A list of the most important computer system files and folders to Backup

I could tell you 10 different ways on how you can lose data, however I am sure everyone has experienced one or two of them.

Your hard drive can crash, there may be a power surge, or someone could simply spill a drink on the computer. This is why backup is so important!

Often when I go to restore my computer or transfer my data to another system, I have more than likely forgotten to backup at least one important file.

Sometimes it is a password or a setting, and sometimes an entire folder. By making simple mistakes, I have lost a lot of important information over the years.

However now I have vowed to religiously backup my data at least once a week. This is easy enough to perform as long as I can remember all of the files and folders I need to backup. My memory isn’t that good so I devised a list of the most important files to backup from my computer hard drive.

Here is my backup list

1. My Documents (Which includes everything in it like My pictures, My music etc) Read my article on how to organize your computer. Simply copy the entire folder.
2. Email Address Book. How to backup your address book
3. Email Folder System (Inbox, Sent items etc) Here’s How to backup your email folders
4. Email Account settings like your password and username. How to Backup email account settings.
5. Email Message rules. What are message rules?   How to backup message rules
6. Favorites for Internet Explorer. Located in C:\Documents and Settings\Your username\Favorites Simply copy the folder.
7. Drivers for my computer (Video, Sound, Lan, Chipset, etc) About Device Drivers

My husband always says “Tell her a joke on Monday and she will get it by Friday”. There’s my problem right there. I am so busy trying to get his jokes, that I need a list for everything else I do.

What files should you backup in Windows Vista and Windows Seven?

Windows Vista and Windows Seven still have files that you need to backup, however they both have an inbuilt backup feature. If you are backing up manually then the files are just stored in different areas. For example in Windows Vista and Seven you have a username that all your files are stored under. The path to this folder is C:\users\mitz This is where you will find the Documents folder, the pictures, music, and so on.

Email contacts are often forgotten and you know how annoying that is. Stop and think before doing anything drastic with your computer. Ask yourself..”Have you backed up all the important files?”