System Backup Tips and Tricks

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System Backup Tips and Tricks


The Importance Of Backup in our life



If you are new computer user first you should learn about the importance and need of back up. Because without backup yon can lose your data any time due to any virus, power failure and hard disk problem. This has happened to many people. In extreme cases, it has put companies out of business. Computers are becoming more and more reliable. This creates a false sense of security - we begin to think all our data are safe and secure and will never go away. It's not true - and never will be. If you don't back up your computer system regularly. Backups are really a necessity, and you are responsible for making backups of your files.

What to important in your system for Back up?


What to important in your computer for backup , it depend upon system to system and importance of your data but following data is important to all for backup.


•My Documents backup Backing up your important documents and folders.

•Outlook backup How to back up Outlook folders and settings.

•Registry backup Backing up Windows 95, 98, ME registry files.

•E-mail backup Backing up e-mail and news folders for Outlook Express, Mozilla, Netscape, and more.

•Messenger backup How to back up AIM, Yahoo!, MSN and ICQ messenger data.

•System backup Backing up the core system files and desktop configuration folders.

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How to backup My Documents folder?



Normally many windows user use My Documents folder to save data, the reason is that Most Windows programs, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access save their data in My Documents folder by default. Many other subfolders such as My Pictures, My Music and My Received files contain in My Documents folder. Those folders usually take up a lot of space, and they are therefore recommended to be taken care separately. Normally My Documents folder location is C:\ drive when you install your window on C drive, but you can change location of you My Documents folder to other drive, Must do this if your good habit to use My Documents folder frequently.

Also note that some people may have placed some or of the important files on your desktop, the common location for program shortcuts and start icons. The default location of My Documents folder will vary depending on what version of Windows you're running:


•C:\Windows\Personal\ on Windows 95.

•C:\My Documents\ on Windows 98.

•C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\My Documents\ on Windows ME, 2000, XP.

These are typical locations, but you can change these location for My Document folder for different windows.

You can find different type of file with different file extensions in My Documents.

[color=#BF0000]•Microsoft Word (.doc, .rtf, .dot) documents.

•Microsoft Excel (.xls, .xlt) tables and spreadsheets.

•Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt, .pps, .pot) presentations.

•Database (.mdb, .dbf, .csv, .db, .xml) files.

•Internet (.html, .txt, .pdf) documents.

•Digital photo (.tif, .jpg) pictures.

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How you can manage your outlook data?



Outlook basically Microsoft's application that is integrated into Microsoft Office 98, 2000, 2002 and Microsoft Exchange Server. Outlook is complete e-mail manager by which you e-mail, calendaring, and contact management. Outlook enables you to filter and organize e-mail messages, integrate and manage e-mail from multiple e-mail accounts, personal and group calendars, contacts, folders, and tasks.

Outlook data is usually stored at the following paths be defaults but you can change Outlook location. Normally Outlook folder location is C:\ drive when you install your window on C drive, but you can change location of you Outlook to other drive,


C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\
C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\
C:\Windows\

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How to do your system Registry Backup?



All Windows stores its configuration information in a database called the registry. The registry is the central storage for all computer configuration data.

Although the registry appears to be in one file, it is actually placed on your computer in several files. Depending on your system configuration, registry files can be found in any of the following locations:


C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\ on Windows 2000, XP.
C:\Windows\System32\Config\ on Windows 2000, XP.
C:\Windows\ on Windows 95, 98, ME.
C:\Windows\Profiles\ on Windows 95, 98, ME.

How To Back Up Windows Registry ?

In windows NT, 2000 and XP not possible to back up registry files while the operating system is running. Registry files remain fully locked all the time while Windows is running, But here You can use an integrated Windows XP's System Restore feature for registry backup.

But using registry editor (regedit.exe) you can to export partial or complete copies of the registry, while the Windows is up, and the exported files can then be backed up with any other traditional file backup utility. You can follow these simple steps to back up the whole registry or any particular registry subkey:


•Click Start button and then type Regedit in Run option.

