To back-up is to make spare copies of files and store them separately to the originals.
Computers have a tendency to go wrong from time to time, these days total hard drive failure is rare but it does happen.
One of the more common problems nowadays is the threat from viruses, with some of the more serious infecting the master boot record of a hard drive's file system. If the master boot record is infected with a virus then the Fdisk utility would most likely have to be run, the chances are the data on the drive would be lost (or at least costly to recover).
Operating system failure and bad software installation are other things that can cause problems when it comes to recovering files.
How frequently you back up will depend on how often you use your PC and what you use it for.
The average home user will probably just have to back up any important files as and when they are changed, and do a full back-up once a week/month (depending on PC use).
When PCs are used in a home office scenario then backing up should be done more frequently.
One rule of thumb would be if your important files change daily, back-up daily, if they change weekly, back-up weekly, and so on.
Back-up Devices ::
Floppy Disks:
Floppy disks are great for backing up small files. The average 3.5" floppy disk can hold up to 1.44 Mb of data, which is sufficient for any letters or important text documents. Backing up with floppy disks is as simple as copying the file, or saving the file to the floppy drive. A ZIP program such as Winzip can be useful to compress any files that are too big to fit on a standard floppy disk.
CD Writers:
With CD Writers becoming ever more affordable, these are ideal for making back-ups of large amounts of data. A Typical CDR disk holds up to 800Mb of data and costs pennies. CD Writers are also very easy to use. The software that comes with them is normally very straight forward and can create back-ups in minutes.
ZIP Drives:
Zip drives are still a popular media for backing up data. Both internal and external ZIP drives are available and some models can store up to around 750MB of data. These drives normally come with their own special software, which is usually very simple to use.
External Hard Drives External hard drives are a great way of backing up your data, for more about these devices see our guide to external hard drives.
Back-up Software Packages
There are many back-up software packages available, they are reasonably priced (compared to a lot of software) and can be invaluable if you have very important files.
Some back-up software makes it simple to back up whole drives, including operating system files with a few clicks. This means if the worst happened, you could have your PC system up and running again within hours.
