An Introduction to Tape Backup

If you run a small business, chances are you're saving important files to a server. But what happens when disaster strikes? How are you ensuring that your files won't be lost? Many people fail to realize that the loss of files could cripple their business. You can insure your office and equipment, but you can't insure files. You can't repair or buy back lost files. Ipso facto, they are lost!

This brings us to the concept of disaster recovery. What is disaster recovery? If you're thinking that disaster recovery is about frantically trying to get back data that's already been lost, then you're already behind the 8-ball! Disaster recovery is about safeguarding your organization's data so that it can be safely restored in event of a crippling disaster. And having an industry-standard file backup strategy is undoubtedly the most important part of disaster recovery.

What you have to do is ensure that all files on the server are backed up to another storage medium -- tape, removable hard disk, NAS device, and so on. Most businesses choose to use tape. Let's look at how you can set up a tape backup strategy for your own business.

1. Tape -- the perfect backup medium

Isn't tape an anachronism in the age of optical disks, removable hard drives and a plethora of whiz-bang, random-access storage media? Tape is indeed a dinosaur in relative terms, but it's ideal for backup. Tape is slow, but can store a lot of data... one mid-range tape should be enough to backup your entire server. Plus, tape is extremely cheap -- mid-range tapes cost around $20 each.

2. When should you backup?

Typically, tape backup is performed at the end of each day. Just put in the tape and let the backup process run overnight. If your server ever suffers a catastrophic disaster, you have at least saved all your files from the previous day.

3. Tape Rotation

The ideal tape backup solution would involve using a new tape for each backup. This means purchasing a new tape for every day of your business's operations. This is hardly cost-effective for your business. Tape is cheap, but not that cheap!

This is why we speak of tape rotation. Tape rotation means to reuse tapes from previous backups. The simplest tape rotation scheme is to have one tape for each day of the working week. Tapes are labelled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

You can restore data from any one of the tapes in your library, or in this case, any day in the past the week. This strategy requires only five tapes, but only provides one week's data backup history.

4. Grandfather-Father-Son -- A Case Study

The grandfather-father-son schedule is the most widely used method, and involves backing up data in the following way:

* daily -- on the "son tapes"

* weekly -- on the "father tapes"

* monthly -- on the "grandfather tapes"

This system is far more powerful than the five-tape rotation, but requires more tapes.

This strategy provides you with the ability to restore data from the last week, plus any Monday over the last month, plus any month for as many monthly tapes as you have. Variations on this scheme are available, and provide a trade-off between the number of tapes required, and the number of monthly tapes available.

5. Different types of backup

Different types of backups are available in backup software.

* Full -- all files, system data

* Differential -- all files added or changed since the last full backup

* Incremental -- all files added or changed since the last full, differential or incremental backup

* Daily -- all files added or changed on the day of the backup

A Full backup will copy all files and system data to the backup media. It allows for the complete restore of all data from one single tape.

Differential, Incremental and Daily are partial backups are designed to reduce amount of data backed-up to the media, resulting in faster backups. To restore data using one of these backups, the last Full backup tape will also be required, along with any other partial backups since the last Full backup.

6. Tape backup software

At this point you may be thinking that performing tape backup is a complex task. Tape rotations, incremental backups... sure, you can try to do this manually, but this would make the backup process hiddeously difficult and prone to human error! The solution is to invest in a good piece of server backup software that will manage and schedule your tape backups for you.

What should you look for in tape backup software? For many small business owners, the price is crucial. Many brands of backup software are just too expensive -- in the $1000+ range -- and contain features that you'll never need. Look for a backup utility that's designed specially for small business instead. It should be simple-to-use, reliable and affordable. Choose a good tape backup software and you'll be well on your way to safeguarding your files and data.

Linus Chang is a backup expert and the lead developer of BackupAssist-- backup software that is simple and affordable, and perfect for small and medium businesses. Protect your Windows servers, including SQL Server and Exchange Server, to tape, REV drive, hard drive, NAS and more, at a fraction of the cost of other backup programs. Designed as a fix for NTBackup bugs and issues.

Backup Tips And Strategies For Artists

A backup, in computer lingo, refers to making a copy of

important data for the purpose of data recovery. Should

the important data get damaged or lost, a properly made

backup will restore it all. The word "data" refers to

anything stored on a computer system: images, programs,

document, videos, etc. Taking backups of important data

can prevent loss of valuable work and the time needed

to recreate it.

