i am new to the computer and i need to do a back-up but don't know how to.  any advice?
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I'm assuming you have Microsoft Windows.  I hope you do, becuase I don't know much about other operating systems.  A backup will not free up space on your hard drive.  To do that, you should try, first of all, to defragment your hard drive.  You should also do this at regular intervals, once every other month or so.  \nTo defragment your hard drive, go to the start menu.  In XP, open "All Programs", then "Accessories". Go to "System Tools", and click on "Disk Defragmentor".  This will open a window.  Select the drive you want to defragment (there should be only one, unless you have more than one drive, or have an external device).  Click "Analyze".  This will cause the program to read the files on your hard drive.  \nMany times when you save files on your hard drive, they will not all be saved on the same track on your hard drive (kind of like tracks on a CD, if that helps you understand).  The disk defragmentor moves the physical files on your harddrive so that they are continuous.  This doesn't change file names or anything like that, just their physical location on the disk.  This helps the hard drive perform faster, since it doesn't have to look as hard for each file.  \nAfter the defragment program has run (it may take a while), go back to the "System Tools" and click on "Disk Cleanup".  This is going to take a long time, whether your computer is usually fast or not.  Just follow the directions.  It will scan your files on you drive.  It will compress old files, or ones that aren't used very often, and delete temporary files.  Those are usually like files that websites use to keep track of you, cookies, etc.  For example, Yahoo! uses cookies to keep track of your preferences, like what color you want, things like that.  You don't really need these files.  In older Windows operating systems, the procedures are basically the same.
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backing up is a very important part of your computer day,theres nothing worse than having 20gb of precious data,photos,letters and forms and then suddenly your hard drive fails and you lose it all\n      all it takes is 10 minutes at the end of the day and all this can be avoided\n      you can back up many ways,one way is to use the windows based back up ,go to start>programs>accesories>system tools>back up>then follow the back up wizard to do your task,however this is pretty basic and is limited in its options\n      you can download or buy 3rd party software for backing up.go to http://www.download.com/3150-2242_4-0-1-0.html?qt=&author=&titlename=&desc=&dlcount=&daysback=&swlink=&gfiletype=&os=&li=49&dlsize=&ca=,and look through all the free back up software,read the user reveiws first so you dont download any rubbish\n      once you have decided which program you are going to use then to back up you first need to select the file(s) you need to back up,then select what typr of back up you want to do,then finally the destination for the back up(many users have external hard drives which they use to secure their data,but a very good way is to send them to removable media(cd/dvd-roms) this way they are saved forever and you can index them for easy access\n       many burning programs such as nero or roxio have back up options in them and these are ideal for backing up to cd/dvd-roms\n       the length of time it takes to back up is dependant on the amount of data you are using,it also depends on a) the type of hard drive(ata,sata,external)  and b)your p.c,s speed(ram,cpu speed),but a 1gb file would take about 2-3 minutes to back up\n        take it from me,set up a program for backing up,as you will thank me one day when your drive fails,and you have all your data safe on a dvd or on a hdd\n        good luck
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You can disable that feature, if you want to. I just make my own back ups, on my dvd burner. When it says that you need to make back ups, it goes through your computer, and it shows the programs it thinks should be backed up. It practically shows the whole C drive, most, do not need to be backed up. Just use your own judgement, and back up the programs that you want backed up..
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Backup all your information, format the HD and reinstal OS. Probably the easiest way.
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short answer will be use a flash device. It requires no power, has no moving parts and as long as you have access to a USB port, it will be available.\n\nSecond option will be a HD, if kept stored in a safe environment, you wont have to worry about the information, giving you more space than the flash drive.\n\nThose are the expensive choices.\n\nThe way i do it is using incremental backups, i started with a cd holding pictures and documents, that i keep on my hard drive. Every time i increase  significantly my documents, i make another backup.\n\nI dont dispose of all the old backups so i have at least three disks (cd or dvd) with my documents, and the hd where i keep the files.
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Yes, this is very easy. Get your external HD kit and it should have instructions for you. It will guide you through he process.
