Backing Up My Calendars

In my previous post, I manually backed up my Address Book.  I also do the same for my calendars for the same reasons.

To back up your Calendars,
1)  Open iCal.
2)  Select File > Export > iCal Archive.
3)  You will be presented with a default name for your archive file and a default location.  If you prefer, change to suit your needs.  Click Save.

Backing Up My Address Book

I am using Time Machine, but I still back up my Address Book.  Why you ask?  First, I am not really sure how to restore my Address Book using Time Machine.  It is probably simple, but I have never checked.  Second, I sync my contacts with Google contacts on a regular basis.  For my comfort level, I take a manual backup.

To back up your Address Book,
1)  Open Address Book.
2)  Select File > Export > Export Book Archive.
3)  You will be presented with a default name for your archive file and a default location.  If you prefer, change to suit your needs.  Click Save.

Data Backup on Windows 7

Prior to Windows 7, I used SyncBack Freeware to back up my data (see post Data Backup on Windows Using SyncBack Freeware).  Now as I am exploring what Windows 7, I may consider using the built-in capability of Windows 7 for data backup.

To create a data backup plan:
1)  Click Start and choose Control Panel.

2)  Click System and Security and then Back up your computer.

3)  Click Set up backup on the right side of the screen.

4)  Windows will display a list of backup destinations it knows such as other local or external hard drives, CD/DVD RW drives.  In this case, this laptop this not have any of those options.  You can click Save on a network... to save to network location.

5)  If you know of a network location, you can type it in.  If not, you can also browse to it,  Fill in the appropriate credentials (Username and Password).

6)  It will now show where you chose to save your backup.  Click Next.

7)  You will now need to decide what do you want to back up.  By default, Windows will back up data files saved in libraries, on the desktop, and in default Windows folders.  Windows will also create a system image. As I am only interested in doing a data backup, I will choose the option Let me choose and click Next.

8)  I can now specify exactly what I want to back up.  If you just click Next, you will get exactly the same as what Windows would choose.  In my case, I just want to backup the screenshots for this blog and so I selected that folder only and unchecked all the others, and then I clicked Next.

9)  Review your backup settings.   Click Save settings and run backup.

10)  As the backup is running, you will see a progress bar.  The time it takes to complete will be depend on the amount of data to be backed up.

11)  Once complete, you will see stats on the completed backup.  The one final configuration change you should consider is when the backup should run.  You can do clicking Change settings.

Using Your Windows 7 System Repair Disc

To use the Windows 7 System Repair Disc you created (see post How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc):

1)  Insert the Windows 7 system repair disc into the CD/DVD drive.
2)  Boot your computer and choose to boot from CD/DVD drive.

3)  You will get the message to Press any key to boot from CD or DVD.  Hit any key.
4)  You will see a message indicating that Windows is loading files....You will get a System Recovery Options window.  You may need to change language and keyboard.  For me, English (United States) and US was selected by default.  Click Next.

5)  It will then search for Windows installations.  I had one Windows 7 installation and could now use the recovery tools to help fix any problems starting Windows by clicking Next .  Note that there is another option that allows you to restore your computer using a system image that you might have created earlier.  See post on how to Create a Backup Drive Image.
6)  You will now be presented with several recovery tools to choose from.  The tools include Startup Repair, System Restore, System Image Recovery, Windows Memory Diagnostic and Command Prompt.

How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc

If you bought a laptop with Windows 7 already installed you may not have received an installation disc.  In this case, it would be wise to create a system repair disc.

To create a system repair disc,

1)  Click Start and choose Control Panel.

2)  Click System and Security and then Backup and Restore.

3)  Click Create a system repair disc.

4)  If you have only one CD/DVD that can write a disc, then it will automatically be selected.

5) Insert a blank disc and select Create disc.  Once the disc is created, I highly recommend verifying that it works.

6)  Click Close.

Create a Backup Drive Image using Windows 7

When you think of taking a drive image, Symantec Ghost and Acronis True Image come to mind.  Both these products are not free.  My experience is primarily with Ghost (both corporate and home versions).  There are also open-source alternatives such as Clonezilla.  However, did you know that Windows 7 comes with built-in functionality to create an image of a drive?

To create a system image:

1)  Click Start and choose Control Panel.

2)  Click System and Security and then Back up your computer.

3)  Click Create a system image.

4)  Choose where to save the backup image.  Then click Next.

5)  Click Start backup and wait for it to complete.  The length of time will depend on how much data needs to be backed up.

Data Backup on Windows using SyncBack Freeware

For backing up my data on Windows, I use SyncBack Freeware.  SyncBack Freeware is available from 2BrightSparks.  Although there are paid versions with additional functionality, my requirements are totally satisfied with this version.  The most important requirement is the ability to backup my data (e.g. photos, music, personal files) to external drives.  You can optionally synchronize your files to a hard drive (local, external, networked), CD, FTP or Zip archive.

SyncBack Freeware is intuitive and you can get started in a flash.  SyncBack helps you quickly set up backup jobs using default starter profiles.

A sampling of the profiles I use:

Profile Example - Easy Setup Options

Profile Example - Expert Setup Options

Backing Up My Blogger Blog

In my previous post, I noted that Data Liberation provided a way for me to back up this blog.  They propose that I can use the export function to create a backup of my blog.  I do believe that it will capture all the texts and comments of the post, but I am not sure that it will capture any of my images.  In addition, I believe I will still need to take a copy of my blog template.

I have decided to implement the following backup plan:
1)  Full backups using HTTrack website copier.  As an alternative, you can also use the export function within Blogger plus take copy of blog template.
2)  Incremental backups using the BlogSend Address  and Comment Notification Email features within Blogger.

BlogSend Address
Under Settings > Email & Mobile, there is a BlogSend Address that can be used to automatically send blogs posts to my email address whenever they are posted.  I can use a filter to automagically file them into folders.

Comment Notification Email
Under Settings > Comments, there is a Comment Notification Email whenever someone leaves a comment on the blog.