Simple or Exact Copy Backup

In this, Part 6 of our Backing Up adventure, I’ll discuss Simple Copy and Exact Copy backups.

Regardless of which method you choose, you must decide whether to just backup your files an folders to an external backup device (an external hard drive or Flash drive) or back them up to a specific My Documents or Documents folder you create on your external backup device.

I suggest creating a specific external hard drive My Documents or Documents folder and then do the following:
* Return to and highlight your My Documents or Documents folder on your hard drive.
* Click File > Edit > Select All.
* Click File > Copy to Folder and copy the files and folders to your external backup device’s My Documents or Documents folder.

By following these directions you’ll create an Exact Copy backup of your My Documents or Documents on your external backup device. However once you begin deleting files from your hard drive’s My Documents or Documents, future Simple Copy and Paste backups will change your original Exact Backup to Simple Backups.

This is because although a Simple Copy and Paste backup will add all your new files and overwrite the content of the files you’ve edited but kept the same file name, it’ll not delete from your external backup device the files you deleted from your hard drive’s My Documents or Documents.

This feature of a Simple Copy and Paste backup isn’t all that bad as it does archive all your deleted files should you discover you’ve deleted one in error. But if you delete a lot of files (perhaps all your unwanted digital photos), your external backup device can accumulate a significant volume of deleted files.

However this would only become a problem if your backup device was a Flash Drive as unlike an external hard drive it may not have the storage capacity to accommodate all your files and folders and deleted files.

Unfortunately for the novice, attempting to manually maintain an Exact Copy backup requires either completely deleting the previous backup and Copying and Pasting a new one or an inconvenient culling of files from your external backup device.

An Exact Copy is best left to 3rd party software.

If you’re as paranoid about disappearing data as I am, I suggest you consider both a Simple Copy and an Exact Copy backup.

Next week I’ll discuss how to do both with an inexpensive, novice friendly 3rd party software program.

Here’s wishing you a Good Boot.