Every now and then, we are faced with a possibility of re-formatting our PC and re-installing everything from scratch. When that happens and we are not ready with a fresh install, you could end up in a nightmare or the twilight zone.
We could be forgetting some important files and settings before we proceed with the reformat. So, before getting ourselves into that situation, a good back-up strategy should be already in place.
What do we need to prepare us for this? A lot of people uses CDR-W to do regular backups. Others still prefer ZIP drives or external HDD. I use a secondary drive. It’s where all documents, files, downloads, pictures are saved or stored. My iPod Photo can also store pictures via iTunes so that’s another copy again (more important files are copied via Windows Explorer).
How about your settings and OS? We’ll aside from Windows XP’s restore feature, I also use Norton Ghost to mirror a fresh install of my Windows XP. That way, If my system got corrupted, infected or just painfully slow, I can use the backup to restore to the fresh copy I have from the secondary drive.
A friend of mine who runs an internet cafe uses Norton Ghosts and he can reformat and restore a fresh OS on all 15 PCs in 20 minutes or so.
You have other personal back-up strategies you’d like to share?