In this article we'll take a look at common backup types

and strategies, data compression, and common backup media

types. A real life backup scenario will illustrate my

own backup procedures. The article will end with general

backup tips.

COMMON BACKUP TYPES

The best backup methods rely on simple and time proven

concepts. New or unnecessary technologies are best

avoided till proven reliable and necessary. The simpler

the procedure, the more likely it is to work correctly.

A full-backup consist of making a copy of all important

data. When you copy a folder with important files,

from say a hard drive to a floppy, you actually make

a full-backup of those files. Due to simplicity,

this approach is the most reliable of all backup

types. Its main advantage is ease of backup creation

and restoration. The main disadvantage is that the

backup will use as much space as the important data. If

the data is large, the backup process can be very

resource intensive in terms of time and the processing

power needed to carry out. Imagine the time needed to

full-backup a digital library consisting of millions of

books. Such operation takes days.

An incremental-backup works differently in that it backs

up only the modified files since the last backup. When

using this method, a full backup is created first and

then incremental backups are run on regular basis. For

large amounts of data this method is often the only

practical way to backup. It takes up less space than a

full backup and is less resource intensive to run. On

the other hand, contrary to full backups, incremental

backups need dedicated backup software to keep track of

what files to backup.

Compressing the backup data is a popular option. Such

practice lowers the amount of space needed on the backup

media. Although compression adds an additional layer

of complexity, it can be a good (if relied on wisely)

and sometimes necessary solution.

ESSENTIAL BACKUP STRATEGIES

Regardless of the backup type and data, the following

backup strategies should always be followed:

backup should be taken on a regular basis
backup should be automatic and need as little human supervision as possible
backup should be stored in a safe remote location
backup should rely on well established hardware and software technologies

Backup should be taken on a regular basis. The more

frequently the data changes the more often it should

be backed-up. For example, some of my most frequently

updated files (website files, source code, notes,

etc.) are backed-up daily. Files that are less

frequently updated are backed-up monthly.

Backup should be automatic. Except for the initial

configuration of the backup program and the occasional

supervision, the whole backup process should be automatic

and completely transparent. That is, the backup should

run by itself without causing any attention unless

necessary.

Backup should be stored in a safe remote location. Should

the location of the important data get damaged,

destroyed, or exposed to theft - a remotely stored backup

becomes invaluable. How remote? Disasters like fire,

flood, tornado, earthquake, etc., can cause widespread

damage. Ideally a backup should be stored in a far away

enough, minimal risk location.

Backup should rely on well established hardware and

software technologies. Such technologies are typically in

widespread use - thus cheaper and easier to troubleshoot,

or get help in the event of failure. As established

technologies become gradually replaced by new and

better ones, so should the backup media and hardware

and, if used, the software to re/store the data. There

is no guarantee that the common backup media of today,

like CD or DVD, will be usable in ten years. The same

is true for software. A good data preservation strategy

should include continual migration of the backup data

to mature and well established technologies of the time.

A BIT ABOUT DATA COMPRESSION

Compression makes data smaller and thus is a popular

backup option. Its main advantage is lower backup

cost due to lower space use. The downside is the time

needed to compress the data and later to uncompress it

for restoration.

Many compression formats exist. Each format use some

sort of compression method called an algorithm. There

are two types of data compression algorithms: "lossy"

and "lossless". Lossless compression reduce the data

size without modifying its content. Lossy compression

modify the data content to make it even smaller than

lossless compression.

Some compression formats, like MP3 or JPG, are highly

specialized. They use lossy algorithms and produce very

small file sizes but can only compress a particular

type of data. Other formats, like ZIP or BZIP2, are

of general purpose. They rely on lossless compression

algorithms and can work on any data. However, they will

never outdo special purpose formats like MP3 or JPG.

PNG and TIFF are popular image file formats which support

lossless compression.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of lossy compression,

JPG, MP3 or any other lossy format degrade the original

data to some extent. In other words, saving an image or

music in a lossy file format will make it different then

the original. Usually the difference, called compression

artifacts, is so small that most of us don't see or

hear it.

For the above reasons, lossy compression should never

be used when saving important data. Only lossless

compression is suitable for that. PNG and TIFF are

examples of image file formats that support lossless

compression. Such formats are ideal for storing

hi-resolution master images.

