Protect your important data with backups and partitions

By Vishnu K. Mahmud

JAKARTA (JP): There is a small tech horror story circulating around Technical Support departments. The CEO of a popular Indonesian Internet Portal called up to complain about his laptop. It would not boot, showing instead an error message stating that one of the system files was corrupted or missing. One of the best things to do when a Windows system file becomes damaged is to format and reinstall the Operating System. The problem was that the CEO had no backups and all the files where on the same disk as the system (Windows 2000).

One of the tenets of computer geekdom I have learned over the years is that you should always keep a backup of your data. In addition, you should never keep your system files and your data (be it documents, Palm Pilot files, or your ABBA MP3 collection) in the same hard drive letter.

In the above case, the CEO was in a quandary. His Windows 2000 operating system would not boot and there was no way to access the data separately (short of cracking the laptop open and accessing the drive separately) since they were locked in drive C, using the enigma-like Microsoft NTFS file system.

This is where partitioning comes in. You would basically divide your single hard drive into many parts. Instead of having a 20-gigabyte hard drive (seen by the operating system as a single drive C), you could have 2 drives (for example drive C at 5 gigabytes and a drive D at 15 gigabytes).

You can partition your hard drive into as many parts as you want, remembering that the total of each division will add up to the total hard drive space. Ideally, you should divide your hard disk into at least two to three sections. One should be for the system files, another for applications (like Corel Draw or WordPerfect) and another for your data.

Most Operating Systems (be it Windows or Linux) have built-in partitioning software. Each Windows Emergency Boot Disk (make sure you create one!) has a program called FDisk to divide your hard drive. Be warned, however, in order to create two partitions, you must delete the original division first. Consequently, all data will be lost!

There are software products in the market that allow you to safely partition your hard drive without totally obliterating your existing data. Programs like Partition Magic (www.partitionmagic.com) allows users to carefully consolidate their data and create another drive letter. The software runs on windows and is easy to use. But make sure you have a backup of your data just in case.

For backup, there is an abundance of hardware to choose from. One of my favorites is the Zip Drive. Manufactured by Iomega (www.iomega.com), the slim data disks can hold up 100 to 250 Megabytes per cartridge, depending on the disk. The drive itself retails for about Rp 1.7 million. You can use your printer's parallel port or USB port to connect the device. An internal drive is also available.

CD-RW (CD ReWriter) is another popular backup device. Similar to the CD-R (CD-Writer), the CD-RW allows you to burn 650 to 700 Megabytes of data onto a special compact disc. Unlike the CD-R, in which data is permanently saved, a CD-RW can be erased and reused. Prices range from Rp 1.5 to 3 million, depending on brand and speed. The CD-RW disc themselves are about Rp 30,000 each.

CD-R is cheaper, with the drives ranging from Rp 1.2 to 2.5 million and the discs at about Rp 4,000 each. With CD-R and CD- RW, you can even create and copy VCD movies if you have the appropriate software.

The Jazz drive by Iomega utilizes larger disc cartridges but can store more data, 1 to 2 Gigabytes to be exact. As the Zip drive's bigger brother, the Jazz can act as a second hard drive and is bootable if configured correctly. The price ranges from Rp 3.8 to 4.3 million. The actual 2 GB Jazz cartridges are about Rp 850,000.

You can actually get a 10 GB Hard drive for that price. Having an actual second hard drive on your computer will not only give you additional drive space but provides an excellent backup in case your primary hard disc fails. In that case, you can replace the dead drive and reinstall your operating system and applications without any data loss.

All these products and more can be purchased online in Indonesia. To get an idea on what is available (and how much), check out www.bhinneka.com, www.wetmarket.com or www.e- prodigi.com. You can also go to the Ambassador Mall, Ratu Plaza e-Mall and the Mangga Dua area for computer hardware.

Some tips

* Always save data on a separate partition (or hard drive) from the system files. If your operating system decides to drive into a brick wall, you can safely reinstall the OS without losing any data.

* Organize your files into neat folders. This way you can easily drag and drop them to whatever back up device you have.

* Keep your backups updated. Make sure you have the latest files archived and set a schedule to make copies. There are software available on the net to remind you to make backups. Check out www.download.com and enter the search key word "backup".

* Remember, if you reinstall your operating system, you will have to reinstall your applications as well. This may be a nuisance, but it is better then working with an unstable operating system that can crash at any time.

As for the CEO, Tech Support managed to hack their way into the NTFS file system to retrieve and backup his data before the laptop was formatted partitioned and reinstalled. He now religiously backs up his Microsoft Word documents, e-mail correspondences, and financial files on to a slim, translucent Zip Drive.

--If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at vmahmud@yahoo.com.