ICAT3025A

Backup and Restore

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A backup is simply a second copy of a file or a group of files or even the whole of a hard drive. it is made as insurance against something happening to the hardware or software so that the original files are lost. If original data are lost or damaged then they can be restored or placed back onto a computer using the backup copy. Unfortunately, most computer users are optimists when it comes to computers. They think that nothing will go wrong for them. They learn the hard way because something will eventually go wrong with all computers. Both individuals and businesses should always assume the worst. They should try to imagine the worst possible things that can happen to their computing equipment and data and figure out what they should do to minimise the damage. This is known in computing as disaster planning. Probably the worst possible thing that can happen is that you would lose everything - your computer or computers are stolen or perhaps destroyed in a fire. The physical components or hardware of the system are most easily replaced, and if properly insured, then at a minimum cost. But the data that were on the machines - the students final essay, the accountants tax records for all his clients, the retailers records of all his purchases and sales - that cannot be replaced by an insurance company. It is up to the users to have a duplicate copy. If they dont then the student fails his class and the accountant and retailer go out of business. Why backup? There are many reasons to backup files. They include: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 1 . The possibility of damage to or malfunction of disks and disk drives. Backing up before preventative maintenance to ensure data is not lost. Your expectations and if you are in business your clients expectations that data are safe, up-to-date and complete. To ensure that certain legal obligations (such as tax records, income and expense data etc) can be met if the information is computerised. Your or your organisations reliance on computers to supply timely access to up-to-date information. To guard against the accidental or deliberate deletion of files. To guard against infection by a computer virus that could destroy your information. To store files that you wish to keep but do not use constantly. This can free up space on your hard disk drive.

What to Backup The answer is simple. Any and every file that you consider important enough that if you were to somehow lose it, it would cause problems of a rather

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severe nature. If the file is important enough to you that you rather have it than not have it, back it up. When to backup If you run a business then partial backups should be done on a daily basis with complete backups on a weekly basis. (Know the difference between partial and complete backups) A student working on important schoolwork should backup by saving a second copy of the work on a different disk drive than the original immediately any time he finishes his work for the day. Where to backup The device to which you backup will depend on the quantity of files that need to be backed up. Different hardware devices and the circumstances they could be used are listed below: .

Backup to a second hard drive in your system or perhaps on a network

drive.

Backup to a removable drive unit such as an external hard drive, or as

has been most common for backup, a Tape Unit.

Backup to a CD-ROM/DVD.
Software for Backups 1. Using the backup facility of the different versions of Windows. 2. Using third party backup utilities such as Second Copy. Some of these can come in the form of shareware. 3. Using special compression utilities such as Pkzip, WinZip, or Arj. 4. Using the software that comes with devices such as Tape Units. With each of the above the user generally has a choice of selecting the files and/or directories he/she wishes to backup. Backup software w ill usually allow the user to select only those files for backup that have been created or changed since a certain date and even since a certain time of day. Hardware for backups RAID, replication, or mirroring is a technology used to protect against a storage hardware failure by protecting the most recent copy of the data by having a mirror image of the data stored on two or more hard drives. Raid is short for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks. RAID disk drives are used frequently on servers.

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Full Backup A full backup is just as its name implies. All the directories and files that the user selects will be backed up even if they have already been backed up before. Incremental Partial Backup An incremental backup backs up only those files which have been newly created or have been modified since the last backup (of any type) was performed. Differential Partial Backup A differential backup copies only those files which have been created or modified since the last full backup. This allows the user to reuse the same disk for backups as new or changed files will be recopied in each differential backup until another full backup is done. A Backup Method: Child, Parent and Grandparent Backups should not be an undisciplined affair particularly for a business. Some sort of system should be developed to carry out the backups. The table below outlines one of the most common methods the Child, Parent Grandparent method. The methodology described assumes the user's data is extremely valuable and the user is using a tape drive for backups. This method can also be done using diskettes. Backup Name Child Type Frequency Storage location On Site Description

Partial Daily

Full Parent

Weekly

Grandparent

Full

Monthly

Use four tapes labelled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. These tapes can be reused each week Off Site Have five tapes labelled Fri-1, Fri-2, etc., one for each Friday of a month These tapes can be rotated each month Off Site in a secure tapes are needed fireproof place (vault) and can rotated each year. Tapes to be labeled ]an, Feb, etc.

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Backup tapes are kept off site to guard against a catastrophe such as fire or theft. The backup tapes will still be available even if the system is completely destroyed or stolen. Restoring Files Restoring files is the reverse process of backing them up. You place them back onto the hard drive.

If your backup is a straight copy you copy them back. If your backup is done using a compression utility such as WinZip you
"unzip" it. With the Windows backup utility and with most backup software such as that supplied with a tape unit, the Restore facility is part of the backup software. (That is, you run the backup software and choose the restore option when you are asked what you want to do.) Possible Reasons to Restore Data 1. 2. The data has been lost or destroyed. This could be a result of a hard drive crash, deletion of files, a virus infection or the system being stolen. A file having been modified and then it is realised that it is needed in its original form. It would only take a few minutes to restore the original to the hard drive. A hard drive is nearly full and needs to be cleaned up. If a full backup is done then files can be deleted from the drive with full confidence that they can be restored later if needed.

3.

Site Procedures - Backup Log One of the tasks of a computer administrator is to establish guidelines on how things are done. These guidelines, or rules, for the way different jobs will be done as a group make up what is known as the Site Procedures for an organisation. One of the jobs to be done on site is a regular backup of the data files for the organisation. A record of all backups should be kept in a logbook which indicates date of the backup, the directories that have been backed up, and the type of backup. A logbook with a record of all restores should also be kept. it should include the date of restoration, the files and directories restored, which set of backup disks/tapes were used and the reason for the restoration. Even the private user would benefit from keeping a log of all backups and restores that he/she has performed.
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Examples of logbooks: Backup Log Date Directories backed up Type of backup

Restore Log Date Files/directories needed Backup used Reason for restore

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Review Questions 1. What does it mean to perform a backup? Why is it important to perform backups regularly? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 2. Identify five possible reasons why backups should be performed. ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 3. Briefly explain the Child-Parent-Grandparent method of backing up. ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 4. Identify different software that can be used for backups. ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

ICAT3025A Run standard diagnostic tests