Backup and the Busy Stay at Home Business Mom

For any computer user backup is important, but for the busy stay at home business mom it can be vital. Business moms not only need to keep their family in order but also have a home business to run, and if they use a computer for their business it is vital that they have access to the files that are essential to the running of their business. Business moms have no time to waste with the loss of important data due to a computer crash or virus, and for them backup is of vital import. Fortunately there are many possible solutions to your backup needs.

Online Backup

One of the growing tools with the growth of the internet is that of online backup. Online backup allows you to store your files online in reserve apart from your computer in case the worst happens. Then, you will be able to download your files just as you saved them and restore your computer to normalcy with all of your files returned.

This is a very powerful backup method, and also has the bonus feature of allowing you to access your files from any computer in the world by downloading them onto whichever system you are currently using. With new features being added to online backup systems all the time, and with storage amounts and uploading ease increasing as well, online backup can be a powerful solution for all of your backup needs.

CD-Rs, DVD-Rs and Your Computer Backup

New technologies are being created all the time that can prove very powerful for your backup needs. CD-Rs and DVD-Rs are two of the most powerful backup tools invented yet. While it used to be that floppy disks used to be the most common tools for backup, they are quickly becoming obsolete. After all, why bother with a floppy disk that can hold just over a megabyte of data when you can use a CD-R or a DVD-R which can hold hundreds or thousands of times as much data all on a single disk?

It is not uncommon to walk into a computer store these days and not even see a single computer which even has a floppy disk drive on it.

CD-Rs have been a round for a while, and there are now even CD-RWs which allow you to write your disk more than once. One drawback to using a CD-R or a DVD-R is that once you have written information onto your disk, the disk is finished and nothing new can be added to it and nothing can be taken away. This is not true with CD-RWs or DVD-RWs, which can be theoretically rewritten as many times as you require.

While they have not yet advanced to the stage of manipulability that a format such as the floppy drive can boast, this is a great advancement and allows for the far greater storage space that a floppy drive can never hope to obtain. You will find that DVD-Rs and DVD burners are more expensive than their CD burner predecessors, but this price is falling all the time and in the future will come to overtake CD-ROMs, so it is a good investment to make if you are serious about your backup.

read the full article

First Steps in Hard Drive Recovery

If you find that your hard drive is no longer functioning, remember that a hard drive recovery is nearly always possible, so there is no need for panic. Data loss is not unusual and in nearly all cases the data can be recovered. Only in severe severe cases involving platter damage, magnetic degradation, or over-write of a file will the data be practically unrecoverable, and even in these cases a hard drive recovery by MFM photography may be possible if the data is valuable enough to justify huge expense.

Having said that, there are steps you can take to minimize further data loss and greatly increase your chances of successful hard drive recovery

Initial Steps in Hard Drive Recovery after a ‘crash’

If you find that you are unable to boot to the operating system, and you can no longer see the hard drive in the BIOS, there is a strong possibility that your hard drive has crashed. In this case you should shut the whole system down immediately. If there is some physical problem with the hard drive, it will be made a lot worse if you run power through the hard drive attempting to reboot the system.

If the head stack inside your drive is damaged, trying to run it will cause additional damage to the surfaces of the platters in your hard drive, and this is where the data you are wanting to recover is stored.

Initial Steps in Hard Drive Recovery after Corruption

If you have accidentally reformatted your hard drive, or accidentally deleted a file or folder, once again you must not write any new information onto your drive. The files you have deleted are still intact somewhere on the drive. Deleting a file simply means removing the location tag for that file, allowing that area of the drive to be over-written. If you add any new data it is possible that it will over-write your lost data effectively losing it forever.

If you believe a partition has become corrupted on your hard drive, it is very important not to try and re-install your operating system or add any new data to the drive.

If you have accidentally deleted a partition, attempting to restore it by formatting the drive will not recover your data, it will only result in the addition of an empty partition.

If you experience a single file corruption, any attempt to create a new file with the same name will partially over-write the file, greatly decreasing your chances of a full recovery.

This is just a short selection of the more common reasons for losing data from your hard drive, and illustrates that some attempts made by you, or even an IT technician, to recover a file or drive could decrease the chances of subsequent professional recovery efforts, or even make a successful recovery impossible. If you have any doubts about what action to take, just ask yourself this question: “Am I prepared to lose that data? “.

read the full article

What is Computer Backup?

Computer backup is the storing copies of your files on a medium other than your hard disk. The reason that we make computer backups is to protect against the event that something happens to damage our files so they are no longer usable. If we have backups of our files, then we can restore these files to our computer through our backups.

