How do you back up your files?
All new PCs these days come with a CD burner and/or floppy drive. However, since nearly all burners require additional software to write to CD (and there are as many different software packages as there are burners), we will focus how to backup one or more small files to floppy disk.
In order to backup your files it is essential to know where you stored them on your hard drive originally. After all, if you cannot find them then you cannot copy them. It is for this reason that keeping your files organised on your hard drive is just as important as having your files in organised off line when tax time comes!
Step 1: Click the 'Start' button
The first step is to try and keep all your files in the one location (e.g. C:\Backups). It does not matter where so long as you can find them quickly, easily and know where they are all stored. You further subdivide your files by creating additional sub directories or folders (e.g. C:\Backups\ProjectData) but the goal here is to have all your files under the one roof. Containing them all within the one subdirectory makes life easy for you. By confining all your files to the one directory, this simplifies the backup process and makes it easier for you to search for files you might be looking for as you work on them.
To begin backing up your files, you need to copy the files from your hard drive to disk. To begin, click the START button in the bottom left hand corner of your screen.
Step 2: Click on 'My Computer'
This is the screen that should appear once you have clicked on Start.
Once you have clicked on the 'Start' menu, a new window should appear. From this list of options, select 'MY COMPUTER'.
Once you are inside 'My Computer', you can see there is a comparison between the available 'Free Space' on the media selected, and the 'Total Size' of the volume in question. In this case, C: can store 37.2 GB of data and at present storing only 9.1GB.
Once here, click the C: icon to go into your hard drive. You will need to click on the folder where you files are located. In this example it's in the C:\Backups folder.
As you can see, there is a comparison between the available 'Free Space' on the media selected, and the 'Total Size' of the volume in question. In this case, C: can store 37.2 GB of data and at present storing only 9.1GB.
Towards the bottom you will see the file size of the folder you have selected. It will give the approximate figure in bytes and megabytes. The file/s you wish to copy cannot exceed the storage capacity of the media you wish to copy to. If you're not sure how much data can fit onto the media in question, visit this link here.
If you wish to do copy more than the volume can store, you will need to ensure that you either divide the number of files across multiple volumes, to maximise the number of files you can fit per disk, while minimising the number of disks used. Although, you may prefer to copy files alphabetically, in which case this may not be possible - but at least your files will be organised. Failing that, if the files are so large you cannot do this, you will need to look at utilities which allow you to compress your data and break up the file into smaller, more manageable chunks. WinZip is an example of one such utility.
PLEASE NOTE: If you are using a CD or DVD burner, you will need to follow the instructions in your burner software documentation to learn how to 'burn' a copy of your files.
Select the files or folder you wish to copy. If you wish to select multiple files you may select them individually by holding down the CTRL key and clicking the selected file or you may press Control-A (simultaneously) to select all files (this can be done alternatively by clicking on the 'Edit' menu then 'Select All'). Once selected, press Control-C (or click the 'Edit' menu and then the 'Copy' menu item) so the computer knows these are the selected files you wish to copy.
You will then need to click on the intended destination where you wish to copy your files (e.g. A:\). Once a window has appeared for your intended destination, you may then press the Control-V (or click the 'Edit' menu and then press 'Paste') so the computer will copy across the files you selected previously.
If you see a copy of your files in the designated destination drive as well as the original location you copied them from, then congratulations - you have successfully backed up your files! Similarly, if you are burning to disk then your burner software will report when a burn is successfully completed. You should be able to see a copy of your files in their original source location as well as their new location, once the burn has taken place.
Finally, it is also recommended you test your backups to ensure the data integrity of your backups. Try to do this after the backup as taken place or no later than the next day. The last thing you want to happen is have your hard drive crash the night before a big assignment is due, load up your backup only to find the disk is damaged!
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