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Prevention is Better than Cure – Ways to Backup your Data

slavezero — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:22:38 +0000

Have you experience losing all your data due to viruses and other deadly programs attack or malfunction device and saying that “I should have backup all my data”. Losing data is one of the worst nightmare of any computer users like loosing saved pictures, copies of programs, movies, games and documents or worst having to lost business data, financial and legal information without any way of recovering. If you are one those people then may be its too late to recover all your hard work files and data but it is not too late to prevent it from happening again. BACKUP your all your data that is best way to save you from an unimaginable major disaster of losing important data.

Anyone who has computer, PDA or any other data storing machines should have a regular backup schedule and must have a solid and reliable backup solution tools and device. There’s no such thing as backing up digital information too much, or too often you should do this regularly and as often as possible.

The following backup technologies can be coordinated to provide reliable, convenient backups – and peace of mind.

Hard Drives – Hard drives are a great backup solutions typically for households and small businesses. You can store up to 1 terabyte of data or even more on a single drive. Therefore, many backups of entire hard drives can be stored in one place. But like other things sooner or later it will fail at some point or another, whether due to mechanical malfunction, damage or age or even deadly program attacks.

The technique is to use several drives instead of a big one. you can copy data several times on different drives to prevent data loss. You can accomplished this by using RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) technology, RAID grouped multiple drives so the computer will see them as one device. RAID controllers are bought separately to manage the array. RAID software makes backing up data automatic and easy to access.

If you have a small business networks or home networks multiple computers can be backed up onto a hard drive or drives, even at the same time.

Another tip is to make sure that all important informations are stored on different drives because at any moment when disaster strikes like lightning strike, power surge, flood or fire could wipe out all hard drives and backups at one physical location. So it is always best to use multiple hard drives in backing up data and store data in remote places.

Flash Drives/Thumb drives

These type of technology are very handy for data storage and it makes transporting of files more easy and convenient but flash drives is limited in terms of capacity and known to be less robust compared to hard drives. Flash drives are intended to complement hard drive rather than replace one.

The disadvantage of using this as a backup device is that these small devices are more prone to mechanical failure and much easier to misplace, damage or erase. This device also requires additional work because it requires to be connected to the computer at the time of backing up.

Online Storage

Online backup is an excellent way of backing up your data but make sure that your online backup service provider is very reliable. Unless you have good a backup service provider don’t just upload files, choose wisely, select the best service and the service taht also suits your needs. online backups make a great deal of good sense in combination with other backup solutions.

DVD / CD

This is the most common way of backing up of data. DVD/CD disk can be stored easily in other locations, and can be burned according to an automated schedule. However, automated backups to DVD or CD only work when a writeable disc is in the disk drive at the right time. Rewriteable discs can cut down on the cost and clutter of many backups, while ensuring that there’s always a valid disc in the drive. Compared to other backup solution these solution is only best for small and occasional backup because of limited space.

PCTechNotes Tip: ALWAYS, ALWAYS VERIFY BACKUP FILES

Always check if your backup files are working. Just because it appears data has been successfully backed up doesn’t mean it’s accessible or recoverable. Every backup file, on every backup device, should always be opened and tested to make sure it works.

How to change the default download location in Firefox

slavezero — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:48:35 +0000

Several people have recently ask me on how they can change the default download location of Firefox. I know a lot of computer users know this stuff and this is definitely a no-brainer for most geeks out there but there are still a lot people that needs some assistance regarding this matter so I will provide a quick tip on how you can change your Firefox download location.

Personally for me I prefer downloading files directly into my desktop, Obviously I don’t want the extra click I have to do to open or see my downloaded files. But for people that want their downloads go to a different location like a “Download” folder here’s how you can easily do it.

On the menu bar click on Tools then select options, and you should see the Downloads section right on the very first screen.

Click the Browse button to select the download location. As you can see on my example I’ve created a folder and named it “Downloads”. All my downloaded files will go straight into my Downloads folder. You also have the option if you want Firefox to always ask you where to save the files.

Signs that you might have a Windows Registry problem

slavezero — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 03:54:29 +0000

While intelligent computer users use registry repair softwares from day one of using their computer, still many users today are still not aware on the importance of registry repair products. If you have not taken any steps to clean your windows registry and you experience at least one of the following indications then this is the time to use a registry cleaner. There are lots of free registry cleaner but I prefer using paid registry softwares for the main reason of they are much more reliable.

Here are some of the signs that you might have a Windows Registry problem.

Slow PC performance

Over the period of time your windows registry will acquire lots of entries and its size increases. Incompatible and corrupted files will slow down the performance of your operating system. If you notice that your computer crawls to load any application then you definitely need to repair your registry. It is usually a corrupted registry when some programs takes time to load.

Software Freezing

Sometimes some of your applications may freeze up in that case you usually end the task and restart the application. If this happens a lot it is a sign that there is a registry problem. When the system resources are not provided to the software, the software will stop functioning and repairing windows registry will eliminate this problem.

Corrupted software

When your applications suddenly does not load when you just have used the software just yesterday then it means that there is a possibilities of issues with your windows registry. This is a sign that there is a problem with internal system which can be solved by fixing your registry.

Longer boot time

If you notice that your operating system takes much more longer to boot is a sign that incompatible data are needed to be cleared off. Once you clean your windows registry you will find a great difference with the boot time of your operating system.

System crash

Although system crashes can indicate that there is a problem with your windows registry you might also want to check other possible reasons like hardware failures and incompatible hardwares. but if you experience a system crash while using a certain program then there is a great possibillity that your windows registry is corrupted.

Backup solution – How to change the location of My Documents folder

slavezero — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:13:05 +0000

Take it from me loosing your important files such as your saved documents, pictures, and other data could be the worst thing that could happen to your computer life. Way back in college I experienced loosing all my saved documents that includes my projects that has to be passed two days after the tragedy, I don’t have a backup so it was really a nightmare for me. I’ve learned my lesson prevention is really better than cure so I constantly make a backup of all my important files.

Just almost three weeks ago all my files on my laptop got deleted I mean ALL files due to some virus attacks. Fortunately I have a backup and also found a way to recover all my files even if my hard drive partition are damaged and have been formatted.

Back in October I wrote an article on the different backup technologies that can provide you convenient and reliable backup. Backup technologies.

Hard drive is one of the great backup solution for your files. But what if you don’t have a separate hard drive for your backup? the solution is easy just create a partition of your hard drive, your computer will treat it as separate hard drive so you can place your backup files on your second hard drive.

My Documents is the most popular folder where computer users save all their files such as documents, pictures, videos, mp3, e-books, and also saved game files. It will be inconvenient to save files on your My Documents folder and then place a copy of it on your second hard drive or partition. The solution for this is to change the location of your My Documents folder to your second hard drive or partition. How to make it possible? follow the steps below.

Follow these steps to change the location of My Documents folder

1. Right Click My Documents then Select Properties

2. Change the target location from the default drive to the drive letter of your second disk or partition.

As you can see from the image below I change the target location of My Documents folder from C: to my second partition which is D:. This will automatically save all my files on drive D: and whatever happens to my primary partition my files are safe and I can reformat it anytime without thinking about my files. This will also work on Vista.