Indepth discussion about what to back up and how.  1hr

Summary of what to back up and how.  25 min.

Listen to our discussion about how and why to back up.

Paul and I talk about ways to help you through this without losing you mind and losing your data.

What to back up. There are two schools of thought: Some people say you should back up your entire hard drive, others that you should just back up your important data. I subscribe to the latter theory, yet actually follow the former.  A full back up is a long process. It takes lots of time and a lot of the data you backup will never be used. If you are going to backup your whold system my choice is to use a program Called Ghost.

Automated vs. manual. Automated backups are always better than manual ones. Since backups tend to slow down the performance of your  computer, it's best to do them at 3 a.m. or some other nom productive  time. But, if you choose to back up during the late night or early morning, you'll have to leave your computer turned on overnight.

Tape. For most of us, tape-based backup solutions are too expensive and/or too complicated. Most require multiple tape changes, which is a pain, and the tapes themselves aren't cheap. But they do have the advantage of being easily portable, so you can take your precious data to a different location, where it's secure from fire and theft.

CDs and DVDs. I don't recommend CD’s or even DVD’s for backing up. CDs don't hold enough data for most backups, and you have to sit there and change the disks. DVDs hold more data, but you'll still need maybe a dozen to back up your drive, and they cost less then $5 each. Recordable disks are great for small backups, I suppose, but lousy for anything else.

Software. There are too many options when it comes to backup software. The one I trust is still Acronis' True Image here is a review of both Acronis and Ghost. Other people prefer other programs, with all sorts of good reasons. You can ask your friends what they use–but that probably won't be much help, because hardly anyone actually backs up their data.

Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. If all you're backing up is critical data, you should consider the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard in Windows XP. It's intended to move your data from an old machine to a new one. But it can also be used to make occasional backups of your documents, mail, and important application settings.

Online. Consider backing up online. Connected Corp.'s  BackupMyStuff, for example, costs as little as $6.95 a month. Unfortunately, storage space is limited–as "little" as 100MB. Apple's  .Mac service offers a similar feature, they also incresed their storage to 10 gb of basice storage for $99.00 a year.  A story from ZDnet.

Hard drives. One of the easiest ways to back up one of today's giant hard drives is with another of today's giant hard drives. They're cheap, fast, and frequently include a free copy of the personal version of Retrospect. I've invested in several FireWire/1394 and USB 2.0 devices, of varying capacities; if your computer doesn't support FireWire/1394 or USB 2.0, you can buy an add-on card.

Network storage. If you're backing up multiple machines on a network, you can use a network-attached storage device, like the  Quantum Snap Server. It'll back up all the hard drives on your network, as well as make public files accessible to everyone. One caveat: Because of its relatively slow connection (11mbps), my 802.11b wireless network seemed to crash when I was backing up across the net. I haven't fully tested this problem, and may have misdiagnosed it, but that's been my experience.

ABS. The absolute easiest way to back up may be one of the ABS (Automatic Backup System) devices from CMS Peripherals. These are small (in size, not in capacity) hard drives built into sturdy, road-worthy cases. Plug one in and it backs up your machine. They work with all the MS operating systems as well as with Macintosh. Some even create a bootable drive that can be installed into your computer to replace a faulty drive. With a 500GB drive selling for less then 200 dollars, this no longer a  pricey option on a per-machine basis. It is a great option for a notebook-heavy sales force.

The bottom line: Your best backup option is the one you'll actually use. It's all too easy to ignore the chore–so most people do. But if you think about how much it would cost to replace that information, then regular backups aren't really optional. Around my office, they're the law.

Here are a few link I found that might be some help.
http://data-backup-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

http://free-backup.info/

 http://www.download.com/Backup-Software/3150-2242_4-0.html

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/software/Backup-software/

http://www.grsoftware.net/

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