "My Documents" or "My Pictures" (or similar folders) to that other location. Use a fresh CD or DVD, or, if you're backing up to a second hard drive, create a new folder to copy your document folder into. Name it for the date.
   (Important note: On both Windows PCs and Apple Macs, dragging an item to a location on the same drive won't copy it; by default, unless you do something special, it will move it. That's not what you want to do. So be very careful.)
   Doing backups this home-grown way works OK if you don't have a lot of files. It's not suited for backing up computers that have hundreds of megabytes of music, thousands of photos and acres of important school reports and financial data. In such cases, you need backup software.
   My recommendations for easy-to-use, reliable backup software are Second Copy 2000 for Windows and Tri-BACKUP for Mac OS X. I've used both of them and prefer them over dozens of other programs. They're both available in trial versions so you can get used to them before you pay any money. The cost is minimal -- $30 for Second Copy and $50 for Tri-BACKUP.
   Both programs shine in just the right way: They don't assume that you're a rocket scientist who runs a data storage depot in your spare time, and their clear, step-by-step methods require work to understand. And they're far better than the heavy-duty (and usually expensive) backup software that so-called experts usually recommend. Trust me, these programs are the best.
   Download Second Copy 2000 from www.centered.com. Tri-BACKUP is available from www.tri-edre.com.