Regularly Back Up Your Important Personal Data
As troublesome and inconvenient as backing up your data may seem, once you have developed and implemented a regular data backup regimen, you will find that it can easily become a normal part of your daily/weekly/monthly routine. Once you've gotten past that obstacle, I'm 100% certain that the peace of mind it will give you - not to mention the headaches and heartaches it will help you to avoid later on, in times of unforeseen and unanticipated, but virtually inevitable, catastrophes - will make it well worth any time and effort you've invested.
Now, when I say "back up your data", some of you may think – I don't even know exactly what or where my data even is. So here are a few tips regarding what it could be and where you might generally find it:
Standard Personal Data Types:
1) Mail
2) Contacts
3) Favorites (or Bookmarks)
4) Documents
5) Media (Photos, Music, Videos, etc.) Standard Data Locations:
(**Windows XP Default)
Mail
Outlook Express:
C:\Documents and Settings\YourProfile\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\[a long, cryptic string of numbers & letters\Microsoft\Outlook Express]
the storage location for all your Outlook Express mail folders (Inbox, Sent, Deleted, etc.) should reside here, by default in Windows XP or Home
Outlook:
C:\Documents and Settings\YourProfile\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\*.PST
By default, if you are using Microsoft Outlook, all the mail, contacts, scheduling info, alarms, to-do's, mail filters, rules, and just about anything else you might have in your Outlook will all be stored within a single fairly huge (depending upon the size and quantity of your Outlook data), comprehensive repository called a PST file (Personal Folders file).
Contacts
Outlook Express:
C:\Documents and Settings\YourProfile\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\YourName.wab
Outlook:
(as mentioned above, by default, ALL Outlook data is stored in):
C:\Documents and Settings\YourProfile\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\*.PST
Favorites
C:\Documents and Settings\YourProfile\Favorites
Documents
C:\Documents and Settings\YourProfile\My Documents
Media (Photos, Music, Videos, etc.)
By default, Microsoft has configured Your Documents folder to be a parent container of the all the respective sub-folders for your pictures, music, & video clips & files. As such, backing up the "My Documents" folder on your machine should also automatically include those sub-folders.
However, if you use file downloading applications such as Emule, Limewire, Bittorrent, etc., you may find that those programs have been configured to store your downloaded files in alternate locations.
Default Data Locations
As set forth above, your personal user data will, by default, generally be stored in the specified store locations.
**For both Windows / System performance and Data safety / security reasons, I highly recommend changing those default data store locations to alternate ones, preferable on a second hard disk – or at least, on a second partition. I will give instructions on how to do this in a later "Tips & Tricks" segment.
I will also address the default data store locations for third-party (non-Microsoft) applications such as Mozilla Firefox/Thunderbird, Opera, Netscape, etc. in the near future.
Please stay tuned to this location for further Windows/Computer Tips & Tricks and keep up with my latest Tips & Tricks updates here. If there are any topics you would like to see addressed here, please let me know by contacting me at: [email protected]
