I am concerned about backing up the data on my Windows XP computer. My extensive photo collection is 8 GB and growing fast, not to mention lots of music and plenty of other documents I would be devastated to lose (such as a family history database). Initially I purchased an extra internal 80 GB hard drive, but that only expanded my storage problem. Recently I bought a 500 GB WD Elements external drive, but I am unsure of which software I should use to backup the data?

You have raised several interesting points in your question. Backing up your important data is a very important process, so I am glad that you understand the implications of backup and are taking precautionary steps to ensure the security of your data. I find that external hard drives are the best method to backup data, as they are very affordable (around $250 for a 500 GB external drive) and are convenient, since you simply plug the drive into the computer and copy the necessary data (and can then disconnect the drive and store it somewhere else, to provide that extra level of protection).

However, the major issue lies within the previous discussion ? how do you effectively backup the data? The simplest answer to this question is to copy the data using Windows Explorer from the computer hard drive to the external drive. Unfortunately, this is the most cumbersome process. Additionally, this is the most time consuming method since every time you backup the data a new copy of the files needs to be transferred to the external drive. Therefore, there must be a better way to backup data.

Fortunately there are better ways, but as always these come at a cost. You can purchase backup software which provides several improvements over the simple copy and paste method of backup. First, you can schedule backups so they occur automatically at particular times, or at specific intervals. This is useful if you want to run the backups overnight when the computer is not in use, since most backup operations are quite processor and memory intensive, and you cannot backup open files. Second, the advantage of dedicated backup software is that the backups are generally conducted “smart”. This means that you can have several types of backups. The first type is a full backup, where all files are copied to the backup drive. This is the equivalent of what you would do when simply copying all the files using Windows Explorer to the external drive. The real power is with the next two types of backups. The second type is an incremental backup, which only backs up files which have changed since the last backup (regardless of type). So, if you conduct one full backup at the beginning of the month and then an incremental backup each day, only the files which change between incremental backups will be copied. The final type of backup is a differential backup, which only copies files which have changed since the last full backup.

Many people get confused between the differential and incremental backups. The difference between these backup types is that the differential backup copies all changed files since the last full backup, whereas the incremental backup copies files which have changed since the last backup (regardless of backup type). Should you run a full backup and then only incremental backups from that point onwards, to recover a file from the backup you will need to use all the incremental backup sets since the last full backup. On the other hand, if you conduct a full backup and then differential backups you only need the full backup set and the latest differential backup set.

The obvious advantage of running incremental and differential backups is the saving in space on the external drive and also the saving in time, since only changed files are copied (as opposed to all files being copied). This is really the core feature which any backup software you are considering should offer. There are various different types of software available, such as Acronis True Image Home and Norton Ghost. Before purchasing any such software I would strongly recommend that you download and test the software. Personally, I have used the Acronis True Image software and find this quite user friendly and intuitive. You can download a free trial of this software from www.acronis.com.au/homecomputing/products/trueimage. Additionally, the software is quite affordable at AU$62.99. However, different software suits different users, so I would encourage you to look around and find software which meets your needs.

Another alternative you may wish to consider to provide redundancy is setting up a RAID array in your computer. RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks, and allows data to be spread over several hard drives, providing redundancy in case one drive fails. The most suitable RAID setups for home use are a RAID 1 array (which provides mirroring, i.e. two hard drives of the same specification which mirror each other, allowing one drive to fail without any data loss) and RAID 5 array (three or more hard drives, where one drive can fail without any data loss). If you want more information on RAID there is plenty of information on the internet, so I would recommend searching Google. Additionally, if you would like further information then please feel free to contact me for further advice.