Backup Guide Just a nice and easy Backup Guide.

[I THE LEGEND 0]

This is for anyone that is about to backup their computer and eventually install a new OS or just prepare if their HD fails. You can backup for folder either online (like an FTP) or on an external HD. I recommend to have something outside your current computer that is holding your files. It will include what to backup and exactly how to back them up.

 

I. Browser Backups

Ia. Browser Backups - Bookmarks

Ib. Browser Backups - Passwords

Ic. Browser Backups - Miscellaneous

II. Installations

III. Movies

IV. Music

V. Screenshots of desktop and wallpaper

VI. School documents

VII. List of installed programs

VIII. Backup of registry

IX. Other optional things to backup

 

I. Browser Backups

I will only be concentrating on backing up Firefox for this step since that is the browser I use. There are a few things we can backup: the bookmarks and passwords.

 

Ia. Browser Backups - Bookmarks

This is very easy to do in firefox. All you need to do is go to Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Important and Backup > Export HTML. Choose where you want to backup the file to. I recommend making a folder for your backups at this point in time. A file will then be saved in that location called bookmarks.html. You can Import the HTML file just as easily; Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Important and Backup > Import HTML.

 

Ib. Browser Backups - Passwords

Backing up your passwords requires a Firefox add-on called Password Exporter. I have personally used it and it works great. Download Password Exporter here. After installating and restarting Firefox, go to Tools then Add-ons. Under Password Exporter click on Options. Then press Export Passwords. Save it in that same backup folder you made previously. To import your passwords, do the same steps but import instead of export. Let Password Exporter import the passwords. If it freezes at one or two passwords left, just let it be for a minute.

 

 

 

Ic. Browser Backups - Miscellaneous

A few random things that I might do would be to record whatever addons and themes I have in a notepad file. Something else you can do that might be really extreme would be to print screen everything tab in the Options menu in Tools. I personally have changed some options in there and that is why I have print screened few of the tabs.

 

II. Installations

This step is where you might want to download all the installations you may need when you reinstall everything. It takes a good hour or so. You just browse at what you have installed (discussed on how to backup on a different step) and get the installations for it. A good tool to help you during this process is Ninite. Visit their website and look at whatever of those products you need. Check them all and at the bottom click Get Installer. This will make an installer for all those programs in one. When you execute it, it will install all the programs. A very great tool to save some time. Please note that if you have a 32 bit system and you are upgrading to 64 bit to get installations for 64 bit operating systems since some installations will only work to its specific architecture.

 

III. Movies

Backing up any movies is a great idea. Check places like My Videos for any movies. Not much in this section since there are many places that the movies could be located.

 

IV. Music

Same thing goes for music. Look at My Music or other places where they may be.

 

V. Screenshots of desktop and wallpaper

I personally back this up because I like keeping the same order. Simply print screen your desktop (look on your keyboard, usually in the upper right hand section). Open paint and press Ctrl + C on your keyboard. Save it in the backup folder. Same goes towards wallpapers. I used to have a few decent wallpapers but forgot to back them up and now I cannot find them.

 

VI. School documents

I have personally kept my typed school documents in a folder called "School" on my desktop since I started High School. Its not a bad idea to do so. So, go in your computer and backup everything, especially if the assignments were done in that same year in case the teacher loses the assignment you wont be screwed.

 

VII. List of installed programs

This step is very important for me so its easier to remember what is on our computer, especially what version of which software. A method that I have found easy to was to use CCleaner's feature to backup the installed files to a text file. First, install CCleaner. After installing it, open it by clicking its icon. Next, go to Tools on the left. You will see on the bottom right an option to Save to text file... Click that and save it in your backup folder. This tool is also great for cleaning up junk files on your computer, often speeding it up.

 

 

 

 

VIII. Backup of registry

This is a last step that is underestimated by some. Your registry holds plenty of useful information that can be used when you reinstall windows. I remember that I forgot to backup a cd key from a friend that I got. We stopped talking and I needed the cd key to install the game. Luckily, I backed up my registry and majority of games backup their cd key in there. That is one useful example of backing up your registry. Backing up your registry is very easy. Go to start then run. Type in regedit. Go to File and then Export. Choose the location in your backup folder and give a few minutes for it to backup. I personally do not import the registry back. I open it with notepad and browse for anything I need with it.

