Data Backup and Recovery Can’t Get Much Easier
Windows Vista Ultimate offers easy-to-use backup tools. If computer hardware lasted forever, you would never have to worry about a hard disk failure on the PC you use to process customer payments or payroll, or on a laptop that contains sales leads and customer contact information. But hardware does fail – and it can devastate a small business.
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You probably know that regularly backing up your files and information can help avoid data loss that results from hardware failure, cyber theft or user error. But you may not be aware that Windows Vista Ultimate makes backup – and recovery – easier than ever.
Learn how simple it is to use these four features to protect your vital business data.
1. File Backup Wizard
Archiving and storing critical data is an important but traditionally cumbersome task. The new File Backup Wizard gives you the choice of which files to back up, when to back them up, and where you want to store them.
The wizard asks you which files you want to back up according to type. For example, if you select "Photographs, drawings, scanned pictures, and other image files," the File Backup Wizard will save all image-based files. Then it asks you where you want to store these files. Your choices include CD, DVD, an external hard disk connected to your PC, a secondary disk on your PC, or a server on your network. The only thing it may ask you to do is provide a blank CD or DVD if that is where you choose to save your files.
The wizard also asks you when you want to back up your files and runs in the background while you work.
2. Previous Versions
Have you ever accidentally deleted or overwritten an important file, and because there was no way to retrieve it, had to spend hours recreating your work? The Previous Versions feature in Windows Vista Ultimate creates “restore points” by taking a daily snapshot of your hard disk while you and your employees work. The snapshot tracks all changes that have been made to your files, but uses minimal disk space because only the changes to a file are saved – not the entire file.
If you want to revert to a previous version, you simply right-click a file name and select Previous Versions. Not only does this feature provide you with a second chance to save the correct version of your file, it saves you undue stress and valuable time you may have spent recreating lost work.
3. Windows Complete PC Backup
Complete PC Backup is an image-based technology that you access from the Backup and Restore Centre (shown below). It provides a backup of all the content on your PC. Unlike the file-based backup wizard of Windows XP, Complete PC Backup takes a “picture” of your hard disks that contain system files, programs, settings, and most important, your company’s customer, client, and financial data. The image of your PC that it creates can be used if your system ever has to be completely restored.
4. System Restore
The advanced System Restore feature of Windows Vista Ultimate enables you to fix problems with your PC, essentially by rolling it back in time. Using the System Restore Wizard, you can choose a point to roll your system back to. For example, if you are using newly installed software and it frequently stops responding, you can go back to the point in time before you installed the new software – without affecting your data files. Restore points are created once daily and also after you install a new program or hardware driver. You also can create a restore point manually if you want to make changes to your PC (for example, before installing beta software). If something goes wrong, you can easily return your system to the configuration you had before you made the change.
With all of the Windows Vista Ultimate data recovery features accessible from one convenient console in the control panel, you don’t have to spend time searching for the tools you need. Better yet, once you configure automatic backups, you do not have to think about them at all.