I have five years worth of Word documents and emails that are important, plus a few photos. I'm running Windows ME. How should I back up effectively? Gwendolen Birks
For home users, there are three attractive options, and it's a good idea to use at least two. The first is the CD-R, which stores about 700MB on a disc. For maximum security, copy all your important files to one CD, and only write to it once. Do not use "packet writing" or "drag to disk" systems that treat the CD as if it were a floppy. (It isn't: the CD was designed to be written as one long spiral.) It's not worth the risk of losing data by saving 20p on a disc.
Backing up to CD is simpler if you keep all your important data in one folder (such as My Documents) or in subfolders smaller than 700MB. However, some programs - including email and accounting programs - may store data elsewhere. If you have mail in Outlook Express, search your drive for .dbx files to find where they are, and back up the whole folder.
Today, accessory hard drives and memory cards are also attractive for backups. You can buy a cheap external hard drive that plugs into a PC via a USB or (for preference) FireWire port. But bear in mind that all hard drives fail eventually, and it is possible to lose both the PC and the back-up together - through flood, fire, theft or whatever.
For extra security, you can store backups online. You can forward important emails, photos, etc to a Yahoo or Gmail email account, store small files in Yahoo Groups and Briefcases, and store photos in online albums. There are lots of online back-conup services for those willing to pay.
In any case, you must check that your backups work. With CDs, for example, make sure they can be read in a different PC and that the files are really there.
But computer backups are essentially temporary, because you also need a way of reading them. Millions of people have backups on 5.25in floppies and 3in Amstrad PCW disks they can no longer read. Some can get at the files, but no longer have a program that can load them. If it's just the odd email or article, and you want to keep it, you might as well print it out.
