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COMPUTER SYSTEM BACKUP

The Import

Herzing University

COMPUTER SYSTEM BACKUP

The Importance of Computer System Backup Today

Daniel J Nilles

Herzing University – Madison WI.

COMPUTER SYSTEM BACKUP 1


Introduction

Computers have become an important part of society, from a college student creating,

editing and publishing a final report to hospitals that store a patient’s medical history. This data

in whatever form it is stored, such as; word documents, music or medical records, needs to be

kept safe and retrievable. There are three reasons why computer data backups are important

today: computer hardware failures, viruses and natural disasters, and the costs associated with

trying to recover lost data. It is critical to have a backup routine in place for personal files and a

process to restore these back to the computer.

Reasons to back up computer system data.

One important reason to back up data is because of computer hardware failures. Data is

stored on physical media, and for most computer systems today, this would be a hard drive. Even

though modern hard drives have some built in monitoring, they are still susceptible to heat,

physical or electrical shock. Failures can also result from normal usage or age of the hard drive.

Robert L. Scheier of Computerworld magazine investigated a study conducted by Carnegie

Mellon University that indicated hard drive failure rates are much higher than makers estimate.

He reported that “Customers replace disk drives 15 times more often than drive vendor’s

estimate.” This statistic may vary; there are differences between computer companies with

hundreds of hard drives and a single user. The studies won't change how Tom Dugan, director of

technical services at Recovery Networks, a Philadelphia-based business continuity services

provider, protects his data. “If they told me it was 100,000 hours, I'd still protect it the same way.


If they told me if was 5 million hours I'd still protect it the same way. I have to assume every

drive could fail.” Scheier,(2007) Computerworld.

It is not just computer hardware failures but computer viruses or malware, short for

malicious software, can also cause data loss. The threat of being infected by a computer virus is

one of the biggest fears among new computer users today. These invasive computer programs

are designed to accomplish different tasks, from changing the homepage in a web browser,

gaining access to personal information, or even destroying system data. Often, these programs

are unwittingly distributed through shareware programs, email attachments, web content, or

other programs where users share data. Normally, computer users can protect themselves against

computer viruses, malware, and other computer security threats by installing an antivirus or anti-

malware protection program. Some of these are even available for personal use for free; two

popular programs are Malwarebytes (malwarebytes.org) and AVG Anti-Virus. Even with

protection measures in place, a computer can still become infected. Jonathan Richards,(2008) of

the TheTimes Online reported that the number of computer viruses topped one million and that

the amount of new malicious software identified increased by 468 per cent.

The threat of natural disasters, such as; fires, floods, or tornados are another good reason to

back up data regularly. Companies spend thousands of dollars to insure computer data is kept

safe, especially in areas known for these events to happen. Natural disasters are a threat to plan

for, but a far are more common event to plan for, are power outages or power surges, these can

cause the physical hard drive to failure. If a spark or smoke is observed and the computer will

not boot up after the power is restored, then it may have become a victim of a power surge.

There are some protections that will help offset power loss. For example; purchasing a UPS or

uninterruptible power supply, which is a battery backup that provides power to a device when the

input power from the utility company fails. The battery backup run time of most uninterruptible


power supplies is relatively short, depending on the battery rating and load. Also, consider the

age of a UPS, Information Technology consultant Erik Eckel (2006) states; “After a few years,

batteries may continue to function but they likely won't continue providing the same levels of

service. For example, a two-year-old battery may provide only 12 minutes of power versus 18

when it was new.” But this should still allow the computer time to shut down and save running

programs.

According to Gerry J (2009), of eWeekeurope, Human Error is also blamed for rising data

loss today; experts are blaming the rising number of human mistakes on the increasingly

complex storage systems, as well as depleted resources in the current economic climate. For

example, accidently deleting or overwriting files, restoring a hard drive to an earlier state without

first making backups, misplacement of CD’s, flash drives or other backup media are examples of

human error. Clearly, there are good reasons to backup data. What then are some data backup

methods in use today?

Backup Methods

According to Ed Bott (2003), Microsoft Press Author and Expert Zone Community

Columnist, “backing up your essential files is neither difficult nor time-consuming. In fact, the

whole process can take as little as 10 minutes a week.” Probably one of the most cost effective

and easiest methods to save data files or music is to purchase a USB Flash drive, also known as a

pen drive, jump drive, or memory stick. These small portable devices can hold much more

information compared to floppy disks or even standard CD-R media. USB flash drives, like hard

drives, are subject to hardware failures so keep copies of the backup data on both the computer

and the USB memory up to date.