What is Involved in Computer Backup?

Computer backups can be made in very different formats. The traditional method of backing up computer files was the floppy disk. However, floppy disks are becoming increasingly obsolete. It is already not uncommon to not even see a new computer that includes a floppy disk drive when you go to the computer store, and it is becoming almost impossible to actually get a new computer that includes such a drive. Floppy disks can only hold 1.4 megabytes of data, and there are formats which can hold much more.

CD-Rs are CD-ROMs that you can actually write onto, and hold up to 800 megabytes of storage. You can also use CD-RWs, which can be written onto more than once, unlike a CD-R. DVD burners are also becoming increasingly common, and a typical DVD-R can hold up to 4700 megabytes, or 4.7 gigabytes.

Another new technology which is becoming common for computer backup is the key drive. These are removable drives which are very small, the size of a key chain, and many in fact are designed to operate as key chains. They can hold up to gigabytes worth of data, not as much as a typical DVD-R but still a sizeable amount of data.

You can also make backups of your files online. Online backup involves putting your computer files onto an online server, which you can access from any computer that is connected to the internet. This allows you to not have to bother with physical media such as key drives or CD-ROMs while still backing up your data in a secure location.

What is the Best Form of Computer Backup For Me?

Only you can decide which form of computer backup is best for you. CD-Rs and DVD-Rs both hold a lot of data, but they have the drawback of only being usable once. Even CD-RWs and DVD-RWs, which can be rewritten, are not as manipulable as the old floppy disks. Although you can rewrite the CD or DVD, you must still complete the rewrite all at once. You cannot simply take a file from the CD-RW, modify it then re-save it onto the CD-RW, you must rewrite all of the data on the entire disk. This can be a great drawback to using them for your storage use.

A key drive does not have such limitations. While they are not as large as a DVD-ROM, they are still sizable, and you can work on them just as you would any drive on your computer. This makes them very powerful for your computer backup needs.

read the full article

What is Internet Backup?

Backup is an important element of any computer user’s computing experience, and internet backup is an exciting new part of this activity. Traditionally backup involved the use of physical media such as floppy disks, CD-Rs or ZIP disks. However, it is now possible to backup your data through the internet without ever having to touch a disk. This is a very exciting and powerful form of backup that can make your backup process go much easier and smoother.

Never Have to Find a Disk Again With Internet Backup

When you backup your files through the internet, you never have to bother with finding a disk which holds your data on it again. Your data is always right there on the internet, ready to be accessed whenever you desire. You can access your data from any computer in the world with an internet connection.

When you backup your files on the internet, you are storing them on an online server which is separate from your computer. It works essentially as an internet drive which you can always reach through the internet. All you need to do is go to the internet address where your online drive is found, log in with your username and password and you can access all of the files that you have backed up through the internet.

Because of the fact that it is on the internet, you have almost unlimited possibilities with your backup storage. While physical media such as floppy disks or CD-ROMs are limited in how much they can store, an internet backup drive is essentially unlimited in how much data it can hold, as it can be powered by a number of servers each of which can hold great amounts of data. If you have a lot of data to backup, this can be an excellent resource for you.

How Can I Get an Internet Backup Drive?

In order to get your own internet backup drive, you will need to purchase storage services from some company, such as X-Drive found at www.x-drive.com. There are many different internet backup services available online, and they are not difficult to find. Simply type in internet backup into an internet search engine and you will find a myriad of results.

Depending upon which company you work with, and how large of an online drive you want for your storage will determine the price. X-Drive, the company mentioned above, offers a 5 GB online storage drive which costs only 10 dollars a month. They even offer a free 15 day trial, so you can try out their service and make sure that it fits your online backup needs.

Once you have found the company you think is best for you, all you must do is register with their web site, and be given or choose a username and password. Then, wherever you are, you can log onto their web site and access all of the online files that you need. This is a very powerful form of backup.

read the full article

Using the Undelete Command in Windows 98/95, DOS

Early Windows users, as well as DOS users have a really great undelete tool built in to their systems. A lot of computer users are still running Windows 98, or below. While Windows XP has been on the market for more than three years now, some people have been hard pressed to make the upgrade, while others have found themselves completely happy with their Windows 98 setup.

Undelete is not available on Windows XP systems; only DOS and Windows 95-ME.

A really cool program that was in previous versions of Windows, as well as certain versions of MS-DOS is not available in Windows XP. The tool, Undelete is a DOS command prompt program that allows users to literally undelete the files that they had previously deleted.

