Recently I had an online discussion about using backups and backing up your computer. The gist of the discussion could be summarized like this: It is of primary importance to perform regular backups of your computer and important files. Backups should be regular to ensure the freshness of your backups. However, when installing hardware or software that will affect certain existing files, you should always have a backup of those files.

For instance, Xsitepro has gone through a complete new version release this year. When installing the new version, Xsitepro Version 2, you can convert your existing websites to the version 2 format. There is one thing you should consider when converting from Xsitepro Version 1 to Xsitepro Version 2. This is important…..you should always back up those files before conversion…..some people have converted their website files only to have the conversion crash…..and they lost all the work they did on Xsitepro Version 1……It would NOT have been a problem if they had a backup of their original xsite files.

Anyway, below is a comment I made in a forum, you can apply the principles to any program backup or installation.

Seems like I always learn things the hard way.

Just a thought….whenever you decide to do something major, like a conversion….you should backup your files to 2 or 3 locations. For instance IF you can backup to an external hard drive or another place on your C drive, you should do it along with the default backup that is part of Xsite.

Also, you can export your sites as .xse files, again, export them to another location on your computer or a hard drive. You can even export them to a dvd.

The point is have more than one backup when you are going do something with your original backup files, if the process fails or your original backup files are destroyed you’ll not have lost all of your precious work.

For those of you who have worked with building websites with programs like frontpage or dreamweaver……remember, xsitepro does not have any provision for downloading your site from your server. You can download what’s on your server, but you cannot but those files back into xsitepro. Hope that makes sense, because I once thought that I had a backup of my xsitepro files on the server….I was wrong.

Here are some resources to help with backing up.

I use Acronis True Image 11 to backup all my hard drives. You can use it to backup only folders or files or your complete computer. One of the best I have ever used. While you can use it for data only, you can also backup your programs such as Xsitepro.

Another backup to your backup is a Service Called Carbonite which will backup your files to an external location. A cheap proposition when you consider the hassle of losing all your data. There is even a free trial so you can check it to see if it might work for your needs. The best part of this online storage solution is that it only costs $49 for a year for an unlimited amount of backup space.

One more story, my son has been using one of my old computers for his business. Just things like Word and some older programs. I’ve been telling him for years to backup or at least make a dvd of all your important files. Kids never listen to their parents! Last night he asked me if I could check out the old computer because it wouldn’t boot…..error message was “disk error”……and yes, no backups….yikes!

So….don’t say no one ever told you about backups!

[tags]hard drive crash, computer backup, acronis, carbonite, external backup[/tags]