Backup Methods

This chapter is about the different methods of performing backup - either software-based, network-based or purely hardware-based.

Backing Up Your iPod

Backing Up Your iPod


Did you ever suffer a bad stroke of luck when your system crashed and you lost all your music files? Did it leave you wondering how to copy your music files from your iPod back into your PC? At such times, you feel that there should be some way out to take back up of your iPod so that you may never have to go through this tedious process ever again. You can create a true back up of your iTunes music library from your hard disk.
Every system can be prone to a hard drive problem. It is imperative that you cannot afford to lose any vital information and you need to take a back up of your files regularly. There are easy options available now to take a back up of especially your iTunes library, your playlist, ratings and other information stored in the iTunes music collection.

Handling iTunes


If you are using Windows OS, locate your iTunes folder in My Documents >> My Music folder. In case of Mac OS X, you can find your Music folder in your Home folder. The iTunes folder contains 3 main components as iTunes 4 Music Library. It contains database of all the songs in the iTunes library. Next is the iTunes Music Library.xml but xml extension might not be visible. Although the two files have similar names, nevertheless, they contain different information. This one contains details about playlists, play counts, last played dates and other small bits of information about how you have played your music. If you want to use iTunes, then you would need both these files. The xml library provides access to your music to other programs. If you delete the iTunes 4 Music library files, you would find your playlist as empty. The third component is the Music folder that carries the music files in the iTunes library that you have stored in iTunes. This is the default folder where all your music files are copied by iTunes. You would not find any files here if you have turned off this feature in the iTunes preferences section. You would find files only if you have checked the option for Copy Files to iTunes Music Folder when Adding to Library. If you have this option checked, it is easy to create back up.

Taking a Back Up


Transferring files from iPod option has its own limitations. You may lose some of the data in the while transferring the files. If you have already suffered a hard disk crash, it would spell in double loss for you. You would need to spend time and money again to build your collection of music. If you want to download your files to your computer once again, you would need to pay to iTunes music store once more. You also lose all data associated with your music files.
You can choose to buy an external hard disc and back up your iTunes music files. Just make a copy of your iTunes folder whether in Mac or in Windows in your new external hard disk. It is strongly recommended to purchase an extra hard disk rather than creating a partition in the same one. At a cost of less than $100 you can not only create a back up of your music files but also of your personal files as well. Just drag and drop your desired folders to the new destination and you have a ready back up of your treasure.
Alternatively, you can create a back on CDs or DVDs. This is an easier and cheaper option if you just need to back up your music files. It can be easily done with Windows Explorer or Mac OS finder. iTunes would prompt you insert a blank CD or DVD before burning the disk. Once the disk is full, it will automatically eject it and ask for the next one if more files are left to be copied. Go to File >> New Smart Playlist and select the Date Added After to create a new CD or DVD next time. This option would back up only the new files added after the last back up taken. After you have taken a back up, change the date in Edit Smart Playlist. This way you can keep on adding new files to your playlist and updating the Smart Playlist after each back up would let you take a systematic back up each time and preserve your favorite music.
All you need to do is to remember to take a back up of both the iTunes library files and place them in a safe place after taking a back up. This option is a fool proof one to store all your favorite music unless you really face a nature’s fury or a REAL stroke of bad luck such that your hard disk crashes and your CDs, DVDs, etc are also lost. God Forbid!

Backing up Your PSP Games

Backing up Your PSP Games


So you have got the original PSP games. Now you do not need to carry your UMD wherever your PSP goes. Moreover, PSP is one of the hottest handheld devices that give you movies, music, gaming and lots more. It is important to take backup of all your PSP games so that in case of a virus attack or malicious attack from any of the malware, you might not lose your original games. There are several ways that allow you to take backups of your PSP games.

Backup Options


You can opt for a reliable P2P network service like IPSP. This gives you an option to download all your PSP games on by downloading a CD ripping software. If you create a backup of all your games on a CD, it saves you from downloading it all over again if you need them. All you need to do is to register with IPSP and it allows you to create unlimited backups of your downloaded games. It also offers 24/7 technical support for any troubleshooting while creating backups.
Yet another option is to set up an emulator which would enable you to take backups of your UMDs and let you play your favorite games directly from the Memory sticks. You can easily play your favorite PSP games from emulators or ISOs.

