More than “My Documents”

Most small businesses start out using a single computer or a laptop as their main computer. Many business owners in their first 2 years are not doing a backup of any kind. Notebooks especially have a very sensitive hard drive.  The hard drive in notebook computers is most commonly made by IBM/Hitachi (which is the same drive). It is also the drive with the highest rate of failure.

 

If you are running your business and depend on your laptop, you should be backing up often.  One day lost can result in missed business opportunities, valuable contracts, pictures, and email. In addition to the lost data, to rub salt in the wound, you will have to pay for data recovery and additional hard drive to get you back in business.

Most people do not backup because it is time consuming, hard to remember, or they are not sure how to backup or to what. To save yourself the hassle you should consider a One Touch device. Once setup you can come back to the office, connect the device and push the blue button.  You won’t have to tell it a thing, or click any buttons. It is very painless and quick!

 

These devices can be used on more than one computer, so if there are several people with laptops or even different computers you can use one on all of them.  I also guarantee you it will cost less that what you will spend if you don’t backup.

The most important step in using this device is the setup the first time you use it. You can tell it folders, files, or the whole hard drive is what you want backed up.  The most common error is to believe that all your files are in the My Documents folder.  The My Documents folder is an alias or shortcut to a real folder buried deep in your folders and there is one for each user on your computer. 

 

Your email files will NOT be contained in the My Documents by default.  There are several hidden folders in the Documents and Settings directory that contain valuable information.  Your email files for Outlook are stored in a hidden directory called Local Settings/Application Data/Microsoft/Outlook. Quickbooks, Peachtree are not stored in any of these locations and would be lost.

 

As a data recovery expert and a Certified Computer Forensic Specialist my best advice is Backup, Backup, Backup and make sure you know what you are backing up is complete.

 

Scott A. Moulton, CCFS