54 MA XIMUMPC JUNE 2005
how 2 IMPROVING YOUR PC EXPERIENCE, ONE STEP AT A TIME
SyncBack’s profile tool greatly simplifies the process of
backing up your hard drive.2 Choose a Backup Destination
Once you’ve identified what you want to back up, you need to
decide where you’re going to back it up to. Avoid using media,
such as CD-R discs, that will require you to span your backup
(spread it across more than one piece of media). Spanned back-
ups take much more time because they require your intervention—
to swap discs—during both the backup and the restore processes.
Instead, use media that can accommodate your entire backup
without spanning. An external hard drive that can be stored offsite—in a different building or in a safe deposit box—is an ideal
choice; another alternative is to copy the files to another computer
on the Internet using FTP.
It pays to be paranoid: Creating more than one backup and
storing each of them in different locations will provide added insur-
ance in the event that both your original and your primary backups
turn up missing, corrupted, or destroyed.3 Create a Profile
The first time you run SyncBack , the software will ask if you
wish to create a profile, which will appear in a toolbar the next
time you run the software. Profiles give you one-click access to
any customized backup and restore tasks you’ve created.
The freeware version of SyncBack offers two basic catego-
ries of profiles: Backup and Synchronization. A Backup profile
does just what you’d think: It copies your files from one place
to another. (Note: The freeware version of SyncBack does not
perform incremental backups, a time-saving scenario in which
only those files that have changed since the last backup are
copied.) A Synchronization profile is useful if you regularly work
on two PCs—a desktop and a notebook, for instance—and you
want the data stored on each machine to mirror that which is
stored on the other. For now, let’s set up a Backup profile and
assign it a name.
The next step is to choose source and destination direc-
tories. The source will contain the files you wish to copy, and
the destination is where you want those copies stored. We rec-
ommend that you back up everything in your profile directory
under C:/Documents and Settings, except the Local Settings
folder. SyncBack defaults to backing up any and all sub-direc-
tories within the selected folder; click the Sub-dirs drop-down
menu for other choices. If you’d rather back up to another
computer on the Internet using FTP, click on the Expert Modebutton and then the FTP tab. (Expert mode will reveal a host of
other options, too).4 Run Your Backup
Click the OK button and SyncBack will ask if you’d like to perform
a simulated run for this new profile. Click No to skip this step this
time (you might want to explore this feature later). Select your
newly created profile and click the Run button. SyncBack will now
present a listing of all the files that are about to be backed up.
Click the Continue Run button to start your backup. Hover your
mouse over the profile name and a pop-up window will display
your progress. When the program is finished, a success message
will appear in the Result column. Congratulations! You’ve just
backed up your hard drive!
For your next trick, consider using SyncBack to schedule
automatic backups; that way, you won’t have to think twice about
backing up your crucial data. Just remember to store your back-
ups someplace other than your main drive, so you won’t lose both
your original files and your copies should your drive die.After selecting your backup profile and clicking Run,
SyncBack will present a list of all the files that match the con-
ditions defined in your profile. Click the Continue Run button
and your backup will commence.