Create a Backup


You can easily convert your UMDs to ISOs with the help of a USB cable and a Universal Media disc or the UMD. You would also need a PSP with custom firmware 3.52 or higher or 3.72 or higher.
Enable the VSH menu on your PSP by restarting it holding the R button. This would land you on to the recovery mode where you can go to Configurations and select Enable VSH Mode. After enabling it, you can exit the recovery mode. You would end up at the XMB. If you have 3.71 M33 PSP press “Select” to work on VSH menu. If you own 3.52 M33 press “home”. Once you get the VSH menu toggle the keys to select the option for UMD Disc. Exit the VSH menu and plug in the USB cable. It would give you an external drive where you can see your ISO files that can be easily copied on to your computer. You can rename the file if you want as you have backed up your game files. While copying the files, you need to keep certain aspects in mind as well. Once you have put your PSP device on UMD mode and connected to PC, copy the contents of Fastloader on to the PSP root directory. If you already have a directory, click on Yes to overwrite. After that, you can create a folder names as ISO in the root directory. The Fastloader shall backup all the games in this directory automatically.
Moreover, you can now also copy it on to your memory stick and then you would no longer need a UMD for playing games. To copy the games on the memory stick you would need Fastloader v0.7 installed on your PSP. You would need PSP with a modchip or 1.5 firmware installed. Then you can follow the same procedure as copying it on to your computer. You can easily go to the game menu on the memory stick and play your games.

The Benefits


PSP is one of the most multi-utility devices that can keep a man busy 24/7 if he chooses to keep up with all the developments and features of the device. Gaming is one of the key features that are unique to all PSP devices. Moreover, PSP can now play nearly every game available on other consoles like SEGA, GB, SNES, etc. You can even convert your old PS1 games to ISO with the help of Dark_Alex custom firmware. PSPost gives you latest and current information about PSP, games and taking backups of your favorite games.

Backup Disk to Disk

One of the ways to backup your data is to copy your entire disk to another disk. Naturally this is called disk to disk backup. Compared to backups made to tape or other media, disk based backups are faster, more easily restored and disks have become so cheap that every one can use them.
 
Depending on the storage system, backup times are noticeably and even dramatically shorter than those required for tape backups. In many companies, this technology renders the backup window a lot smaller. The outcomes being that backups are more up-to-date, since they can be run more frequently, while application and backup servers become available more quickly for other tasks and are under less strain.
 
For many companies, this alone is reason enough to consider extending their backup system with a disk-to-disk backup solution. What is more, the benefit of a random access storage system becomes all the more apparent when it comes to restoring data. The idle times required for mounting tapes, searching for the correct position, winding forwards and back are all reduced virtually to zero under disk based solutions.
 
Tests by the backup software specialist Veritas show disk-to-disk backup as being seven times faster, while data could be restored even 20 times faster as compared to tape backup. Needless to say, the hardware used here plays a significant role, and companies that require short restore times generally use high-performance backup and storage systems anyway.
 
Naturally, there are software solutions available for disk to disk backups. These allow automated and scheduled backups to the disks. One drawback of disk based solutions is that disks require the creation of a file system on the disk before they can be used which affects the performance. Tape backups have no such requirement. For example, to backup 10 terabytes of data, you’d simply provide the tape(s) of that size and the data would be backed up. However, for disks, a file system needs to be created. File systems are not greater than two terabytes at present. Hence, you need to create five partitions. Each of these file partitions must be separately managed and supervised, and more file systems must be created as the backup data set grows.
 
Another drawback is that the file system you use affects which operating system can restore the data from the disks. For example, Windows 95/98 operating systems are not able to read NTFS file systems. Also, if you want to backup in a network environment, the only format supported is NFS. Ultimately, you need to balance between restore times and the cost associated with disk based solutions. Restoration of data is faster in case of disk backups but taking backups is slower and requires more effort.  Different backup solutions should be tested to see which one is most suitable.

