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BOOT CAMP 253 (26/11/02)
MAKING YOUR OWN CDS & DVDS,
part 3
This week in this short series on recordable CDs and DVDs
we’re taking a break from the technicalities and jargon and looking at one of
the most important applications for a CD writer namely backing up valuable or
irreplaceable data on your PC; next week, we turn our attention to making your
own music CDs.
There are several schools of thought concerning backups, some
favour the whole disc approach where everything on a hard drive is copied so in
the event of a catastrophic failure the entire system can be re-installed on a
new hard drive. At the other extreme there’s the incremental backup method,
which means backing up only those files and folders where the contents have
changed.
The whole disc/system backup method is preferred by larger
commercial operations and businesses using high-capacity tape-based storage
systems but it’s not really suitable for a stand-alone home PC where the only
storage medium is likely to be a CD writer. Nowadays most PCs have
multi-gigabyte drives and it is theoretically possible to ‘span’ the contents of
a 10Gb (or larger) hard drive across a dozen or more CD-R/RW discs but when it
comes to the crunch the chances of it actually working are quite small. It’s
painfully slow and it only takes one corrupt file or a scratched disc to render
the whole backup unusable. The situation might improve with recordable DVD,
which has a much larger capacity so there will be fewer discs and hopefully less
chance of something going wrong but for the moment at least the only reliable
way to make the whole disc method work is to invest in a tape backup system or
‘clone’ your hard disc on a second drive.
A backup strategy that fails or is unreliable is as bad as no
backup at all so you might as well resign yourself to the fact that following a
hard disc failure it will be quicker and simpler to reinstall Windows and all of
the programs that you use from scratch, and backup your data files separately.
Before you do anything else make sure that your Windows installation CD and all
of the discs for the programs that you use, plus the product authorisation keys
are kept together in a safe place. After that prepare your PC for disaster by
organising the files and folders on the hard disc
Backup and recovery will be a great deal faster if you group
all of your data files – the ones you want to preserve -- together in a small
number of ‘master’ folders. In Windows Explorer create separate ‘New’ folders
for your documents and spreadsheets, another for pictures don’t forget e-mail
messages and so on, then drag and drop all of the files and folders you want to
preserve and backup into the relevant master folders. Most programs will let you
change the location of where they save files, so the files in your master
folders will be constantly updated. For example in Microsoft Word you’ll find
the option to change file locations under Options on the Tools menu, in Outlook
Express go to Tools > Options > Maintenance and click the Store Folder
button.
Ideally the data in each master folder should be less than
650/700Mb in total otherwise it won’t fit onto a blank CD-R/RW. Next, decide on
your backup method. The basic choices are to copy the folders to discs manually
-- worth doing once, to create a set of ‘Master’ discs -- or to use backup
software, which can do the job automatically, at a specified time every week,
(or every day or even every hour if you create a lot of irreplaceable data), and
to only backup files that have changed. Backup software often includes
compression facilities, to make the most efficient use of your storage media,
though if possible copy the data in its ‘raw’ state as compression is just one
more thing that can go wrong.
If you elect to backup manually, and your software has the
facility you should use your CD-writer in Track At Once (TAO) or Packet
recording mode (see last week’s Boot Camp), so you can add files and folders
incrementally, as they are updated. For it to work it has to become a habit so
set aside a specific time each day or week to record your backups and stick to
it!
Realistically few of us are that well disciplined so it’s
well worth using backup software to do the job for you. Unfortunately the backup
utility included with Windows 95/98/SE & ME only works with hard disc,
floppy and tape drives, so it’s not much use in this context. Some CD writers come bundled with backup
software and it’s usually worth investigating but there are plenty of commercial
programs on the market, including a lot of modestly priced try-before-you-buy
shareware titles and even a handful of freeware packages. You’ll find a good
selection for download on the Tucows web site (use ‘backup’ for the keyword
search) at www.tucows.com. Other freeware/shareware programs worth
investigating, designed to work with CD-writers, include:
Backup2001 (www.zipstore.com)
BackupPlus (www.avantrix.com)
Handy Backup (www.handybackup.com)
NovaBackup (www.no-panic.com)
WinBackup (www.liutilities.com)
12Ghosts Backup (www.12ghosts.com)
Finally, keep at least one reasonably up to date set of
backup discs physically separate from the PC, preferably ‘off site’ in case of
fire or theft.
Next week – Making your own music CDs
JARGON FILTER
COMPRESSION
A technique used to reduce the size of a file, making it
smaller, more manageable and quicker to send over the Internet
DISC SPANNING
Spreading data from a single large file or group of files –
too large to fit on a single disc -- across two or more discs
ENCRYPTION
Encryption
or scrambling renders files unreadable by any conventional means without the
correct decryption software and a unique 'key' code, which is needed to unlock
the data.
TOP TIP
If you find a CD-R/RW disc becomes unreadable due to
scratching or scuff marks then it’s worth trying a CD polishing kit. These
contain a mildly abrasive cleaning liquid and a soft cloth and they can be quite
effective at removing light marks. However, if you don’t mind taking a bit of a
gamble, and all conventional methods have failed, deeper scratches and stubborn
marks can often be removed with some ‘Brasso’, a clean duster and a little elbow
grease. This method can also be effective on damaged audio CDs, games console
discs, DVDs etc., but only try this as a last resort, and make sure you remove
all traces and polish the disc thoroughly with a clean cloth before putting it
back in the player or drive tray.
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