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Hello\n\nThis is a standard Windows utility called Microsoft BackUp: its purpose is basically to create a back up of all your important files, in case you need to restore them after a possible accidental loss.\n\nSince Microsoft BackUp allows you to choose exactly which files you want to back up, you can take advantage of this feature to create copies of your presentation files that are automatically saved by spanning as many floppy disks as needed. We will see in detail how this tool works and its specific benefits.\n\nTo access the back up tool, go to Start >> Programs >> Accessories >> System Tools >> BackUp.\n\nIf it's not listed there, you might need to install it from the Windows CD-ROM:\n\n1) Go to Start >> Settings >> Control Panel and double-click on the "Add/Remove Programs" icon.\n\n2) Go to the Windows Setup tab and put a tick mark on BackUp (in Windows 95 it's under Disk Tools, in Windows 98/ME it's under Accessories)\n\n3) Then click OK and Windows will install this tool.\n\nOnce you start the BackUp tool, you will get a few dialog boxes: the first one will explain you the basic features: just click OK.\n\nThe second one will give information about how to perform a Full System back up: we are not interested in this feature, but you need to click OK to proceed.\n\n1) Click on the first tab, "Backup", and you will see displayed a window similar to Windows Explorer:\n\n2) Browse the folders to locate your presentation file(s)\n\n3) Put a tick mark in the checkbox next to your file and click "Next Step"\n\n4) Select a device where you will copy your backup (A: drive - floppy disk), then click "Backup Now"\n\n5) Give a name to the back up and press OK.\n\nThis utility will start backing up the file(s) and will ask you for a new floppy disk as soon as the current one is full. This way you can split any large presentation file into several floppies.\nEnjoy
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Open Windows XP Backup\nWindows XP includes its own backup program, although you may need to do some digging to find it. You can also take your pick of third-party programs (listed at the end of this column) that add bells and whistles you won't find in the basic Windows XP Backup utility.\n\nIf you use Windows XP Professional, the Windows Backup utility (Ntbackup.exe) should be ready for use. If you use Windows XP Home Edition, you'll need to follow these steps to install the utility:\n\n1.\n Insert your Windows XP CD into the drive and, if necessary, double-click the CD icon in My Computer. \n \n2.\n On the Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP screen, click Perform Additional Tasks. \n \n3.\n Click Browse this CD. \n \n4.\n In Windows Explorer, double-click the ValueAdd folder, then Msft, and then Ntbackup. \n \n5.\n Double-click Ntbackup.msi to install the Backup utility. \n \n\nFor more information, see How to Install Backup in Windows XP Home Edition.\n\nWith that chore out of the way, you're ready to begin backing up. By default, the Backup utility uses a wizard that makes the process straightforward. To start Backup:\n\n1.\n Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup to start the wizard. \n \n2.\n Click Next to skip past the opening page, choose Back up files and settings from the second page, and then click Next. You should see the page shown in Figure 1, which represents your first decision point. \n\n\n\nFigure 1\n\n \n\nTop of page\nDecide What to Back Up\nYou might be tempted to click All information on this computer so that you can back up every bit of data on your computer. Think twice before choosing this option, however. If you've installed a slew of software, your backup could add up to many gigabytes. For most people, the My documents and settings option is a better choice. This selection preserves your data files (including e-mail messages and address books) and the personal settings stored in the Windows Registry.\n\nIf several people use your computer—as might be the case on a shared family PC—select Everyone's documents and settings. This option backs up personal files and preferences for every user with an account on the computer.\n\nIf you know that you have data files stored outside your profile, click Let me choose what to back up. This option takes you to the Items to Back Up page shown in Figure 2.\n\n\n\nFigure 2\n\n\nSelect the My Documents check box to back up all the files in your personal profile, and then browse the My Computer hierarchy to select the additional files you need to back up. If some of your files are on a shared network drive, open the My Network Places folder and select those folders.\n\nThis option also comes in handy if you have some files you now you don't want to back up. For instance, I have more than 20 GB of music files in the My Music folder. To keep my data file backup to a reasonable size, I click the check box next to the My Music folder. This clears the check box from all the files and subfolders in My Music.\n\nTop of page\nDecide Where to Store Your Backup Files\nOn the Backup Type, Destination, and Name page, Windows asks you to specify a backup location. If you're one of those exceedingly rare individuals with access to a backup tape, the Backup utility gives you a choice of options in the Select a backup type box. No tape drive? No problem. Backup assumes you're going to save everything in a single file; you just have to choose a location for that file and give it a name.\n\nBy default, Backup proposes saving everything to your floppy drive (drive A). Although that might have made sense 10 years ago, it's hardly a rational choice today. You'd need dozens, perhaps hundreds of floppy disks to store even a modest collection of data files, especially if you collect digital music or photos.\n\nInstead, your best bet is to click Browse and choose any of the following loc
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leo girl had the right idea but if your not very computer knowledgable then u mite not find it. if you have windows XP then its easy just go to start menu, all programs, accesories, system tools, then system restore. once inside you must go to a day highlighted in bold numbers. u can go right back to when you first got the computer. it will keep all your saved documents like music etc but delete anything else. if you dont have XP then you must reformat the hard drive and it should be done by an expert so you can tell him which files you would wish to keep because it can go badly wrong and u may end up paying more for it to be fixed.\n\nJosh