Finally, compression takes time and normally uses all

available processing power. Generally, the better the

compression the slower it is. Some compression algorithms

are extremely good at compressing but also extremely

slow. For backup purposes, one should evaluate common

compression formats and set for the most suitable one.

CONSIDER YOUR NEEDS

Some additional issues need to be considered when

designing the most suitable backup strategy for own use:

the type of backup files
if compression is desired, what compression to use and how
backup storage media

As noted earlier the best backups are simply copies of

important data. Such approach works especially well for

artists who rely on compressed image formats like PNG

or TIFF.

Note the difference between "built-in" image compression,

done every time you save an image in a format that

supports it, and compressing the backup data - applied

to all backup data regardless of what it is.

What backup compression to use, and if to use it at all,

depends on the type of backup data. Generally,

text files (TXT, HTML, XML, etc) can be compressed

the most of all file types. Images that have been

compressed with their own algorithms (PNG, JPG, TIFF,

etc) can't later be compressed much if at all. Images

which don't have own compression (BMP, TGA, etc) can

often be compressed quite a bit, though this depends on

the actual image data.

Thus if most of your important art data consist of

images that are already compressed, there is no need to

compress the backup. Text files on the other hand, can

be compressed a lot and save significant amount of space.

There are a few other things to consider when compressing

backup data. What compression program to use and how

to compress the files.

ZIP is the most commonly used compression format today -

it's fast and compresses well. It's been around for a

long time and is universally available. But there are

other, less known, good alternatives. For example,

7ZIP, RAR, and BZIP2 compress significantly better than

ZIP and are only slightly slower.

Finally, how to compress backups. Basically one can

either create a compressed archive of many files, or

compress each file individually. The main disadvantage

to creating a compressed archive is the possibility

of losing all files in the archive if the archive

gets corrupted and can not be recovered. On the

other hand, if files are compressed individually one

looses only one file - should it get corrupted and be

unrecoverable. Additionally, since a compressed file

use less space than uncompressed, it's less likely to

get corrupted. Thus it's more safe to compress files

individually.

WHICH BACKUP MEDIA TO USE

The commonly used backup media today are hard drives,

tapes and CDs/DVDs. Hard drives are the fastest and

often the best option for large amounts of data. They are

also the most expensive and not very durable. Tapes are

slow but can store a lot of data and can last decades.

CDs/DVDs are probably the most common backup media used

today due to its very low cost. Unfortunately, just

like hard drives, most have a relatively short expected

life span of between two to five years. Internet backup

solutions are also becoming a popular backup option.

Reliability is important to consider when choosing the

backup media. How robust is the media and for how long

can it retain the data? The quality of the media plays

a significant role here. All media degrade over time,

but some degrade more than other. Most of the low cost

burnable CDs have a life span of around two years. Higher

quality CDs can last up to five. Very high quality

CDs with a gold layer are expected to last decades.

Generally, if the handling and storage conditions

are good, quality media should last at least few years

without data loss. However, unless the best quality media

is used, an annual full backup is probably the safest

prevention against data loss due to media degradation.

A combination of different media may often be the ideal

solution. For example, some of my own backup practices

include using an external hard drive to mirror (update)

certain parts of my computer hard drives. Twice a year

I burn all important data on several DVDs.

I recommend spending some time investigating the most

suitable media and the hardware to operate it. High

quality products will minimize the possibility of

backup failure.

THE NECESSITY OF VERIFYING BACKUPS

The most important aspect of taking backups is making

sure they are error free. The backup data may prove

useless if corrupted due to media or other error.

It's good practice to immediately test the backup for

its validity. Errors will be detected and a new backup

can be taken right away. Any respectable backup program

provides an option for data verification. What good is

a backup if its data is corrupted?

A REAL LIFE BACKUP SCENARIO

My most valuable data is my art data, website files,

source code, and various docs. All my hi-resolution work

is stored in either PNG or TIFF. Nearly all my reference

images are JPGs. Thus all my image data can be backed

up without the use of compression and save huge amounts

of backup time and space. I do compress 3d files which

don't use own compression. For that I use bzip2 with the

maximum compression setting. All the remaining data are

basically text files and are compressed individually

using either bzip2 or 7zip. Images and 3d files, even

compressed, can be huge in size. Not surprisingly over

90% of my backup space is used on art data.

