| Backup your PC using "imaging" software like Norton | | | | incremental updates). This means I can restore my |
| Ghost or ShadowProtect. This keeps a full functioning | | | | PC to a point it was at on any day for the last week |
| copy of your PC including your data and programs. | | | | and up to two weeks depending upon when the last |
| Even if you don't do it everyday, even a fairly old | | | | full image was created. |
| image backup can save you hours of lost productivity | | | | Both tools, Norton Ghost and ShadowProtect, will |
| and frustration when you have major PC problems. | | | | walk you through setting up a backup scheme such |
| Here is one approach for those folks with multiple | | | | as the one I outlined above. |
| PCs on a home or office network. | | | | The Estimated Cost |
| The Problem | | | | 1. Norton Ghost/ShadowProtect: currently $35 to $65 |
| I was following a friend on Facebook. He is a very | | | | per PC. I look for good deals, sales, torn or open box |
| smart business guy and a university professor. He | | | | discounts at places like Amazon.com, Ebay.com, |
| was relating how he had been on the phone with Dell | | | | CheapCheapCheap.com, etc.. |
| (Dell.com) for hours. His $4000 PC which was 1.5 | | | | 2. NAS/Linkstation: currently $100 - $250. Again, I |
| years into its 5 year warranty was working poorly. | | | | always look for deals on-line. My strategy is to know |
| The registry he concluded had been corrupted. He | | | | what I need and then wait for a good deal to pop |
| couldn't even remove programs. After several more | | | | up. |
| hours on the phone with Dell, he decides that he had | | | | Things To Consider |
| to wipe his PC clean and reinstall the Vista operating | | | | 1. How big of a NAS do I need? Currently, I backup |
| system and all his applications. He figures it will take | | | | about 235 GBs of hard disk images on 5 PCs to 300 |
| him another ten hours. | | | | GB of image backups on my NAS. So a NAS with |
| A Solution | | | | about 33% more space than I am using is working |
| If he had made an image backup of his PC, anytime | | | | for me. This is how much space I am currently using |
| in the recent past, he could have recovered his PC in | | | | on my PC (Total Space minus Free Space when |
| probably under a half hour. Depending upon how old | | | | looking at "My Computer") not the total hard disk |
| his backup was, he may still have to install programs | | | | size. If you expect the space you use to grow then |
| or load data that he had added since the backup. | | | | you will need to estimate higher. When I start seeing |
| This is arguably better than having to reinstall | | | | my NAS backup space getting filled up, I can |
| everything. | | | | inevitably find unneeded files and programs I can |
| This is how I do it on my home network of PCs: | | | | remove from my PCs and once again my backups fit |
| 1. I have Norton Ghost (Symantec.com) or | | | | easily on the NAS disk. |
| ShadowProtect (Storagecraft.com) installed on all my | | | | 2. When do I run the backups? My PCs backup in the |
| PCs. | | | | early morning starting at half hour intervals (first |
| 2. Each PC automatically creates an image copy of its | | | | starts at 4 am, the 2nd at 4:30 am, etc.). Staggering |
| primary disk drive every morning. These are | | | | the backups is more time and space efficient than |
| incremental images, so they are only the changes | | | | trying to run them all at the same time (which needs |
| since the previous day and the backups run fairly | | | | more time and more NAS space than running them |
| quick and don't bog down the PCs too much if | | | | one at a time). |
| someone needs to use one them. | | | | 3. What happens when I need to restore a backup |
| 3. The PCs are all networked so I have the backups | | | | image? This generally means you first boot your PC |
| going to a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. | | | | using the disk that came with your backup software. |
| I use the Buffalo Linkstation (BuffaloTech.com). | | | | This puts you into an executive program running your |
| These little boxes just look like networked disk | | | | PC (instead of Windows/Vista) that will take you |
| drives to the PCs. They are simple to install on your | | | | through restoring from a backup image of your PC. |
| network. You just plug them into your network | | | | You already know you should backup your PCs |
| switch or router as you would any PC. | | | | regularly. I've shown you one approach using imaging |
| 4. Once a week each PC also creates a full hard disk | | | | software that has worked well for me for years. |
| image. I keep a total of two complete image sets for | | | | Now, go backup your PCs! |
| each PC (the full disk image along with their daily | | | | |