Backup over WAN / Internet

Traditionally, backup in commercial offices has been on backup media such as magnetic disks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, etc. When the office administrator decided to backup the data, he had to close all open applications and take the backup of all files in the office server. If there were branches of a company spread over a large area, then in each branch there would be a person who would religiously take the backups.
 
But what happens when the changes made in one branch are needed in another branch? Chances are that the branch would get the latest data only when released by the main office. Nowadays, it is very likely that the BPO operations of a company headquartered in New York take place in several other locations such as Bangalore and Shanghai which are thousands of miles away. Transferring data may take a long time in such a scenario.
 
Yet, the need to backup data and the availability of that data to all users is critical to the smooth running of the enterprise. This is possible by using backup over WAN (Wide Area Network) or Internet. This type of backup works in one of two ways:


Both these methods of data backup are effective, but each has slightly different requirements and implications. The first type of WAN backup is possible and implemented in an organization where there are a large number of users who connect to the company data system once a day or so. When they connect to the backup server, the files are synchronized and new data is available to the remote user. However, this means that a lot of information has to be stored on the network server. When these are made through the Internet, it is termed as ‘Backup over Internet’.
 
The other method is the distributed file system information. In this type of backup, only the bytes which have changed are backed up. This allows for a smaller memory foot print in the backup server since only the changes made are backed up.
 
The backup strategy used by your organization depends on its data usage pattern. If there are a large number of mobile users who do not make very large changes to the data, a centralized backup server is a good choice. If you have a number of fixed offices with their local servers, using a distributed server to store data is most appropriate. In any case, backup over WAN or Internet is better than using magnetic tapes and other removable media since it allows you to backup your distributed data in a single location and retrieve it from any other location. 

Backup to Other Media

The cheapest way to backup your data is to use external devices like CD/DVD or USB drives.
Let us consider the features of the external media currently available:

  1. CD-ROM Disks: One of the cheapest backup media available, the CD can store about 700 MB of data. One can easily store data on a CD with the help of CD-writers which are common in most computers available today.
  2. DVD-ROM Disks: These are a bit costlier than CDs but considering that one DVD disk can store 4.2 GB of data; the cost per GB is less as compared to CD.
  3. USB Drive: Falling memory prices have made these backup media very cost effective. The additional advantage of these drives is that they can be reused many times unlike the CD/DVD. The only drawback is that usually a USB drive is required on the computer which may not be present in all computers.

Data backup to any of the above mentioned devices can be done in one of the two ways:

Backup to other media is definitely better than backing up on tape media because of the fact that tape backups are necessarily sequential in nature. Hence, you need to restore all the files to get a selected file using tape media.
However, the best backup strategy is to combine ‘backup on external media’ with ‘backup to online storage’. The most critical files should be backed up every day online and the complete data can be backed up on CD/DVD every week or so and moved to a secure location. The chances of data loss are very minimal in this backup strategy.

Backup to Tape Media and External Disk

Tapes are the earliest forms of data backup. A tape media consists of a long flexible ribbon made of flexible plastic coated with magnetic media. The tape is wound on spindles and stored in mechanical cartridges that protect it from dust.
 
Backups made to tape media are mostly used in corporate environments due the following reasons:


Tapes are usually able to hold data in the range of hundreds of gigabytes. For example, the Sony Advanced Intelligent Tape 5 (AIT) tape format has capacity of 400 GB while delivering backward compatibility with AIT 3 & 4. Further sustained native transfer rate occurs at a rate of 24 Mbps. Also, the backups can be made in compressed form. With a compression ratio of 2.6:1, you can store one terabyte (1024 GB) of data on a single tape. This is a huge amount of data. Typical home users will rarely need to use tape backups unless they have hours and hours of high quality video files to archive.
 