•Locate and then click the root subkey that contains all the child subkeys and values that you want to back up.

•On the File menu, click Export.

•In the Save box, you can select the location where you want to save the Registration Entries (.reg) file, type a file name in the File name box, and then click Save.

The exported registry file is about 10-50 MB in size on a typical Windows NT/2000/XP installation.

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How to back up your Messenger Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ.



MSN, Yahoo and other messenger that you can use to send message to other people who are online. Your message delivered immediately to other person, when other give you response then it is just as in a face-to-face conversation. With the help of messenger you can do much more than send text messages to other people. You can send audio and video files and conversations, place a phone call from your computer all over the world, hold an online meeting, play games, share programs that are installed on your computer, and more.

But interesting thing is that you can backup copy of your text message, audio, video conversation and your messenger's contact list, to be able to recover your contacts after a computer crash, a virus or system re-installation. Backing up your messenger data can be quite a challenging task. But the important thing to remember when you install your messengers is that always install it on other drive than system drive like on D:\ or E:\ drive, because most messengers usually keep its data either under the folder they are installed in or under one of the user profile folder subfolders. Typically, your computer will offer you path like this.


C:\Program Files\

C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\

But you change your messengers installation pate like

D:\messenger\...

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Windows System Backup




The following folders are highly recommended for regular backup:

My Documents
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\My Documents\
I think the most important folder on your computer is My Documents because it holding your personal documents. It is intended to be a user's common repository for documents and folders. This folder usually already includes the My Music folder for music files and digital audio, the My Pictures folder for image files, and the My Videos folder for video files. Those folders usually take up a lot of space, and they are therefore recommended to be taken care separately. Check the Backing up My Documents topic for possible backup strategies for My Documents folder, and other related information.

•Start Menu
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Start Menu\
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\
The file system folders containing Start menu items. These folders already include the user's program groups, user's Startup program group, common program groups that appear on the Start menu for all users, and the program shortcuts that appear in the Startup folder for all users. Recommended for backup if you don't want to lose your Start menu along with the program groups and icons.

•Desktop Items
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Desktop\
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\
The file system directories used to store file objects and shortcuts on your desktop and on the desktop for all users. Recommended for backup if you want to keep your desktop icons and shortcuts safe and secure.

•Favorites
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Favorites\
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Favorites\
The file system folders that serve as a common repository for the user's favorite items. These favorites are usually displayed in the Internet Explorer menu. For some users this might be quite a large collection of links they have been collecting for years, the collection they may be wanting to keep safe and saved.


•Recent Documents
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Recent\
The system shell directory that contains shortcuts to the user's most recently used documents. They are listed in the My Recent Documents submenu of the Start menu. In most cases backing up is not that necessary.


•SendTo Locations
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\SendTo\
The system shell folder that contains Send To menu items. These items may be backed up.


•Internet Cookies
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Cookies\
The file system directory that serves as a common repository for Internet cookies. Cookies are a means of saving web-site information, such as browser settings, user preferences, personal information, and passwords, on the client machine. If you surf on the Internet a lot, it is recommended to back up cookies.


•Internet History
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\History\
The system folder that serves as a common repository for Internet history items, such as typed URL's etc. Internet Explorer's AutoComplete feature uses this collection, so you may want to back it up.


•C:\Windows\
C:\Windows\System32
The Windows system folders contain a lot of system application components, such as .exe, .dll, .ocx and more. The note from above applies to Windows system locations as well. Although you can choose to back up Windows folders, this backup won't help you much if you ever want to re-install Windows.

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E- Mail Backup


How to Back up your E-mail Messages

•Outlook Express Backup.
How to back up Outlook Express e-mail messages and contacts.

•Mozilla and Netscape Backup.
Backing up Mozilla and Netscape e-mail database.

•IncrediMail Backup.
How to locate and back up IncrediMail e-mail.

•Outlook Backup.
How to make a backup of e-mail messages and contacts in Microsoft Outlook.