I backup daily, monthly and twice a year. Once a day,

the files which are frequently updated (notes, work

in progress images, source code, website files, email,

etc.) are backed up to another hard drive. This happens

during the boot process and takes a few minutes. Once

a month I backup to a CD which also includes less

frequently updated files. A copy of that CD is stored

in a remote location. Twice a year I take full backup

and store it on several DVDs at a friends house. If I

work on something especially important, I store it daily

on a CD/DVD or a USB mem-stick. My most critical data

is also regularly encrypted and stored on a very remote

internet host. I wrote a script to run all these backups

automatically. With the exception of CD/DVD storage,

no manual work is involved.

As you can see, a custom backup solution can be quite

sophisticated yet simple to carry out. It can involve

a combination of different media and backup procedures

to optimally satisfy ones needs.

FINAL NOTES

Depending on your needs a dedicated backup software may

be a necessary investment. Make sure to research this

carefully. Usually, products from reputable companies

that specialize in certain solutions are best. There are

also many good open source or free software alternatives.

It's best to avoid products which rely on proprietary

or closed solutions. For example, a backup software

may store the backup data in an unknown format only

supported by this particular backup software. Avoid

that. If the company goes out of business and the

backup software breaks, your backup data may be lost

forever. Look for products that rely on well known,

mature, and ideally open technologies. For example,

PNG is an open format for storing image data. What this

means is that the specification, or blueprint, for that

format is publicly available for anyone to use it. This

increases compatibility and reduces reliance on any

specific vendor or product.

Most artists important data consists mainly of images

and 3d files. To save space rely on PNG, TIFF or JPG

for bitmap image formats. Vector images and 3d files

can be compressed individually if needed. A basic

backup software that simply copies specified files

or directories to the backup media may be all that

is needed. It's best to make two sets of the backup

data and store each at different location. One close

to home, like a friends place, or a bank box and the

other far away.

Setting up a proper backup strategy may initially require

a significant amount of time and cost money. There is

a lot to research and consider. In the end however,

a good backup procedure will prove an exceptionally

valuable investment. As you read this, your screen could

go blank due to a hard drive crash. All your valuable

data - years of work, reference images, documents,

photo albums, 3d files, email, etc., - could be lost

forever. Unless you were prepared and took a backup.

Dawid Michalczyk is a freelance illustrator and an artist. He has been creating computer graphics since the early 90s. To see examples of his work and other writings visit his website at http://www.art.eonworks.com. He can be reached at dm@eonworks.com

Backup Software- Don't Buy It!

Computer Backup- Forget About It!

Backup Software is for the birds! Computer Backup is too hard, too much trouble and a pain in the butt. Let's just forget about it.

Backup Software is touted as the savior of your computer's critical business and personal files. They claim that all computer hard drives (where our files are stored) eventually will have a 100% failure rate. They try to tell us that the failure of our hard drives is just a matter of WHEN, not IF.

Do your backups they shout!

Poppycock!

BACKUP SOFTWARE- LET'S GET REAL

You and I know the real story. The real story is that new computers are so well made that they almost never fail, right?

Therefore, we don't need to worry about buying backup software and setting up a computer backup system, do we? It would just be a waste time-- for sure!

After all we know that all the press about hard drive failures, natural disasters and terrorist attacks is just a conspiracy by the backup software companies to get us to buy their products.

Personally I never had a hard drive failure (that I recall). If my computer stops working for whatever reason, that's life.

Therefore, I ignore these software backup companies that try to push their backup software products on the unsuspecting public even though they make data and file restorations easy. I don't give them the time of day.

Therefore as you see, I don't need backup software, do you? Of course not.

BACKUP SOFTWARE- STARTING OVER WITHOUT IT IS EASY

In the unlikely event that I got a virus or a bunch of spyware on my computers I'll just bite the bullet and move on. After all, if I lost all my data to a virus, then so what? Who needs backup software?

Heck, I'd just buy a new computer and begin again and I'd still wouldn't need backup software because it's just too much hassle.

If ALL my business data was lost due to a hard drive crash or virus corruption then I'd just start my business over. No big deal. It's not that hard, right? Using backup software is just a pain.

BACKUP SOFTWARE FOOLISHNESS

So by now we're all agreed that using backup software for computer backup is just for the foolish, right? Right.

Who would want to use backup software that automatically and easily backs up EVERYTHING on your computer hard drive to a DVD Rewriteable disk or USB external hard drive? That would mean you could easily recover from any computer disaster. That makes too much sense and is far too logical.

