Just over 2 years ago, I experienced my first PC crash. It was actually a week or so before I started working at Carbonite Australia. Quite a coincidence really. I had a laptop (still have it) but at the time I wasn’t on broadband at home, just dial-up. The laptop was new and I had Windows Vista on it. The laptop also had two hard drives. I specifically asked for this so that I could have more storage.
Wouldn’t you know it Vista kept on crashing so when Windows released their first major update, Service Pack 1, I couldn’t wait to download it. So using my dialup connection I waited a few hours to download it and by that time it was 2 or 3 am. I was too tired to run the installation and so having downloaded it, I shut my machine down. The next morning I went to start it to run the installation and the laptop was dead.
So my first PC crash was entirely my fault. Had I known what to do with my Windows update the error wouldn’t have happened. Luckily enough, the guys at the PC shop that I have purchased my PC through, managed to salvage most of my files (not emails) and they re-imaged the machine. Up until this time, I had never backed up any files on my laptop even though I had two internal drives and an external hard drive.
Then I started working at Carbonite Australia, helping hundreds and hundreds of customers find the best solution for their personal needs and their businesses.
Having experienced by first PC crash, I was conscious of it happening again. I started using my external drive to backup my emails and any docs/pictures that were important. There wasn’t a lot. I probably performed a backup every 2 months. I sounded like most of the customers on the phone.
The challenge I had was that I wasn’t storing much on my PC, so backup although important wasn’t a key concern. After a bit of time at Carbonite however, I started to do work from home as well as train myself on how to build websites. What this meant was that my PC started to slowly accumulate important information that I didn’t want to lose.
The next step in my enlightenment was to begin to also backup using my 2nd internal drive. So this gave me 2 copies of my files.
What then happened was that my PC died again. This time it was some driver going wrong and crashing the laptop. Back to the shop, $50 later they had reimaged the machine and salvaged my files again. No emails, but I had a copy of these anyway.
So in a matter of 12 months with a new laptop running Vista, I had experienced 2 laptop crashes. The trigger for me to invest in Carbonite was that I began to really value the information on my PC. In total I have backed up 2GB of information but it’s made up of hundreds of small images that I use for some of the website I play around with.
For my family photos and videos, I have an external 1TB drive that I use to store them on. I also keep a copy of some photos on my laptop. I also use Carbonite for some of my more precious photos.
So as I have mentioned many times via this blog and via Twitter, Australians need to be educated about why they need to backup and why online backup is by far the easiest option for them.
As a typical PC user, I also had to learn the hard way.
As easy as you can make online backup software and let me tell you, Carbonite is by far the easiest online backup software I have trialled, when the “shxx” hits the fan and your PC breaks, people go into panic mode and the first thing they do is call our 1300 886 673 number (Australian customers only) to find out what is actually backed up and what they need to do to get their files retrieved using Carbonite.
Here are some tips on what to do when you are setting Carbonite up as well as when your PC is fine and working.
- When you have first installed Carbonite, be sure to list down all of the folders and files that are “must haves” for backup. This includes your Outlook email.
- Then go through your Windows Explorer or Carbonite Backup Drive to see if Carbonite has automatically selected these files for backup. It will in most cases, but I recommend that you check also. If not, then manually select them. Just right click and select “Backup with Carbonite”.
- This way, you know for a fact that you have selected the files for backup and haven’t relied purely on Carbonite guessing that they are important enough for you.
- Once Carbonite is up and running and you reach 100% backup, do a manual check of the files every few months or so to ensure that they continue to be in the backup set. I have never seen them disappear and Carbonite is a set and forget solution, but if the files are important to you then its better to be safe than sorry. Sometimes what you can get with Carbonite is a conflict with another piece of software (usually anti-virus) which can shut Carbonite down and close the connection to the server.
- Using Windows Explorer, just visit the important files and folders and ensure that they have a green Carbonite maker on them. You can also look in your Carbonite Backup Drive.
The step above will get you set up OK, the next list is what to do when the PC dies.
