Backing up systems and data is often problematic or inconvenient for most users to set up or perform regularly.  Some of the challenges include understanding an individual’s tolerance for data or productivity loss, limited media capacity, third party software that is difficult or confusing to use, and knowing which data is important to back up.

Basically the safer one wants to be the more it will cost.  If a computers function in the business is so critical that four hours is too long to be without it, then the approach to disaster recovery will be more involved than in less critical conditions.  Likewise, if large amounts of data change daily then more frequent backups are required.

While media capacity is ever increasing, so are user data sets.  The newer double layer DVD’s at about 8 GB are usually large enough for user data but they are usually not large enough for a full system backup.  For this purpose a tape drive or an additional hard drive (internal or external) is required.  External hard drives are easy to install and use but take additional space and are often slower than internal disk to disk backups.  This is especially true if the computer has older USB 1.0 ports.

While manufacturers of back up software like to boast ease of use and easy disaster recovery, the fact is they are always more complicated than the simple backup utility provided with Windows XP.  Additionally, no one offers a truly simple disaster recovery option.  Basically the problem is that before a full system backup can be recovered, Windows must be installed.  The so called “One Touch” by Maxtor is misleading as is the Automated System Recovery (ASR) option that comes with Windows XP.  The operating system must still be installed first making disaster recovery a multi step process.  A solution to this dilemma is to have an additional hard drive with an exact copy (a clone) of the system drive.  Should the system drive fail it can be replaced with the clone.  Within minutes the system will be exactly as it was at the time the clone was created.  All that need be done is replace the most current data backup.  There are drawbacks here in that a clone may not have recently installed programs or updates, but it is still the fastest way to recover from a catastrophic failure.

Unfortunately knowing what data is important to back up isn’t always obvious.  Some common places where data is stored are the My Documents folder, favorites, the desktop, and the location for Outlook or Outlook Express data.  Some programs store data within the “Program Files” folders where the program itself resides.  The only solution is to search and understand which programs may be operating that way.

Finally a good disaster recovery plan includes the additional and periodic effort of testing to be sure it works.  There is simply no substitute for pretending a main system hard drive has failed, removing it, installing a blank hard drive and recovering everything.  Only after testing all the programs and confirming all the data is intact can we be sure the backup and disaster recovery plan is complete and reliable.