List of what you must backup:
*
LOGINS, ALL passwords, FTP access codes,
banking details, etc. Where do you currently keep this info?
Please don't tell me it's in a little book on your desk ... oh so
easy to get lost, to get put in someone else's pocket, to go
walk-about. You should have a password-protected spreadsheet or
document, or even better - a password-protected database. I have a
database which I open as soon as I create a new login, or add
myself to a mailing list, or join a new news group etc - paste the
info in *as* you create it, to ensure you'll *never* forget it.
Sure, you sometimes get confirmation emails with this data ... but
if your computer has *died* ... get the picture? You can't access
the emails!
*
CLIENT documents / projects / websites
(if you're a developer), in fact ANYTHING which could cause
grief if you lost it or didn't have a copy of it. If you've printed
a lot of this stuff, what would you need if you had a *fire* and
lost all your paper files? Think about that. Hard. Now make a list
and maybe have a backup CD for each Client or group of clients,
depending on your business.
*
EMAIL software folder which should
include ALL your emails. You do *keep* all emails don't you?
Please tell me you're not one of those people who deletes emails as
soon as you read them (business ones I mean). Have you ever
considered that emails are a form of *database*? I can search my
Eudora software for any word or phrase and in a nanosecond I have a
list of emails relating to that item (all neatly filed in their
email folders ... but that's *another* article!). I *love* Eudora's
features! Getting back to business, emails with historical
information on projects are invaluable to see who said what and
when they said it. It's a timeline, tracking resource, for a
project's life.
*
PHOTOS, personal, professional -
unless you're using them all the time, these can be kept on CDs on
a regular basis. When you download from the digital camera, save to
cd straight away and save space on your hard drive [note to "self"
: follow own suggestion]. If you have photos related to a project
or client, save them to the Client cd you created earlier, if
there's space.
*
SONGS. Music of your life.
*
FINANCIALS. All your spreadsheets,
MYOB or whatever other software you use to track financials. Every
document which the tax department might one day want to see ... for
the past 7 years. Business plans, budgets, everything relating to
your business which you'll need to continue to *be* in
business.
*
FAXES - do you use online faxing
like I do? Where every incoming fax comes into my inbox as an
email? From now on, whenever one arrives, put it into a folder
called FAXES or save with your client data. Faxes are also a record
of what's transpired - another form of database. Plus if you use
this kind of fax service, you're saving trees.
*
INSURANCE. Keep quotes etc on your
computer.
*
DATABASES - all of them. A must.
Trust me, you'll kick yourself if you need one of these you didn't
bother backing up.
*
COMPUTER DESKTOP. OK - what's
still sitting on your desktop which hasn't be put away or filed
yet? Probably a bunch of stuff - clear this up before you backup,
make your job that little bit easier.
*
EXCEPTION to the SOFTWARE RULE
above - if you've bought any software online, or downloaded
any software or programs of any kind for which you did not receive
a CD, then back it up. If you've still got the Installer file, save
that - it'll save time.
*
BROWSER Settings - go through your
browser Preferences screens, take snapshots (like print screen) of
those settings - it'll save you a TON of time if you have to set up
your email and ISP settings at a later date.
*
PDFs : have you downloaded any
PDFs or purchased any ebook? Are they all in the same download
folder, or in a PDF or eBook folder? You'll want to save
these.
*
SAVED GAMES. some games you want
to play again,include screenshots of your favourite moment.