The major limitation of the software is the fact that is can only recover files if no new files or changes have been made. So, basically the undelete command will allow you to recover files if you accidentally delete them, but it will not be able to recover files that you deleted a week ago.

Users should be experienced, as the undelete utility does not have a graphical user interface, and relies on text commands.

Undelete isn’t a flashy program. There are no graphics, and the program is not very user friendly. To start the program, you’ll need to activate a DOS prompt in your Windows operating system.

To do this, click the start button and select “Run”. Type in “command” and press enter. A black box with white text will soon be visible. This is the DOS prompt, and you will soon be able to use ‘Undelete‘ to undelete your files.

In order to use Undelete properly, you will have to learn the options for the program. As mentioned before, Undelete is a text based program, and does not have any spectacular user interface.

Undelete offers the user several different options to help recover your deleted files.

To gain access to the commands of Undelete, type in “Undelete /? ” at the DOS prompt, and press the enter key. The following text will be displayed on your screen;

/all – Automatically recovers all of the files you specify.

/list – All available files are listed (but files are not recovered).

/DOS Restricts recovery to those files that meet the file specifications (filespec) in the disk directory table.

/DT – Restricts recovery to those files found in the Delete Tracking File.

/DS – Restricts recovery to those files found in the SENTRY directory.

/load – Loads the Undelete memory-resident program into memory using information defined in the UNDELETE.INI file.

/unload – Unloads the memory-resident portion of the Undelete program from memory, turning off the capability to restore deleted files.

/purged[d] – Deletes the contents of the SENTRY directory.

/status – Displays the type of delete protection in effect for each drive.

/S[d] – Enables the Delete Sentry level of protection and loads the memory-resident portion of the UNDELETE program.

/Tdrive[-entries] – Enables the Delete Tracker level of protection and loads the memory-resident portion of the UNDELETE program. The optional entries parameter specifies the maximum number of entries in the deletion-tracking file (PCTRACKR.DEL). It must be a value in the range 1 through 999 with the default value determined by the type of disk being tracked.

After you have read through ‘Undelete’ program options, you will need to goto the specific directory of where you wish to undelete the files. Below is an example;

C:\> cd Downloads <- cd “change directory”

C:\Downloads\>

Once you are in the appropriate directory, rerun the ‘Undelete’ program, only this time fill in the correct options. For example, if you wanted to restore all files in the directory, you would use the ‘/all’ command. Below is an example;

C:\Downloads> undelete /all

The above command will allow the undelete software to safely recover your deleted files.

Now that you have an understanding of how the undelete software works on your operating system, the next time you find yourself worried about deleted files you can simply remember what you learned about the undelete command.

read the full article

An Overview of Online Backup Services

Online backup services are perfect for users who are answer yes to the following questions. Do you have several small files that you need to always have access to? Perhaps you have important documents from your work, or school assignments that you need to have accessible on every computer?

Online backup services are better than traditional backup media such as CDs, because you always have access to them.

Several options exist, as you can put the files on a CD, floppy disk, or one of those little flash drive key chains. But what happens when you forget your CD, floppy disk, or key chain at home?

Enter the world of online backup. Thanks to the internet, there are now several online services that offer free or low cost backup services. With these such services you can easily upload your files to a server, and later access the same files from literally any computer that has internet access.

Online backup service providers offer users the ability to gain access to their files from literally any computer, anywhere.

Most online backup providers have really simple yet powerful services. Not only are the services simple, and powerful, but they are also easily accessible in any web browser window. What this means is that you can do all of your sending and receiving of your files through a web browser. You do not need any special software, or drivers installed.

What’s more is that several online backup services have some really nifty features for their users. Features such as the ability to email anyone a copy of your files can really come in handy in a work environment. Other really nice features include the ability to password protect your files, and the ability to share your files with anyone.

Online backup is not for everyone. It is made primarily for small files, unless you are going to be connected to the internet with a really fast connection. Also many online backup service providers also give their users a limit on the amount of space they may use. So even if you have a really fast internet connection, you still won’t be able to use the services to create an online backup of your three gigabyte file.

Remember to consider all of this information when you use a online backup service. Each service provider has their own policies, along with their own amount of space given to users, as well as their own pricing plans.

Be sure to shop around to find the best bang for your buck service. Also make sure that each service you look into offers a service which fully fits your needs. It’s not a wise move to use an online backup service to store digital video, when the service provider only gives you fifty megabytes of storage space.

Free trials often exist for many online backup services.