They claim that backup software is a virtual computer insurance policy against fire, flood, theft, earthquake, hurricanes, tornados and terrorist attacks.

Balderdash!

Ridiculous.

Hey, the businesses who survived Hurricane Katrina didn't need backup software did they? OK, OK I admit a lot of businesses without backup software and off site backup lost EVERYTHING and now they cannot recover their data and reconstitute their business. But that's life. Now these businesses and their employees can now move on to something new. How exciting!

Look, life without backup software is just so much more interesting.

By the way, did I tell you how much I enjoy playing Russian Roulette?

Did I neglect to mention my brief stay (it was really was only a few days) at the mental hospital? Ahh, that's ancient history. Let's get back to the present.

BACKUP SOFTWARE- THE PRESENT DAY

Want to hear something silly? My friend Ben down in New Orleans owned an insurance company. It made a very good living for him and his family. He didn't believe in backup software either. All his computers were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Ben just laughed and said, "No problem, this disaster gives me the chance to write the Great American Novel that I've always dreamed of writing".

What about his 10 employees and his thousands of customers he was asked? Ben said, "Heck, things always work out for the best don't they?"

What about the income from the business that supported his family he was asked? Ben said, "Oh, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) told me they would take care of us and not to worry."

See, Ben is all set and is none the worse for wear even though he didn't have backup software.

BACKUP SOFTWARE LESSONS

So boys and girls what have we learned about this backup software thing?

* If we don't have backup software, so what, it just makes life after a hard drive crash more interesting and fun.

* After a natural disaster that destroys your computers, FEMA will make it OK.

* All the hubbub about backup software is just a bunch of advertising hype to sell product.

* Just because you like to play Russian Roulette, you aren't really crazy.

FINALLY- BACKUP SOFTWARE FOLLYIES

I know another guy, Carl Jordan, who is crazier than I am. Carl and the rest of the loonies at Tweak All Consultants (www.tweakspeed.com) actually believe backup software can save your bacon.

In my own strange way I try to be fair and balanced. Therefore

if you disagree with me check out Carl's review of backup software at Backup Software

Now, where's my medication? My meds really smooth me out. They also help me forget about rational things like computer backup and backup software.

Jack Back has been in the computer business since 1983 as an IT executive and working computer consultant company owner. He has helped many clients after a computer crash who had no computer backup. Hurry to get your FREE REVIEW of backup software that saves your irreplaceable computer data from loss, damage or destruction at the Backup Software website.

Planning A Backup And Restoration Of Files For Disaster Recovery

The Backup utility creates a copy of data on a hard disk of a computer and archives data on another storage media. Any storage media such as removable disks, tapes, and logical drives can be used as a backup storage.

While taking a backup of files, the Backup utility creates a volume shadow copy of the data to create an accurate copy of the contents. It includes any open files or files that are being used by the system. Users can continue to access the system while the Backup utility is running without the risk of losing data.

Volume Shadow Copy

Backup provides a feature of taking a backup of files that are opened by a user or system. This feature is known as volume shadow copy. Volume shadow copy makes a duplicate copy of all files at the start of the backup process. In this way, files that have changed during the backup process are copied correctly. Due to this feature, applications can continue writing data to the volume during a backup operation, and backups can be scheduled at any time without locking out users.

Types of Backups

The Windows Backup utility provides various types of backups. While planning for a backup strategy, it is important to choose an appropriate type or combination of different types of backups. The backup type determines which files are transferred to the destination media.

Each backup type relates to an attribute maintained by every file known as archive (A). The archive attribute is set when a file is created or changed. When an archive attribute is set, it means that the backup of this file has not been taken or it is due.

Note: When it is said that "The file is marked as backup", it means that the archive attribute of the file has been cleared.

Normal Backups

When an administrator chooses to use a normal backup, all selected files and folders are backed up and the archive attribute of all files are cleared. A normal backup does not use the archive attribute to determine which files to back up. A normal backup is used as the first step of any backup plan. It is used with the combination of other backup types for planning a backup strategy of an organization. Normal backups are the most time-consuming and are resource hungry. Restoration from a normal backup is more efficient than other types of backups.

Incremental Backups

An incremental backup backs up files that are created or changed since the last normal or incremental backup. It takes the backup of files of which the archive attribute is set. After taking a backup, it clears the archive attribute of files. An incremental backup is the fastest backup process. Restoring data from an incremental backup requires the last normal backup and all subsequent incremental backups. Incremental backups must be restored in the same order as they were created.

