Another Winchell Backup Nag

Over the years I’ve addressed the importance of backing up in over 30 articles. But because it’s a computing discipline all too often adopted only after a Good Booter experiences the loss of their "irreplaceable Stuff", I’m sure for many those articles were considered nothing more than a ‘ho hum, Winchell nag’.

Well I’m going to nag you again but this time instead of a one shot article on a specific backing up issue, I’m going to drop a super nag on you. A Good Boot series dedicated exclusively to what I believe a novice should know about backing up and how a novice can expeditiously backup their "irreplaceable Stuff". And because I know it may take more than one article to convince some it’s in their best interest to initiate a back up regimen, I’m going to post each article for review on my News-Press blog.

Often novices procrastinate backing up because they believe:
* They do not have enough "irreplaceable Stuff" to be concerned about backing up.
* It’s necessary to backup their entire system to include all their programs and Windows.
* They must invest in expensive software and off computer storage devices.

If you have digital photos downloaded from your camera or from e-mail attachments, correspondence, financial data, address book(s), Internet Explorer Favorites, important e-mail, software programs downloaded from the Internet or just about anything you cannot replace if your hard drive fails, you have "irreplaceable Stuff" that should be backed up to off computer storage.

If you’re a novice, I suggest rather than a full system or image backup (everything on your hard drive to include your programs and Windows) you backup only irreplaceable Stuff. As to restore a full system or image backup requires a certain degree of expertise and a ridged backup regimen to insure the backup is as current as just before the hard drive failed or just before Widows became corrupted.

Backing up does not require expensive software or an off computer storage device. In fact, with nothing more than a 20 cent CD-R and a willingness to participate a bit in the backup a Good Booter can begin an appropriate backup regimen. And for just a very few dollars more, obtain a state of the art no brainer backup program and off computer storage device.

I hope I’ve tweaked your curiosity enough to encourage to return to next week for more of the story.

Here's wishing you a Good Boot.