Be sure to try them out to see if they meet your needs. Finally see if the online backup services that you are interested in offer a free trial. Some services will offer a seven day trial, while others (such as .mac) will offer you a sixty day trial. Be sure to use the trial to see if ordering a subscription to the service would be worthwhile.

read the full article

Save Your Video Games With PS2 Backup

Everyone loves PS2, but everyone also knows how expensive the games are, but not everyone knows how cheap and easy it can be to backup your PS2 games. With the advent of DVD Burner technology it has never been easier to backup your PS2 games and make sure that no matter what happens to your disks you will always have your favorite game, from Grand Theft Auto to Final Fantasy, you can rest assured that your video games are here to stay.

How do I Backup PS2 Games?

DVD burners, long discussed, have finally become a reality. Type in PS2 backup into any search engine and you will be overwhelmed with offers for products to assist you in backing up your PS2 games. However, all you need is a DVD burner and the software that comes with that burner installed onto your computer.

Make sure it is a good program, however. Not all burners will allow you to burn your PS2 games onto a disk which are playable on your PS2 machine, unless you have a mod chip built in. Mod chips are excellent tools for your Playstation that will allow you to play backed up games as well as games outside of your region, a system designed by the fascist developers of DVDs and Playstation games to stall the international moving of their products.

If you do not have a mod chip, you will have to make sure that your burner can properly backup your PS2 games in a format that will allow them to be played on your machine. There are many of these in existence however, and they are not difficult to find.

Finding Programs to Assist in PS2 Backup

There are quite a few programs out there that will allow you to backup your PS2 games and make it possible for you to keep your games even if your original disk gets scratched, burned, warped, broken, etc. You might even want to play on the burned copy of your game and keep the original in reserve, or to burn another copy of the game if your original copy gets wrecked. When you are paying 80 dollars for a video game, you want to make sure that you get the most bang for you buck.

If you are searching for programs to assist you in your PS2 backup, the first place you might want to try a site such as www.download.com. This is an excellent source for programs of many varieties, including PS2 backup programs. You will always be able to download from this site for free, although many of the files which you download will be shareware or trial versions of programs which will ultimately require a fee.

However, it can be a great way for you to try different programs and decide which one works best for you before actually committing money towards the purchase of a product that either doesn’t work or is not easy for you to use to backup your PS2 games.

read the full article

A Look at the Different Backup Power Units Available to Consumers

There are many different UPS (uninterruptible power supply) backup units on store shelves, and picking one over another may seem like picking what pair of socks you are going to wear tomorrow.

First thing potential backup power buyers must consider is their personal needs. Do you want a unit that will provide you with enough backup power to run both your computer and monitor for fifteen minutes, or for several hours?

The next big question is how much do you want to spend? Depending on how much money you want to shell out for a backup power unit directly results in the quality of the backup power device you’ll receive. While their are some well known UPS manufactures that exist, you will likely be tempted to purchase backup power units that have better specifications from companies that you have never heard of.

When purchasing a backup power unit, it is important that you purchase a unit from a company with a repetition versus a bargain priced unit from a company that you have never heard of.

Whether you want to trust this unknown companies is tied in with how important your data is. It would not be cool at all if you went out and purchased one of these unknown brand’s backup power unit, and when the power did go out, the system failed to kick on. The big question you really have to ask yourself is if your data is worth that extra twenty dollars for a high quality backup power unit.

With that being said, below is a basic overview of a few of the most popular UPS backup power units available today.

Entry backup power units contain a limited amount of backup power, as well as a limited number of outlets.

The Ultra / ULT31502 unit is a perfect entry unit for home users. It can be found at various online retailers for well under a hundred dollars and provides 600w and 1000 volt amps which is excellent for home users. This backup power unit features four outlets, so not only can you plug your computer tower and monitor in, but also two other accessories such as your printer or network router. The system also has a 12 month warranty and has won numerous awards for being the best unit for your money.

For users demanding a little more power, the Tripp Lite SmartPro 1050 1050 VA / 680 Watt UPS unit was made specifically for them. While it costs a few hundred more dollars than the Ultra system mentioned before, this unit is designed to keep small servers and workstations operating. With 680 Watts, and 1050 volt amps, the unit can easily power up to six devices connected to its six outlets. This unit is always backed with a two year warranty.

A simple overview of a entry system and a mid-range backup power unit shows you what a difference a few hundred dollars can make. While it may not seem like much of a difference, the mid-range model contains a two year warranty versus a one year warranty. This is excellent considering that UPS units rely on expensive batteries that are serviceably during this two year warranty.

A conclusion about the thousands of available backup power units.