Backups to tape media have an average life span of 30 years. The only condition is that they need to be stored at a particular temperature (usually 20º C) and humidity (usually 40% non-condensing humidity)
 
Nowadays, backup to external drives have also emerged as a solution to huge amount of data storage. External drives differ from tape storage by providing random access to the data stored. Also, in the case of data restoration, data is quickly available directly from the external hard disk whereas you need to restore data to a hard disk from tape media before it can be used. External drives do not require delicate handling as compared to tape media. They can tolerate a wide margin in the temperature and humidity.
 
Another difference between tape storage and external drives is the fact that tape media backup is not supported for notebook computers. So, external drives are more suited to back up for portable computers. Moreover, external hard drives do not take any special software to access the data stored on them. Hence even if the computers would have evolved in the years between when the backup was taken and when the data needs to be restored, external hard disks will be usable. But it may happen that the tape drive is not readable by the newer computers.
 
Ultimately, whether you choose tape media or external drives is an individual choice based upon the requirements of the organization or personal computer. The important thing is that you follow a regular backup plan and periodically verify that the backup media is able to restore our data as and when required.

OS Related Backup Services, NFS etc

Does your OS provide any backup service? Nearly all of the currently available operating systems provide an easy method to backup your data. Sometimes, the features available may not be as extensive as those available in commercial backup software but backups can be taken without paying extra money the commercial programs.
Let’s consider how backup works in Windows XP. You should first assemble all your data in one convenient location. You can use sub folders to manage your data. The idea is that you do not forget to take backups of some files which may be forgotten in some other location.
Next, verify that the Backup utility is available in Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools ->Backup. If this program is not available, then you can install it from your Windows XP installation CD. Open the CD in windows explorer and double-click the ValueAdd folder, then Msft, and then Ntbackup. Then double-click Ntbackup.msi to install the Backup utility.
Once the Backup utility is installed, you need to choose which files to backup. There is an option to backup every file; however, this in not suitable for most of the people since it copies software files also which can be easily re-installed if needed. Choose ‘My Documents and Setting’ to backup or ‘Everyone’s Documents and Setting’ if there are more than one active users. On the next page, select the backup location where you want to backup your data and the name you’d like to give to the backup. The location can be floppy disk, your hard disk or network drives, etc. On the next page, choose the backup type

  1. Normal: It backs up all files and marks them as backed up.

  2. Copy: It backs up all files but does not mark any files as backed up.

  3. Incremental: Backs up only those files which were created or modified after the last backup.

  4. Differential: Similar as incremental backup, but does not marks the files as backed up.

  5. Daily: Backs up only those files which were created today.

After selecting any of the above backup methods, you can select whether to verify the backups or not. Next, you can also select whether to set a schedule to take regular backups. There’s a nice schedule management feature where the schedules can be created as per individual preferences. Like all other backup activities you have seen so far, the important thing to note is that the backups should be separately stored from the original hard disk otherwise there is no use of taking backups. Also, from time to time, you must verify that the backups taken can be restored by you.
Backups can be taken similarly on other Windows operating systems. However, you must note that the backups taken on one version of Windows OS may not work on other version. For example, Windows XP backups are restorable in Windows 9x.
.

OS Related Backup Services, NFS etc

Does your OS provide any backup service? Nearly all of the currently available operating systems provide an easy method to backup your data. Sometimes, the features available may not be as extensive as those available in commercial backup software but backups can be taken without paying extra money the commercial programs.
 
Let’s consider how backup works in Windows XP. You should first assemble all your data in one convenient location. You can use sub folders to manage your data. The idea is that you do not forget to take backups of some files which may be forgotten in some other location.
 
Next, verify that the Backup utility is available in Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools ->Backup. If this program is not available, then you can install it from your Windows XP installation CD. Open the CD in windows explorer and double-click the ValueAdd folder, then Msft, and then Ntbackup. Then double-click Ntbackup.msi to install the Backup utility.
 
