backups

I know making backups is really important but I've never done them except for a specific program that has a "backup files" option. The problem is that I don't know how to do it. And what should be backed up besides my docs & images? I have Windows XP Home. I have a CD/DVD burner as well as a jump drive. The Windows Help file was no help.

 

Well, you can do full system backups, but to be perfectly honest there is no need to, and they typically arn't done these days. You can always reinstall a system and your programs, so backing them up isn't important. Plus it's usually more work then just reinstalling them if you ever have to.

What you want to backup is data that is important to you. For the average home user that would be things like music, photos, documents, game saves, video files. For work it tends to be data files for whatever program you work with.

In general you just copy the files/dir's which contain your personal data to a CD/DVD (or whatever media you chose to backup to) and that's it.

 

Hello tatsall, making backups is the most important thing you should do if you haf a PC. I don't agree with Coco. First of all you should make a backup of your OS. Of course, it'll be better if you have 2 partitions: one for OS and another for other stuff. But I use Acronis True Image, it has incremental and differential backup options. So using it you can create a backup of your OS, put it on a DVD, and if smth painful happened with your PC, you'll be able to restore a backup image at anytime.
As for other stuff like music, foto, etc. you can use the same tool and keep it on another DVD.
I've been using this program for a long time. It's very easy and convenient due to good-looking intuitive wizard.