Backing up company PC

becks0512

Any advice as to how to back up daily my company pc (only one PC)
Is there a program i can run or a procedure?
i need to save all my inbox and sent items and folders in Outlook email, plus my main folders with invoices etc onto my usb hard drive (external).

i can re-write it daily but just for safety as i have lost it all a few times already!!
Thanks

dr.bollocko

You dont need to run a program or procedure. Its all about conserving the data that you might need. If its a company PC you will not need program files, unless there is some complex in house software involved.
Take your Documents folder, and anything like music etc. that you wont be able to get back.
Do a search for *.pst and *.pab on windows. These are your Address book for outlook and your personal mails. There may be a few if you have archived outlook or created more than one folder.
MIGHT be a good exercise to re-install the OS if you are noticing a slow down in PC performance.

aidan_walsh

Might be a better idea again to find out what the company backup policy is, request one if there isn't one in place and request assistance from IT with the computer.

evil-monkey

What OS are you using?? Vista has a handy back-up application built in. (Might only be in Ultimate though, not sure).

GreenHell

Probably the handiest and easiest thing to do would be to setup a scheduled task to copy your archive folder to your USB once a day.

Outside of that, your company may have a backup policy and allow you to store your archives on the network, which would then probably be backed up to tape.

becks0512

Apologises, should have given more info.
Windows XP, i am the main director and we have one office pc.
I am not really computer literate as such, but cant stand losing info. PC has crashed a few times and lost everything.
if there is something i can run and save onto my USB hard drive that would suit me.

evil-monkey

I'd say your best bet so is get a 500gb or so external hard drive. a lot of them come with software that will do automated backups.

Deadeyes

At home I use rsync and an external USB HD, but thats in Linux. XP should have its own backup utility check start->programs->accessories->system tools that in the Professional version. You could then maybe once a month burn a copy to CD or DVD, In case the External HD goes down as well.

Col_Loki

Windows XP has a handy little program called ntbackup. If you click Start -> Run -> type in ntbackup and click ok.

Here is a guide on how to use it.... http://www.theeldergeek.com/backup_using_wizard.htm

Its nice and easy, you can have it scheduled and it will make backups to your USB drive. A Portable hard disk is a good idea (better than CD's etc).

Have a go and let us know if you have any problems.

SouperComputer

If the data data lost will affect critical business functions then an external HD simply wont do in my opinion. One theft/fire and you are hosed as they say over here. Not to mention that HD failures are a certainty along with taxes and death. Unless you plan having two external HD's: One in a firesafe (or offsite at the very least) at any given time, working them in rotation.

Id reccomend looking into some online storage. Some others here can reccomend some local vendors. Typically it installs software on your computer and backs up on an online server on a schedule that you can specify. For bigger backups, such as OS/Apps an external HD is fine and of course it does not harm to backup your critical data to the external HD too.

Have you considered having an external company/individual to look at your needs?

If you decide to just go the external HD route (not reccomended) synctoy from microsoft is free, easy to use and up to the Job. NTbackup as above is good, but restoring from it can be a pain if you are not tech savvy.

Standard Toaster

I'd go with Col_Loki suggestion too. Run the backup weekly but do keep the drive offsite. Consider encrypting it too if the data is sensitive.

Any kind of backup is better then non, as you've found out.

How much data rougly are you looking at each backup?