“Most people realize that they should back up their computer files, but don’t bother because it can be tedious, time consuming, and costly. This inaction can cost many hours of work and the loss of irreplaceable data.[1]” This is a common feeling experienced by many, backup is considered a mundane task that creates an unnecessary workload to top the hours that have already been put into the project on the computer. Not taking any appropriate action to prevent a disaster within a computer system can pile up countless more hours of work to get back the files, some of which may not be able to be recovered at all. For all computer users, backup is fundamental for an effective production pipeline, loss of any data can turn out to be catastrophic, and the amount of time that will be need to be input into the project again can result. A designer for example could spend hours in front of the computer over days to weeks on a project only for one day the computer not load correctly, cause loss of all files. Computers always have some level of risk of failure in one form or another which may ultimately result in huge amounts of data loss. Be it from viruses, hardware failure or human error, there is always something that could potentially bring the entire contents of your computer down. There is no preventative measure to fully stop any accidents happening to your computer system, only plans to get the system fully operational again in the shortest amount of time. Backup is important as it is a measure to ensure that whatever data is lost can easily be recovered.“Computer backup involves the process of storing data in a location apart from your hard drive, on any possible medium in order to ensure that you always have a copy of that file.[2]” While users may think that the work on a computer system is safe and locked away, it is essentially a much different reality. Much of “Your life’s work whizzing around on a disk that’s spinning around hundreds of times per second” It’s a thought that would have many people worried about the state in which their data is stored. Backups ease a lot of the pressure that is evident in the event of damage to the original files, “Even if you have hard copies, it’s going to cost you time to enter the information again.[3]” Time is one of the major factors and losses that occur with data loss. It of course takes time to recover the lost data from the backup discs but much longer to completely recreate entire projects and files. “Your backup is as important as your data and your time — because that’s what it’s going to cost you if you lose it.[4]”
As outlined by Cheryl Frogley-Rawson, who advises “You have to think of the worst-case scenario and do backups for that,” an example being, “Plan for a hard-drive crash and make sure that base is covered[5]” With the hard drive being the most likely part of the computer to crash, and also being the most valuable in terms of it containing the users entire workload, it is important to prepare for the worst and backup these files.
It is not vitally important to backup the program files on the computer system; these are usually contained on install discs separate from the computer.“Programs and hardware are replaceable. Data files are irreplaceable. Therefore, data files should be backed up on a regular basis. Program files need only be backed up once.[6]”
[1] The Pennsylvania State University, 2001, Play it Safe — Back Up Your Files, last viewed 6th November 2006. <http://css.psu.edu/news/nlfa01/playitsafe.html>
[2] Walter Stevens , Zen and the Art of Computer Backup, Last Viewed 6th November 2006. <http://free-backup.info/zen-and-the-art-of-computer-backup.html>
[3] Sandy McMurray, 2006, Back up your computer files, last viewed 6th November 2006. <http://www.microsoft.com/athome/moredone/backupfiles.mspx>
[4] Sandy McMurray, 2006, Back up your computer files, last viewed 6th November 2006. <http://www.microsoft.com/athome/moredone/backupfiles.mspx>
[5] Sandy McMurray, 2006, Back up your computer files, last viewed 6th November 2006. <http://www.microsoft.com/athome/moredone/backupfiles.mspx>
[6] The Pennsylvania State University, 2001, Play it Safe — Back Up Your Files, last viewed 6th November 2006. <http://css.psu.edu/news/nlfa01/playitsafe.html>