Note: If any media in the incremental backup set is damaged or data becomes corrupt, the data backed up after corruption cannot be restored.

Differential Backups

Differential backup backs up files that are created or changed since the last normal backup. It does not clear the archive attribute of files after taking a backup. The restoration of files from a differential backup is more efficient than an incremental backup.

Copy Backups

A copy backup copies all selected files and folders. It neither uses nor clears the archive attribute of the files. It is generally not a part of a planned scheduled backup.

Daily Backups

A daily backup backs up all selected files and folders that have changed during the day. It backs up data by using the modified date of the files. It neither uses nor clears the archive attribute of the files.

Combining backup types

The easiest backup plan is to take a normal backup every night. A normal backup every night ensures that the data is restored from a single job the next day. Although the restoration of data from a normal backup is easy, taking a backup is time consuming. Hence, an administrator is required to make an optimal backup plan. An administrator must consider the following points before creating a backup plan:

·The time involved in taking the backup.

·The size of the backup job.

·The time required to restore a system in the event of a system failure.

The most common solutions for the needs of different organizations include the combination of normal, differential, and incremental backups.

Combination of Normal and Differential Backups

An administrator can use a combination of a normal backup and a differential backup to save time in taking a backup as well as for a restoration of data. In this plan, a normal backup can be taken on Sunday, and differential backups can be taken on Monday through Friday every night. If data becomes corrupt at any time, only a normal and last differential backup are required to be restored. Although this combination is easier and takes lesser time for restoration, it takes more time to take backup if data changes frequently.

Combination of Normal and Incremental Backups

A combination of normal and incremental backups can be used to save more time for taking backups. In this plan, a normal backup is taken on Sunday and incremental backups on Monday through Friday every night. If data becomes corrupt at any time, a normal and all incremental backups till date are required to be restored.

Backing up a System State Data

System State Data

System State data contains critical elements of the Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 operating systems. Following are the files included in the System State data:

·Boot files, including the system files and all files protected by Windows File Protection (WFP)

·Active Directory (on domain controller only)

·SYSVOL (on domain controller only)

·Certificate Services (on certification authority only)

·Cluster database (on cluster node only)

·Registry

·IIS metabase

·Performance counter configuration information

·Component Services Class registration database

For backing up the System State of a computer, the System State node is included as a part of the backup selection in the Backup utility.

Note: On domain controllers, System State can be restored only by restarting the domain controller in Directory Services Restore Mode. NTDSUTIL is used to recover deleted objects in Active Directory.

System Recovery

In the event of a system failure, the recovery of the system is difficult and tedious for administrators. Recovery involves reinstallation of the operating system, mounting and cataloging the backup tape, and then performing the full restore. To make this process easier, Windows provides a feature called Automated System Recovery (ASR). ASR is used to perform a restore of the System State data and services in the event of a major system failure. An ASR restore includes the configuration information for devices. ASR backs up the system data and local system partition.

How to create an ASR set?

Take the following steps to create an Automated System Recovery (ASR) set by using the Backup or Restore Wizard:

1.Run Backup from Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup.

2.In the welcome screen of the Backup or Restore Wizard, click the Advanced Mode link.

3.On the welcome page of the Advanced Mode of the Backup utility, choose the ASR Wizard option from the Tools menu.

4.In the welcome screen of the ASR Wizard, click the Next button.

5.On the Backup Destination page, specify the location of the backup, and click the Next button.

6.Click the Finish button.

Note: An ASR backup does not include folders and files.

Best practices for Backup

According to Microsoft, administrators should take the following steps to ensure the recovery in case of a system failure:

·Develop backup and restore strategies and test them.

·Train appropriate personnel.

·In a high-security network, ensure that only administrators are able to restore files.

·Back up all data on the system and boot volumes and the System State.

·Back up the data on all volumes and the System State data at the same time.

·Create an Automated System Recovery backup set.

·Create a backup log.

·Keep at least three copies of the media. Keep at least one copy off-site in a properly controlled environment.

·Perform trial restorations.

·Secure devices and media.

·Do not disable the default volume shadow copy backup method and revert to the pre-Windows Server 2003 backup method.

·Back up your server cluster effectively.