How to Outlook Express Back up?


Outlook Express is the e-mail client included with almost all version of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP operating systems. Outlook Express is designed for home users and small office user who gain access to their e-mail messages. Built on open Internet standards, Outlook Express is designed for use with any Internet standard system, for example, SMTP, POP3, hotmail and NNTP. It provides full support for today's most important e-mail, news, and directory standards, and is very easy to use.

Outlook Express data is usually stored at the following paths be defaults but you can change Outlook Express location. Normally Outlook Express folder location is C:\ drive when you install your window on C drive, but you can change location of you Outlook to other drive, Outlook Express e-mail message store, along with the address book, usually resides in subfolders at the following paths:

C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Identities\
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Express\
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Express\
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\

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Mozilla And Netscape E-Mail Back up path


With Netscape Communicator and Mozilla the default e-mail clients location share the same folder locations for e-mail database:

C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\
C:\Windows\Profiles\User Name\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\
C:\Windows\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\

Mozilla profile contains your bookmarks, mail/news files and account settings, stored passwords, address book, security certificates and preferences.

•Mail. Mail messages are stored in the Mail sub-directory. To back up your mail messages, save the files without extension, for example INBOX. To back up filters too, save the rules.dat file. The *.msf files are index files that will be automatically regenerated if removed. Save the entire Mail directory if you are uncertain what to save.


•News. News settings and messages are stored in the News sub-directory. Your subscribed groups are stored in the *.rc files. The complete news server groups list is stored in hostinfo.dat. *.msf files store message summaries. To back up news, save the *.rc, *.dat, and *.msf files.

•Address book. In your profile directory, save abook.mab (personal address book) and history.mab (collected addresses). If you have more than one address book, save all *.mab files.

•Bookmarks. Save the bookmarks.html file.

•Saved password data. Username and password data is stored in 12345678.s (the number part is random). Save the file.

•Cookies. Save the cookies.txt file.

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IncrediMail Backup Technique



IncrediMail An alternative e-mail tool with rich formatting capabilities as compare to other tools, usually stores your e-mail under the following folders but we can change location of store e-mail on other drive.

C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\IM\Identities\
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\Application Data\IM\Identities\

These are the default locations for IncrediMail e-mail to back up but best technique is that always use different drive for your important data and different drive for your system file.



How you can manage your outlook data?

Outlook basically Microsoft's application that is integrated into Microsoft Office 98, 2000, 2002 and Microsoft Exchange Server. Outlook is complete e-mail manager by which you e-mail, calendaring, and contact management. Outlook enables you to filter and organize e-mail messages, integrate and manage e-mail from multiple e-mail accounts, personal and group calendars, contacts, folders, and tasks.

Outlook data is usually stored at the following paths be defaults but you can change Outlook location. Normally Outlook folder location is C:\ drive when you install your window on C drive, but you can change location of you Outlook to other drive,

•C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\
C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\
C:\Windows\

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How to Back Up to your system?



There are many steps to save data with backup regularly.

•Back up regularly your data.

It is important factor for you to get backup your files and folder on a regular basis. Because in this global network a computer can crash, a virus, or a hard drive failure can wipe out everything. Don't make this mistake, It depend upon you and your data importance but better technique is that back up everything at least once a week. But if you use your computer daily, it is best to back up important files daily and other data weekly.


•Keep several backup copies of same backup.

Never back up over a previous backup copy, always try to keep several copies over time so that if one time one back create problem you can user others.. Remember, a problem that is backed up will remain a problem when restored!


•Easy way for backup using Be selective method.

You don't have to do a total system backup of your system over time, If your are doing so, you are wasting your time. Just back up your important files, folder and photos. Backing up the entire hard drive is time-consuming, not practical, and should not be done. A backup of specific data files is the way to go. But a best technique is that first install your all computer program and system drivers then do a backup using any third party software (cloning software) like Norton ghost or others of your C drive once, this backup will help you to restore your all computer program in 15 min in case of any problem and do important data backup daily or weekly.