How to Backup a Hard Drive After an Imminent Failure
With so much information stored on a computer, losing data can cause serious disruption to your personal documentation or business reports. Having a backup of your data can make restoring files on your system easier and faster. Windows Backup and Cobian Backup are two free programs that make such a task easy.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
Using Cobian Backup
-
1
Connect the external hard drive to your computer.
-
2
Download and install Cobian Backup 9. Cobian will automatically start after the installation is complete.
-
-
3
Double-click on the white and red Cobian icon in the "System" tray.
-
4
Click "Edit" and select "New Task." Enter a descriptive task name. Select "Full" under "Backup Type."
-
5
Click "Files." Click "Add" under "Source" and choose "Directory." Select the drive you wish to back up (e.g., C:\) or a specific directory if you do not wish to back up the entire hard drive.
-
6
Click "Add" under "Destination" and choose "Directory." Select the "External Hard Drive."
-
7
Click "OK" to return to the main screen. Right-click on the task listed on the left side and select "Run Selected Task" to begin the backup.
-
8
The backup will begin running. This process may take several hours depending on how much data is being backed up. When completed, the data will appear on the external hard drive.
Using Windows Vista Backup
-
9
Connect the external hard drive to your computer.
-
10
Click "Start" and type "Backup." Select "Backup and Restore Center."
-
11
Click "Backup Files."
-
12
Choose your external hard drive from the drop-down menu under "On a hard disk, CD or DVD."
-
13
Choose the file types you wish to back up and click "Next."
-
14
Choose "How Often, What Day and What Time" the backup should be run. Click "Save Settings and Start Backup."
-
15
The backup will begin running. This process may take several hours depending on how much data is being backed up. When completed, the data will appear on the external hard drive.
-
1
