Do not Backup Your Networked Computers - "Image" Them Rather For Greater Security From Software application Failures

Backup your PC making use of "imaging" software like Norton Ghost or ShadowProtect. Even if you do not do it everyday, even a relatively old image backup can conserve you hours of lost productivity and disappointment when you have major COMPUTER troubles.

The Issue - I was following a pal on Facebook. He is a very clever business man and a college teacher. He was relating how he had actually been on the phone with Dell (Dell.com) for hours. His $4000 COMPUTER which was 1.5 years into its 5 year guarantee was working poorly. The windows registry he concluded had been corrupted. He couldn't even get rid of programs. After several more hours on the phone with Dell, he chooses that he had to clean his COMPUTER clean and reinstall the Vista os and all his applications. He figures it will take him another ten hours.

An Option - If he had made an image backup of his COMPUTER, anytime in the current past, he could have recovered his COMPUTER in probably under a half hour. Depending upon how old his backup was, he might still need to install programs or tons information that he had included since the backup. This is perhaps much better than needing to reinstall every little thing.

This is how I do it on my home network of Computers:.

1. I have Norton Ghost (Symantec.com) or ShadowProtect (Storagecraft.com) installed on all my Computers.

2. Each COMPUTER immediately develops an image copy of its primary drive every morning. These are incremental images, so they are only the modifications because the previous day and the backups run fairly fast and don't bog down the PCs too much if someone needs to use one them.

3. The PCs are all networked so I have the backups going to a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. I use the Buffalo Linkstation (BuffaloTech.com). These little boxes simply look like networked drive to the PCs. They are easy to set up on your network. You simply plug them into your network switch or router as you would any PC.

4. When a week each COMPUTER likewise creates a complete hard drive image. I keep a total of 2 total image sets for each PC (the full disk image together with their day-to-day incremental updates). This indicates I can recover my PC to a point it was at on any day for the last week and up to two weeks depending upon when the last complete image was produced.

Both tools, Norton Ghost and ShadowProtect, will walk you with establishing a backup scheme such as the one I described above.

The Estimated Cost.

1. Norton Ghost/ShadowProtect: presently $35 to $65 per COMPUTER. I look for bargains, sales, torn or open box discount rates at locations like Amazon.com, Ebay.com, CheapCheapCheap.com, etc.

2. NAS/Linkstation: presently $100 - $250. Once more, I always search for offers on-line. My strategy is to understand what I need then wait for a good deal to pop up.

Things To Consider.

1. How huge of a NAS do I need? Presently, I backup about 235 GBs of hard drive images on 5 PCs to 300 GB of image backups on my NAS. A NAS with about 33 % more space than I am using is working for me. This is just how much space I am currently making use of on my PC (Total Space minus Free Space when taking a look at "My Computer system") not the overall hard drive size. If you anticipate the area you make use of to expand then you will have to estimate greater. When I start seeing my NAS backup space getting filled, I can undoubtedly find unnecessary files and programs I can remove from my Computers and once again my backups fit quickly on the NAS disk.

My Computers backup in the very early morning starting at half hour periods (first beginnings at 4 am, the Second at 4:30 am, and so on). Staggering the backups is more time and space effective than trying to run them all at the same time (which requires even more time and more NAS space than running them one at a time).

This typically indicates you initially boot your PC making use of the disk that came with your backup software application. This puts you into an executive program running your PC (instead of Windows/Vista) that will take you through restoring from a backup image of your COMPUTER.

You currently know you need to backup your PCs regularly. I've shown you one technique using imaging software application that has actually worked well for me for many years. Now, go backup your Computers!

Even if you don't do it everyday, even a fairly old image backup can conserve you hours of lost performance and disappointment when you have significant COMPUTER issues. A Solution - If he had actually made an image backup of his PC, anytime in the recent past, he might have recuperated his COMPUTER in most likely under a half hour. These are incremental images, so they are only the modifications since the previous day and the backups run relatively quick and do not bog down the Computers too much if somebody needs to utilize one them.

Currently, I backup about 235 GBs of hard disk images on 5 Computers to 300 GB of image backups on my NAS. When I begin seeing my NAS backup space getting filled up, I can inevitably discover unneeded files and programs I can eliminate from my PCs and once again my backups fit quickly on the NAS disk.

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