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Top 7 Backup Tips

1

It’s not worth deciding on some convoluted back-up plan that you’ll never keep up. If all you need to save is your Documents folder, making complete system images every week is a waste of time. You’ll give up long before you have your system crash, and lose everything.

2

It’s always worth keeping at least two copies of your files, one on a physical medium such as a DVD or external hard drive, another in an online backup service – so if your home is damaged by fire or flood, you’ve still got your documents.

3

Online backup services are generally reliable, but they rarely make a cast iron guarantee that your data will be safe, or offer any comeback if they lose it. This is especially true with free ones, which might disappear, be bought out, or change focus at any time.

4

Never keep your backups on your main computer. A virus, an accident or a hard disc crash could easily destroy them along with the original versions.

5

Your files matter, your Windows 7 installation doesn’t. Reinstalling may be a pain, but you’ll be back up and running in minutes. You can’t replace lost photos or documents.

6

You can’t back up programs by just copying their folder from Program Files – at least, not all of them. Most require registry entries, drivers and other bits from around your system. Only a system image is guaranteed to restore settings.

7

Restoring previous files can be a lifesaver, but don’t get into the habit of thinking of it as a safety net. If you’re going to be making big changes to a document that you may or may not want to undo, the best way is always to save it as a new copy until you’re sure.

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Never lose a file again in Windows Vista

The Backup and Restore Center in Windows Vista provides a place to manage safeguarding and restoring your files. Anyone can easily configure a backup using the Backup Wizard, while more technically adept users have the ability to access advanced options. And owners of Windows Vista Ultimate can take advantage of Complete PC Backup, which takes a snapshot of your entire system – programs, settings, files and everything else.

When it comes to finding files on your PC, Search has been really beefed up. You can now enter searches into windows such as Documents, Pictures and Music – and even search straight from the Start menu. From there, you can open applications, documents, emails and much more – it’s a far quicker way of getting access to things you need.

The new Search also looks inside documents, so if the most you remember about an email is that it mentions summer, for example, simply type ‘summer’ into the Start menu search box, and it will appear.

Once you’ve mastered Search at a basic level, you’ll want to start taking advantage of some of the Windows Explorer commands that get you the files you’re after even more quickly. For instance, typing ‘Tag:Holiday’ in the Search box returns images tagged ‘holiday’. How about finding files created on a certain date? Just type ‘Created:Yesterday’ or ‘Created:15/10/06’ and you’re there.

Backing and up and restoring your files

Six steps to help you safeguard your precious documents, photos and videos

1. Set and schedule backup

Type ‘backup’ into the Search box

To configure and schedule a backup, type ‘backup’ into the Start menu Search box and select Backup and Restore Center. Now click the Back up Files button. Select where you want to save: to CD or DVD, or to an external hard drive.

2. Select file types

Work out your file types

Decide which types of files you want to include in the backup. Hovering over each category reveals more details about what is included.

3. Select a frequency

Decide how often you want to back up

Choose how frequently you want to perform the backup. This will depend on how often you add to or change files on your hard drive.

4. Ready, set, go

Click save and Windows Vista will scan your files

Click Save settings and start backup and Windows Vista will scan your files and copy them to your backup device. If you chose to back up to CD or DVD, you’ll be prompted to insert a blank disc before the backup proceeds.

5. Restoring files

You can restore the latest file, or an older version

If you need to restore your files later, plug the backup drive into a Windows Vista PC, or put the backup DVD into the DVD drive, go to the Backup and Restore Center, click Restore Files, and choose to restore the latest or an older backup.

6. Add files to restore

Files can be restored to a new location

Click Add files… and browse the files on your backup drive. Once you’ve selected the files to restore, click Next, choose whether you want to restore the files to their original location or a new one, and then click Start restore.

James Senior contributes to Windows Vista: The Official Magazine, and works as a technical specialist at Microsoft UK.

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Use Backup and Restore Center in Windows Vista

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Completely protect your files with BitLocker

For companies, data security is a big headache: a lost or stolen PC might contain sensitive information that, in the wrong hands, could be very damaging. BitLocker is designed to eliminate this threat, and you’ll find it in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista. So what is it, and how does it work?

The idea behind BitLocker is a simple one: it uses a technique called encryption to scramble the data on your hard disk, and once the data is encrypted it can’t be accessed by other people – even if they use hacking tools or run a different operating system. You can still access your data, but other people can’t.

BitLocker has been designed to work with PCs that include a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip, and if your PC has such hardware then you’ll be able to log on normally when BitLocker is running. If you don’t have a TPM chip you can still use BitLocker, but you’ll need a USB flash drive. Your BitLocker password will be installed on this drive, and you’ll need to insert the drive every time you boot your PC.

Although many firms now offer TPM-enabled hardware, such PCs are still relatively rare – so in this tutorial we’ll show you how to use BitLocker with a USB flash drive. Before you start, make sure you’re logged on as the system administrator.

Missing chip

Because we’re not using a TPM-enabled PC, we need to make a few changes to Windows Vista before we can use BitLocker. Click on Start and in the search box, type gpedit.msc. Press Enter and then click Continue if the User Account Control dialog pops up.

Change the policy

Click on Local Computer Policy > Administrative Templates > Windows Components and double-click on BitLocker Drive Encryption.

Enable advanced options

Click on Control Panel Setup: Enable advanced startup options. This will display the advanced startup dialog box.

Enable the USB

Click on Enabled and make sure Allow BitLocker without a compatible TPM. This means you’ll be able to use BitLocker with your USB flash drive. Click on OK.

Apply the changes

Click on the Start menu and then type gpupdate.exe in the Search box. Press Enter and wait for the “User Policy update has completed successfully” message. BitLocker is now ready to use.

Click on Start > Control Panel > Security > BitLocker Drive Encryption. You’ll see that BitLocker is currently switched off; to turn it on, simply click on Turn On BitLocker.

The BitLocker preferences screen will now pop up. Put your USB drive into a spare port and then click on Require Startup USB key at every start-up.

BitLocker will now ask you to select the appropriate drive; on our PC, it’s drive F. Click on Save.

You’ll now be asked where BitLocker should save the recovery password – you’ll need this if changes are ever made to the system start-up settings, or if the drive is moved to another computer. The more copies of the password you have, the better.

There’s one final step, which is a system check that makes sure BitLocker can read your keys – if it can’t, you could lock yourself out of your own system. Make sure Run BitLocker System Check is ticked and then click Continue. Your PC will now restart and check your USB key – if everything’s OK you’ll see the “remove storage media” message and Windows Vista will load normally.

Once you’ve logged in, click Start > Control Panel > Security > BitLocker Drive Encryption and you’ll see that BitLocker is busily scrambling your data. From now on, you’ll need to plug in your USB key every time you boot your PC. If you don’t, you’ll be locked out – so make sure you don’t lose your flash drive!

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