Think about RAID

Of late their seems to a growing interest in software programs that back up logical drives and partitions to image files. Simply put and a bit of an over simplification, software that creates an image of “everything” on your hard drive that can be stored in an alternate location such as an external hard drive. Should your hard drive fail and have to be replaced or for whatever reason have to be re formatted, the image file can restore your operating system, system settings, programs and all your data in one fell swoop.

Eliminating the need to first reinstall Windows, then your programs and finally all your backed up data may seem like a convenient way to recover from a disaster. And in the hands of an experienced user it can be. But in my opinion if you’re a novice it should not be your backup method of choice.

If you must give disk imaging software a try be absolutely sure you purchase a quality program such as Acronis True Image software. It’s reliable and has a user friendly Windows style interface.

But please do not rely on disk imaging software programs as the lone guardian of your data files. Backing up your data files to an external device should always be part of your housekeeping regimen.

There is however an almost fool proof way to protect yourself from a hard drive failure disaster. One that heads my new computer wish list - RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks).

Although it’s more or less a luxury for personal computers, it’s a must for small business computers.

RAID version 1 provides a simple form of redundancy for data through a process called mirroring. RAID 1 typically requires two individual drives of similar capacity. One drive is the active drive and the secondary drive is the mirror. When data is written to the active drive, the same data is written to the mirror drive providing a full level of redundancy for the data on the system. If your active drive fails, the mirror drive with Windows, your system settings, programs and data will allow you to continue computing as though nothing happened.

When you replace the failed drive the RAID controller will mirror the data from the usable drive onto the new drive.

RAID does not preclude additional hard drives or if you’re an ultra conservative as I am, backing up your personal data to an external hard drive.

Here’s wishing you a Good Boot.