Manually selecting folders or specific files on a computer and backing them to an external

source such as a USB flash drive or USB hard drive is another method. Most user data on a


typical Microsoft Windows based computer is stored in the “My documents” or “Libraries”

folder, copying the contents from this folder to an external drive may be sufficient for the

average user. There are software programs available which will automatically make daily,

weekly or monthly backups of specified files or even create a snapshot image of the whole hard

drive. If a complete image of the whole hard drive is selected, then a larger capacity storage

device should be used. As mentioned, a USB hard drive would be a good choice, Hard drive

storage companies like Western Digital or Seagate sell external USB hard drives ranging from

500GB (Gigabytes) up to 2TB (Terabytes), which is more than enough storage space for the

typical computer user. One benefit to imaging the whole hard drive is that in case of a complete

failure, the operating system and all the programs and data can be restored to the exact way they

were before the failure. Windows or MAC operating systems have built in utilities for this, but

these are somewhat limited. According to TopTenREVIEWS (2011); “You need backup software

that is reliable and simple to use or you won't use it.” Feature Set, Ease of Use, Security, Backup

and Restore and Help Documentation are important criteria to look for in deciding what software

to choose.

Another option available is online backup of personal data. This requires a connection to

the internet to allow the files to be uploaded and, in most cases, a yearly or monthly fee, which

varies depending on the size of the storage required. A benefit to having an online backup

solution is that the files can be available from any computer a user is working from. For

example, “Dropbox” is an easy to use online backup/file sharing program that has become

popular and even works with mobile devices.

Restoring Data

With a backup schedule and the selected method in place, recovering the backed up

information can be a straightforward procedure. As mentioned, most Microsoft and MAC


operating systems have built-in back up programs. An interesting feature of all Microsoft

Windows 7 operating systems is that of recovering folders or files that have been accidently

deleted using a service called “Shadow Copy.” From time to time Windows will make a copy or

snapshot of the files and folders on a computer. To go back to a prior version of a file or

document, one would simply right-click on the file and select “Restore previous versions”. This

Shadow Copy service is part of the Windows System Restore feature. ("Restore previous

versions," 2010)

Online backup solutions allow a user to recover files as simply as they were backed up.

Most backup solutions can be configured to automatically synchronize a computer with the

storage, with this in mind, understanding the backup software interface is important in selecting

the appropriate settings, refer to the program documentation for help.

If a computer experiences a hard drive failure with critical files still on the drive, data

recovery software or services are available to recover that data. It is recommended that a

computer user be somewhat knowledgeable with software before deciding to purchase and use

data recovery utilities for themselves. According to Lison Joseph, contributor at Free-

backup.info (2011), some simple things to be kept in mind are to stop using the problem hard

disk or storage media from which you want to recover data, “Every time you start a system with

the hard disk from which you want to recover data… the operating system writes and over-writes

data to the hard disk”, this makes recovery more difficult. Also do not load the recovery software

on the hard drive that needs to be recovered, instead remove the hard drive from the computer

and attach it to another computer with the recovery software.

Another option is to choose a service which specializes in the recovery of data. This is a

more expensive option and can range from $300 to $3000, ("Data recovery") depending on

nature of the hard drive failure. Some services will evaluate the hard drive for free and quote a


price to restore or recover that data. It is important to shop around and find out the costs up front

if possible. A local computer shop may be able to recover data as well.

There are good reasons why computer backups need to be done on a regular basis.

Choosing a backup method that fits a user’s situation is important as well. The old saying “An

ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” (Franklin) fittingly applies to computer usage

today. Indeed the inevitable computer crash will happen and when that does, with a good backup

plan in place, one can be up and running in no time.


References

Bott, E. (2003, July 14). Windows xp backup made easy. Retrieved from

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/bott_03july14.mspx

Data backup software review keep system crashes from taking your important files . (n.d.).

Retrieved from http://data-backup-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Data recovery . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.diskdoctors.com/data-recovery.asp

Eckel, E. (2006, June 19). 10 things you should know about deploying a ups. Retrieved from

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-things-you-should-know-about-deploying-a -

ups/6085460

Gerry J. (2009, February 02). Inside mobile: backup and recovery-a personal story. Retrieved

from http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/INSIDE-MOBILE-Backup-and-

RecoveryA-Personal-Story/

Lison, J. (n.d.). Do's and don'ts in data recovery . Retrieved from http://free-backup.info/dos-

and-donts-in-data-recovery.html

Richards, J. (2008, April 10). Number of computer viruses tops one million. Retrieved from

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3721556.ece

Restore previous versions of files in every edition of windows 7. (2010, February 22). Retrieved

from http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/11130/restore-previous-versions-of-files-in-

every-edition-of-windows-7/

Scheier, R. (2007, March 2). Study: hard drive failure rates much higher than makers estimate.

Retrieved from

http://www.pcworld.com/article/129558/study_hard_drive_failure_rates_much_higher_th

an_makers_