·Back up the cluster disks from each node.

uCertify was formed in 1996 with an aim to offer high quality educational training software and services in the field of information technology to its customers. uCertify provides exam preparation solutions for the certification exams of Microsoft, CIW, CompTIA, Oracle, Sun and other leading IT vendors. To know more about uCertify, please visit http://www.ucertify.com/

Recovering Your PC From Disaster With Vista Backup

A pre-requisite to using this feature of Vista is buying the license for either Vista Business or Ultimate editions. Unfortunately Microsoft have not made it available in other versions of Vista. There are two types of backup you can use, and they affect how you restore the system:

1. Using the 'Backup Computer' it's possible to write what's called an image backup of your entire PC to a backup device usually a USB stick or external drive. This snapshot of your entire system allows you to recover exactly to the same point in time. However, because it is an 'image' of your system drive it requires the restoring PC to have a system drive of at least the same capacity. Usually it would be the same PC so this is not a problem. It is also the lengthier of the two backup options as it backs up the whole machine.

2. Using 'Backup Files' you can backup selected data files such as images, photos, music, documents, spreadsheets, emails and application data. This type of backup is incremental i.e. it only backs up changed files and therefore is usually very fast taking only a few minutes. However it will not enable you to restore a full system, only those backed up files.

Typically we advise you use both types of backup and blend them to cover all your data and system. So for example you might take a complete backup weekly, but a file backup daily. In the event of a disaster you would need to restore the system backup first, and then each daily backup (since its incremental) that contains changes that will not be on the full system backup.

The service has a scheduling function within it so that regular file or full image backups can be taken on a regular basis be that daily, weekly or monthly, whatever suits your needs. With the speed of modern drives the backup of your entire PC can be done within an hour and in the event of a disaster be recovered in a similar amount of time.

There are many options for backup devices but with the steadily decreasing cost of external hard drives and USB memory sticks these are looking like the consumer and very small business users backup device of choice. You need a minimum of 80GB of space to backup up your entire system and that's what I'd recommend you do. An external hard drive would normally be connected to your PC via a free USB2 socket, however in some instances you may also have eSATA, Ethernet or Firewire (IEEE1394) connections available as alternatives. The fastest connections to use for backup in reverse order are USB2, Firewire and eSATA.

Should your machine stop working for either software or hardware related reasons the Image backup allows you to return it to its last working state to and be confident that everything should work perfectly as it did previously. What this means is that should anything go wrong with your current installation like a faulty hard drive, corrupt windows file or Virus problems, all that is needed to be done is to enter the Windows Vista Ultimate or Business disc, plug in the backup device and start the PC. Once you have done so, follow the steps below to fully restore your PC to the exact state as it was at the last backup.

Keeping your back-up image up to date means you don't have to worry about any problems caused by software errors, virus infections, hardware failures or corruption. Similarly, should your system hard disk fail entirely, all that would need to be done would be to get a replacement, install it and then follow the process of a system restore and you would have your operating system and software back as it was before.

Please note system restore points described in Windows are a different tool. They save operating system files as a snapshot at a given time in another directory (usually hidden) on your system disk so that without referring to a backup you can reverse a hot fix, service pack or driver update should it prove to cause instability or bugs. This is obviously no use to you is the system disk fails or becomes corrupted.

Doesn't RAID protect me from drive failures though?

Ideally if you have also selected our RAID1 or RAID5 disk storage configuration you can afford to lose one hard drive and simply 'hot swap' it out for a replacement without any interruption to the working system as it is able to rebuild the information that was on the missing drive on the fly, until you are able to replace the defective drive. Once the defective drive is replaced the RAID5 redundant volume set is rebuilt on the new drive and you have fault tolerance restored once again.

Remember your backup images don't care whether it's a RAID drive they are being backed up from or restored to so you can back up a RAID set and restore to non-RAID or vice versa.

How to restore Vista from a backup

Assuming you have your backups now to recover from your backup device (USB or External hard drive), and your machine is now back up and running (or you are using a similar replacement machine) and you have the same capacity hard drive space available it's very simple. Just go through the following steps:

1. Insert your Windows operating system DVD into the drive

2. Reboot your machine (or power on)

3. If you are asked whether to 'Press A Key' to boot from CD-ROM, then do so. The standard windows installation process will now begin with a progress bar along the bottom of your screen. Select your preferred language when prompted (i.e. 'UK English') and click 'Next'.

4. Once the Windows setup DVD has started select the Repair option from the first screen. You will see the 'Repair your computer' option on the bottom left. Click on it and click 'Select'.