Once the Backup utility is installed, you need to choose which files to backup. There is an option to backup every file; however, this in not suitable for most of the people since it copies software files also which can be easily re-installed if needed. Choose ‘My Documents and Setting’ to backup or ‘Everyone’s Documents and Setting’ if there are more than one active users. On the next page, select the backup location where you want to backup your data and the name you’d like to give to the backup. The location can be floppy disk, your hard disk or network drives, etc. On the next page, choose the backup type

  1. Normal backup: It backs up all files and marks them as backed up.
  2. Copy backup: It backs up all files but does not mark any files as backed up.
  3. Incremental backup: Backs up only those files which were created or modified after the last backup.
  4. Differential backup: Similar as incremental backup, but does not marks the files as backed up.
  5. Daily backup: Backs up only those files which were created today.

After selecting any of the above backup methods, you can select whether to verify the backups or not. Next, you can also select whether to set a schedule to take regular backups. There’s a nice schedule management feature where the schedules can be created as per individual preferences. Like all other backup activities you have seen so far, the important thing to note is that the backups should be separately stored from the original hard disk otherwise there is no use of taking backups. Also, from time to time, you must verify that the backups taken can be restored by you.
 
Backups can be taken similarly on other Windows operating systems. However, you must note that the backups taken on one version of Windows OS may not work on other version. For example, Windows XP backups are restorable in Windows 9x.

Sharing Data with Streamload

 

Sharing Data with Streamload


Streamload is one of the most trusted and oldest websites for hosting your data remotely. If you need to store your files remotely for any purpose such as entertainment, business, personal use, remote access, etc. then Streamload offers myriad of such services to its users. It is one of the most reliable services offered for sharing your data online with others. Streamload is now available as Mediamax services.
 
 
 
 

What Is MediaMax?


Mediamax now enables you to upload your data categorically. This means that when you select your files, your files are automatically categorized as media files, audio files, data files, documents, etc. They are automatically uploaded and stored in their respective folders that pre-assigned at Mediamax. This means that you can do more than just sharing data at streamload. You can upload your videos, photos, audio files, music and as well as important data. All these facilities are available at Streamload which is now available as Mediamax.
 
 
 
 

What Do You Get?


Once you signup at Mediamax, you automatically get 25GB of free disk space for online storage of your data. Here also you files are automatically uploaded in the respective folders. Sharing data with Streamload is very convenient as you can easily access you files from any browser. Since there are no file size restrictions, you can easily share your data and files quickly throughout the world. Moreover, conversion of Streamload to Mediamax enables you to host your videos, music, photos and much more all for free. You can easily backup for files and data at streamload and share it worldwide, if needed. If you need more disk space, you can avail the facility of 100GB at a small fee of $4.95 per month.
 
 
 
 

The MediaMax Features


The file manager enables is one central location for carrying out all your back up and managing your files. You can easily organize, download, play, share or host your files with the help of file manager. The upload tool under file manager enables you to select the files of your choice. You can also select the option to upload batch files for quick and easy upload of large number of files. If you click on the batch upload option, it shall quickly install itself on your system and shall facilitate uploading large number of files.
 
The Video application at Mediamax lets you create video albums, play as well as share videos with your friends and family. You can also tag your videos for easy organization. Similarly, the photos application makes its simple to store, organize and share your photos. You can create photo albums, edit, share and even tag photos just like your videos. Along with photos and videos, all your music files can also be stored at streamload.
The MediaMax music application makes it easy for you store, organize all your music files. You can even stream you music as your files are automatically stored under the folder Music. This also enables you to create playlist, and edit ID3 tags. Lastly, the most advantageous feature of Streamload is its Mediamax Mail application. It enables you to share large files with anyone. You can easily send files, receive files, download as well as save attachments.
 
 
 

Online Data Storage and Backup


There are several other services like iBackup, Sharing data at streamload has been one of the oldest and the earliest form of online data storage and backup. Streamload also offers another service called Grouper that facilitates sharing your photos and videos directly from your desktop with your friends and family worldwide. You can easily choose who can watch your files and restrict certain users if you want. It is a 24/7 facility available you to access your data anywhere anytime. All you need an account at Streamload and all your data and important files are readily available 24/7 for your use in any part of the world.