 

 

 

 

Other optional things to backup.

 

Fonts

Pictures

Personal settings (configs for games are included here)

Other random text files that include logins, logs, portable programs, eBooks, etc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There you go.

[yordan 10]

I didn't know about the ninite installer, thanks for the info.Besides this, I'm still convinced that a full backup of the system disk, with a commercial or a free tool, would be a good alternative : having a system backup you could restore within 15 minutes would be a plus.

[I THE LEGEND 0]

Yes indeed , i agree with you , this is just 1 way from 100000 to do this , we must keep us update.

[Vistz 1]

Good tutorial. Just a reminder to put information in quotes if it's not your original work

[I THE LEGEND 0]

Good tutorial. Just a reminder to put information in quotes if it's not your original work

Or i can make a video tutorial, and upload here ,how about this?This thing with "quotes" is funny , i read a lots of topics here and i find a tone of answer with " put quotes if not your works".Good answer.

If you post only to increase your cents , post something smart.

[Vistz 1]

Or i can make a video tutorial, and upload here ,how about this?This thing with "quotes" is funny , i read a lots of topics here and i find a tone of answer with " put quotes if not your works".Good answer.
If you post only to increase your cents , post something smart.

If I were trying to increase my cents, I would make a longer post. But to answer your comment, you're violating the Board Rules when you copy and paste from other sites, like say this one for example:

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

Edited October 27, 2010 by vistz (see edit history)

[I THE LEGEND 0]

If I were trying to increase my cents, I would make a longer post. But to answer your comment, you're violating the Board Rules when you copy and paste from other sites, like say this one for example:

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

You can create one account there and i will SHOW YOU WHAT IS COPIED OR NOT , if you think you know everything.Test me.

[Vistz 1]

You can create one account there and i will SHOW YOU WHAT IS COPIED OR NOT , if you think you know everything.Test me.

I made an account on there and the content is indeed copied/pasted. But if you are in fact the person who wrote the original post, then I apologize. And just to clarify, I didn't intend to personally attack you. I just hate it when the original poster doesn't get credit for their hard work. Edited October 27, 2010 by vistz (see edit history)

[I THE LEGEND 0]

I made an account on there and the content is indeed copied/pasted. But if you are in fact the person who wrote the original post, then I apologize. And just to clarify, I didn't intend to personally attack you. I just hate it when the original poster doesn't get credit for their hard work.

My friend , like i said before , i will make a video for this tut , who know maybe if i do so , you can calm down.I´m high member on 3 forum´s.So i have a lot of tut to post here.All made by me.

[yordan 10]

My friend you can calm down.

Politeness is part of our forum rules. Such an aggressive attitude cannot be accepted. You are banned.

[Omniscient™ 0]

This look interesting , my self i don´t backup anything , because i have all important filles saved on big USB memory stick.But is good to know .

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

What about the windows backup wizard. I mean instead of going for other (free or commercial) backup applications, why won't someon use the solution that is generic to every windows (Windows7). If not anything else, at least it would cut the hassle of downloading/installing and/or buying new applications specifically for this purpose.I am quite an amatuer as far as backing up entire sysmte goes as I have never done it myself. The primary reason is that I don't have enough space available outside my system to backup all the 400+ gb data that I have within my system. Therefore I have configured the backup wizard to never perform automatic backups so that no valuable space is wasted on my computer's primary hard disk. But to overcome the danger of system failure, and then loosing my data, I have done one simple thing. I have classified my data into important and non-important. And I have placed all the important data on an 80 GB external hard disk. This is not the best solution but at least my important data is safe.Just in case someone is curious, the important data in my case is the one that I have created or that can not be easily found and downloaded. All other data is the non-important one and although it would be quite a trouble if I loose it but at least there is a solution to get it back.

[yordan 10]

What about the windows backup wizard. I mean instead of going for other (free or commercial) backup applications, why won't someon use the solution that is generic to every windows (Windows7).

Did you try the standard Microsoft backup?Did you try crashing your OS (getting a virus while surfing and try to restore your system from the Microsoft standard backup ?
Most of people I know were not successful, and they used a third-party environment where you boot on a recovery media and recreate the system disk on from data on the backup media.