On The following screen click 'Next' and you will get to a screen with an option o perform a 'Complete PC restore'

5. Then select the option to 'Windows Complete Restore' to restore from your latest backup (ensure your backup device is already connected and switched on)

6. Windows will now look for backups on your device and allow you to restore your system from it, this will take a few minutes depending on how big your system disk was in terms of volume of data that has been backed up

7. Now remove the Windows setup DVD, and reboot your PC again

8. Your system will now be restored to the state of your last Full image backup

9. You can now go into Control Panel, System Maintenance, Backup and Restore, and select to restore any documents, images, music, email or data files that are backed up individually but were not in the last Full image backup

Please note running through this process WILL DESTROY any existing data on the disks as it completely overwrites it with your backup image including any new files that might be on the disk so you need to be sure you do want to restore from the backup.

Typically a full backup image will take up at least 10GB of space, and your restore will create a new volume of exactly the same size as your original volume so you must ensure that you are restoring to a volume at least as big as your backup volume was.

Backup and Disaster Recovery FAQ

What do I need to do to ensure backups are run?

Just make sure you machine is on at the time set for backups to run, the backup device is connected and switched on. We also recommend you make sure all applications are closed and its advisable to have nothing running while backups are being taken.

Manually running backups

If you would like to run a one off backup because you are about to change your system configuration or add hardware or software and you want to be sure the system is safe this is a prudent practice and is easy to do. Go to the 'Start' bar (which has now been replaced with a Windows icon in the case of Vista) and Click on Control Panel, followed by System Maintenance and then Backup and Restore Centre. Select 'Backup computer' to make a full image backup of the entire machine and its configuration, or select 'Backup files' to make incremental backups of changed data files (the latter being much quicker and requiring far less backup space).

Bear in mind that you need to rename your backup image file names manually so you can identify which one is which when it comes to having to restore them, otherwise each successive backup will simply overwrite the last and you cant recover to a given point in time. To change their folder names simply use file explorer as you would on any other windows file system device.

All backups are stored in a folder on the backup device named 'Windows image backup'. The default name for the folder will be the PC's computer name. Here, simply right click the folder with the new backup you have made (the new one will be identifiable by the date) and select 'rename'. If you then need to restore to any given point you will be given a choice of folder names identifying all your backups you can restore from.

Do I need to backup anything else?

I recommend you also periodically (say once a month or quarter) backup your full system with a complete image backup. This is the only way to ensure the whole system in its complete working state is backed up and can be restored to. If you don't mind the wait for it to finish its better to run a Full backup as often as possible, but it can take some time (several hours).

Can I restore my system even if its still working?

Yes! If you want to revert to a previous working state of your system at the time of an earlier backup then even though your system is working you can go through the same procedure above to restore it to that earlier point. This is sometimes useful if a software or driver installation or a virus has infected your machine and you would like to safely revert to an earlier known working and secure state.

If the Windows DVD/CD wont boot on my machine what should I do?

Most likely your CD/DVD drive isn't set as the first priority boot device so the PC is scanning the disks and trying to boot from them first and failing. You need to check your boot priority setup in the machines BIOS setup. You can usually enter the BIOS by pressing [Del] at start-up (PC start-up, not Windows start-up, if windows is starting up its too late), usually there is a screen to accompany this to tell you when to press [Del] or another prescribed key). Your BIOS will usually give you three or more options for priority order of boot devices for installing windows or recovering from a backup this needs to be set as [CD-ROM] or [USB] first, it doesn't matter what follows it in second priority but ideally it should be your system disk to minimise boot-up time. This is exactly the same process as if you were about to fresh install Windows onto the machine

Protecting backup media

Don't forget your backup is only as good as the medium it's on. In business its good practice to dummy run a restore of your system every now and again to make sure the process and the media are working properly. If you have the time id recommend you do the same. Its also advisable to protect the media especially if all your backups are on a single external drive or USB device. Consider storing the device in a fire safe in between backups to ensure it doesn't get destroyed in the event of a building fire, flood or collapse. To be doubly sure buy two backup devices and rotate them on and off site (at a friends house or different business location) that way if an aeroplane hits your house (hopefully while you are out!) your friend still has one of your backups for you...

Alan is Chief Technologist at Cryo Performance Computers in the UK. He leads the research and development of innovative PC design for games and demanding professional communities. Cryo PC supply high performance specialist PC's including professional custom built PC's and extreme gaming PC's.

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