- There are a couple of ways to get your data back through Carbonite. If you are desperate to get back just 1 or a handful of files, I recommend that you use the Remote Access function. This allows you to login to your Carbonite account and then download each file individually to the PC you are working on. You can do this from any PC anywhere in the world where you have internet access. You can access remote access from here.
- The second method to get your files back is to get access to a PC that you can restore your files to. This could be a new PC or your old PC repaired. The first step is to login to your Carbonite account and Restore Carbonite. Go to tab My Protected Computers and select Restore. This will require that you download and install Carbonite again. Follow the prompts until Carbonite has finished installing. Carbonite will automatically assign your new PC to your Account, it will also kickoff the restore process.
- Remember that you don’t have to restore all of your files straight away, you can elect to only restore the ones that you need. Carbonite will then stay in restore mode until you advise it that you are done restoring your files. It will then go to Backup mode.
Once in Backup Mode, Carbonite will begin to monitor your files, looking for the original backup set (all of the files it has backed up for you from your old PC). If you haven’t restored all of the original files to the new PC, it will give you a further 30 days to do so. After that if the new PC doesn’t have the original files on it, Carbonite will assume that you don’t want them and delete them from the server.
So it pays to stay in restore mode until you are sure that you have retrieved all of the files that you need.
- If your PC hasn’t totally died and you have just accidentally deleted a file, then you can use the Carbonite Backup Drive to find and retrieve it. An Icon for the Backup Drive will be on your desktop, you can also find it via All Programs > Carbonite from your Windows Start menu. The Backup Drive gives you 3 folders, Backed Up, Pending and Recovery Log. Look in Backed Up to find the file (it will be in the exact same directory structure as in your PC), simply right click and restore. You can also restore previous version from here if they exist.
If you are stressed however and don’t know where to start, you can try our FAQs or contact us on 1300 886 673. Carbonite also offers 24/7 chat support.
Your most valuable asset as a business (excluding your staff and bank balance if it’s positive) is your data. Customer records, tax invoices, contracts, plans, tax information. If it all goes, you will probably go with it (along with the bank balance).
Creating a backup plan and associated procedures are imperative to ensure that should disaster strike, you and your staff know what to do next to get the business started again. Unfortunately for most businesses, the creation of a Backup Plan or process is usually something that happens after data has been lost.
Once you have created your Backup or Disaster Recovery Plan, it needs to be communicated to all staff and it also needs to be accessible both locally and offsite. It must also be kept current which means reviewing it a few times a year to ensure it is still relevant and accurate.
To assist you with your backup you should first consult an IT professional. They will at least give you a few options to think about.
Your Backup Plan is only really effective if the recovery process actually works. Drive backup software such as Carbonite are ideal for micro and small businesses as they give you both a backup process to access and store the data, plus an easy to use method to recover it instantly.
Your backups need to be regular and you also need to consider both online and offline backups. Online allows you to safely store all or some of your data in a remote location, so should the building burn down or hardware get stolen, you can easily retrieve it. Offline backups (local hardware storage) give you the ability to get all of your data back instantly. You need both.
Your backups must also be regular. Services such as Carbonite (online backup) allow your backup to occur automatically for you, so you don’t need to physically perform it. Once a file has been backed up, it is automatically monitored by the software and any changes are updated for you. However your offline backup (using external hard drives) needs to be scheduled and performed daily or at a minimum, weekly.
Small businesses often fall into the trap of not training their entire team on the backup and recovery process. Your staff should at least know where your backup plan is kept.
And finally Testing. We encourage everyone who trials Carbonite to test the recovery process so they at least have some awareness of the recovery process when a PC failure occurs. I would expect that 10% probably perform this test. Most people are only interested in seeing the data being backed up. Rest assured Carbonite works. This same rule also applies with your local offline backup. You should be performing a review at least monthly to ensure that the backup process is actually working and that the files kept on the external drive are correct and accessible.
So in your list of 2010 objectives, at the top of the list should be “Create backup and recovery plan“.