The two units mentioned above are just two of the literally thousands of different UPS backup power units available to consumers today. Before making a final purchase, be sure to search for reviews of the particular model on the internet to ensure that you are making a purchase that will help save your work, and not create bigger problems when the power goes out.

read the full article

First Steps in DOS File Recovery

The first three steps in file recovery are quite easy and require no specific knowledge:-

1)Don’t panic! Your information is still there, and safe.

2)Don’t touch the keyboard! Your information is safe…until your operating system writes over it.

3)Don’t switch off! A lot of temporary files are created during start up, and you don’t want them to be created over the top of your accidentally deleted files.

File Recovery Levels in DOS

Later versions of DOS (DOS 5.* and onwards) have three possible levels of file recovery, Delete Sentry, Delete Tracker, and the basic Undelete.

Delete Sentry offers the highest degree of protection, and works in a similar fashion to Recycle Bin in that it keeps copies of all your deleted files in a hidden file. This protects them from being overwritten and more or less guarantees file recovery will be possible. The down side is that the file can end up being huge. In DOS 5 the maximum size is 7% of your hard drive capacity, in DOS 6 it can go to 20%!

Those values can be changed by fiddling with UNDELETE.INI but it is quite a tedious job, as is the purging routine to get rid of all those files permanently.

The next level of file recovery is Delete Tracking, which stores the location of deleted files in a file called PCTRACKR.DEL. This uses less disk space, but the price you pay is that the stored locations may be overwritten if you don’t act promptly, and then your files will be impossible to recover.

The third level of file recovery is the standard UNDELETE method. This is the one where DOS brings back a list of your deleted files, all with the first letter of their names replaced by #. It then asks you to supply the missing first letter. Fortunately it doesn’t matter if you can’t remember it, just type any letter at random and DOS will go ahead and tell you that your file has been successfully recovered, even if it does have some unpronounceable name.

Using DOS File Recovery

In theory, to use DOS file recovery all that is required is for you to type in ‘UNDELETE’ at the DOS prompt, but when you do don’t be too surprised if nothing happens or your efforts are rewarded by nothing more than a reply saying something like ‘38 files can be recovered’, but with none of the promised file recovery actually taking place.

If this happens, it is because you have those three levels of file recovery to choose from. The level of file recovery protection is configured by editing the AUTOEXEC.BAT file so only one level can be enabled at a time, and the UNDELETE command requires the relevant switch to run it.

Luckily this is not as horribly complex as it sounds; the UNDELETE switches are fairly simple. If you have the basic level enabled, just use UNDELETE with no switch. If you have specified Delete Tracker the switch is /DT, and logically enough for Delete Sentry it is /DS.

read the full article

What is Data Backup?

Data backup involves the saving of your data in two or more locations, so that if something happens to your computer, you still have your data reserved in backup. This allows you to keep your data even if you lose your computer. While you might think that the chances of having a major loss of data on your computer or even having your entire computer crash are very small, disasters happen and it is always best to prepare for the worst, especially when it comes to something as irreplaceable as your files.

Data Backup Options

Data backup can take many forms. After all, any medium on which you save your files apart from your primary computer is considered backup. You might even want to backup your data in more than one location, just in case. If you depend highly upon your computer and upon the files contained therein, you can never be too careful when it comes to protecting your files from disaster.

The most basic method of backing up your data is on a simple floppy disk. However, this method is essentially obsolete, as it is difficult to even by a computer which includes a floppy disk drive these days. With CD-Rs and now DVD-Rs being cheaper than ever, it is possible to store far more data on a single disk than was ever possible with a floppy disk.

You can also backup your files online. There are many companies, such as www.xdrive.com that provide online storage drives which will allow you to store your data without the need for disks or drives or anything of the sort. This can be very beneficial as you know that you will always be able to obtain your data, without having to worry about having the proper CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, or anything of this sort.

What is the Best Data Backup Option for Me?

In order to determine what is the best backup option for you, you will need to know a few things about what you expect from your data backup. For example, what do you already have access to? If you have a CD burner in your computer, for example, then burning CD-Rs with your data can be an excellent and cheap backup method, as it is possible to get CD-Rs for less than $1.00 or even cheaper if you buy in bulk.

If you do not have any such storage devices on your computer, you might want to consider online backup. All you need is an internet connection and you can begin saving all the files you want online. However, if you are working with a dial-up connection, this can be a slow process if you are saving large files, more than simple documents and the like. You might consider purchasing a CD or DVD burner, these cost about 100 dollars or so and can be an excellent investment for your home office.

Or, if the files you want to save are small and you have a floppy drive installed onto your computer, you might just want to continue using backup floppy disks to save your data. It is up to you which is the best backup option to use.

read the full article