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This is incredibly easy, and in no way risks the date/time information from being changed, and other correspondents seem to have forgotten this so far. For the benefit of these files being BACKED UP, using an archiving program like compressed files (on Windows 2000 and XP) programs like winzip or any other from a vast number of archiving utilities that can be found online, downloaded and installed, and some of them may even have step-by-step wizards to help and guide you to complete this task.\nUsing one of these will make your data take up less space.\n\nSince MS Windows is a graphical user interface, and as such, anything on the computer can be represented by an icon, and clicking on the icon will either open a file into a program, run a program, or open up a folder. All you have to do is open up the windows explorer, and from there select one of the disks/drives listed in that window, click on one of them and it will allow you to view data/diles there (depending on your set up, it may change in the open window where you are, or open up in another window) having two windows open will be easier.\n\nThis will subsequently list the folders (directories) that are stored on this drive. if you want to make a new one called backup - it may be an idea to give it a different name that you know what it is but no one else will, so not take any notice of it. Open this folder up so it is an open window. Switch back to the original window (say, the folder that represents "My Documents" and so long as both windows are open and visible on the screen, you can use what is called "drag & drop" to move/copy files from one location to another. To select more than one file at a time using the mouse, if all the files are in sequential order then using the mouse select an area round those files and they will be selected.The alternative method if you are being selective about what files you want to move, hold down the -Ctrl- key as you click on each file, and it also becomes selected, and will be highlighted along with other files .\n\nThis is genuinely easier to to than my description might suggest, but be VERY CAREFUL that you don't hit the delete key when more than one file is selected unless you genuinely want to get rid of that file, an easy mistake to make, and easy to recover from by going to your Recycle Bin (get to this from your desktop) and selecting restore files. Equally, be aware of not creating a file called "Copy of document.doc/picture.jpg" etc, because that is one sure as hell way to confuse people when they are doing file back up tasks, and this also doubles up the amuont of space the files take on your hard disk because there would be two of them.\n\n*SIDE NOTE* \nIf you have  only one drive it will be assigned drive letter (C) personally I would always recommend creating a second volume on your hard disk, and this would be one of the reasons for doing so. Incidentally, any CDrom or DVD and CDRewriter will normally be listed as (D) and (E) drives - this is a completely different way of backing up data, and not in the remit of your question. \n*NOTE ENDS*\n\nThis can also be applied to a folder on a network if you are connected to a network. Repeat all instruction as detailed above, with the exception that if you want to access it 9your backed up data) you will have to re-connect to the network, normally automatic when you log in to your computer - speak to your network administrator about this, if this is applicable.\n\nThank you for reading, and I hope this explains and assures you that it is a really easy task, and even a novice computer user can do this.
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western digital offers a one touch back up solution which should probably fit your needs. its an external hard drive which works as soon as as you press a button or you can do it automatically. it normally goes on sale at best buy. i got one for $60 with 160gb
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are you doing a back up of your PC or a server? Veritas is a good piece of software for running automated backups its a bit pricey for home PC use but it works great especially for multiple server backup. If you are just backing up your home PC I would invest in a external hard drive and then write a simple xcopy batch script to copy your hard drive data to the external drive. Once you have the script written you can use windows schedule tasks feature to schedule your script to run on auto over night. I think this is the most cost efficient way to back data. If you need help with the batch script send me an email at somascope@hotmail.com and I can walk you through it.
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Windows has a built in backup program which can be used for this. Go to accessories/systemstools/backup and the wizard will walk you thought e process. You can also setup a recurring backup which will update the back up with all the files that have changed during the day at a set night every night.\n\njainnys\nMind Experts Inc.\nhttp://www.mindexp.com
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You need to back up the database to, say an SQL file and then save the file to your machine. You can then restore the backup to your machine.... It's a process you need to learn; not easy to understand  if you don't have experience but it's easily done with tools like phpMyAdmin or the MySQL Administrator.\nIf you need any help, I can assist you. Just drop me a line at http://tash.inspired4real.com/
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if youre using windows.. there is a system application called BACK UP, go to START---PROGRAMS---ACCESORIES---    sYSttTEM TOOLs
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depends on what operating system you have and why you are backing up\n\nmore info required
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If you delete EVERYTHING, you won't have the programs needed to log into the computer or bring up Windows when you start it. And did you back up just files, or the actual programs as well? I suggest you get a computer geek to help you so all is well in the end.