Backing up your Data :Updated 2 - 2 - 2012

I have uploaded the video of the class.

•Do you have one copy and only one copy of pictures of children, newborns, or special occasions onyour computer?

•Do you have only one copy of your mail archive?

•Do you have only one copy of that project you are working on?

•If you answered yes to any of these questions, this class and help you.

•It takes a lot ofmoney or time to back up your work or personal data.

This is not every back up option, but the easier options available.

There are backup options for online backup, ISP backups, Hard drive backups, flash drive and SD Card back ups, and even the old fashioned tape backups.

Here we will be discussing hard drive and flash drive back ups only.

Tools you'll need.

A flash drive or external hard drive with enough capacity to hold all your data.

They come in different shapes and sizes as well as different capacities.

You can purchase a flash drive (pictured above) with as little as 512MB of storage to as much as 128GB of storage. Obviously, the more capacity the drive holds the more expensive it it.

The other option is an external drive that also comes in all shapes, sizes, and capacities. Below is pictured a WD Passbook drive.

From this point forward I will refer to both the flash drives and external drives as 'personal drives'.

When you insert your personal drive into your USB port (illustration below)

You should get a pop-up window similar to this below.

Select Open folder to view files (highlighted option).

A window will open like the one above that will show you the contents of your personal drive.

All you need to do at this point is copy the files you want to back up to your personal drive.

If you double click your 'MY Computer' (Windows XP) icon or your 'Computer' (Windows Vista, 7) icon, you will see files to copy to the personal drive.

Windows 7 calls the location that holds your personal data 'Libraries', Window XP puts them under 'Files on your Computer', but you can just click on 'My Documents'.

Now with both windows open, the window showing your personal drive and the window showing your documents you want to copy, right-mouse-click on the task bar.

You should see the above menu. Select 'Show windows stacked' or 'Show windows side by side'. Either one, it doesn't matter, whatever you preference is. This way you'll see both windows together so you can just 'drag and drop' files.

Highlight and Drag your files from one window to another.

That's it, once the files are done copying, you have successfully backed-up your data. Now store the personal drive in a secure location!