This document discusses file management basics and backing up files. It covers topics such as file structures, naming conventions, compression, and password protecting folders. It emphasizes the importance of regular backups and describes different backup methods and devices, including local backups to external drives or servers and online backups to cloud storage. The document provides instructions for backing up Outlook mail files by copying .pst files to another local or remote location.
4. File Management Basics
File management
• the fundamental methods for naming,
storing and handling files.
Example:
Drive (C:)
– Directory/Folder (C:My Documents)
• Sub-directory/Sub-folder
(C:My DocumentsMy Pictures)
• File (C:My DocumentsMy
PicturesVacationPhoto.jpg)
5. File Management Basics
Windows machine: the Cut or Crtl + X,
Copy or Crtl + C, Paste or Crtl + V
commands in the file menu of Explorer
can be used to manage (copy or move)
the files to and from other directories.
6. File Management Basics
File
a piece of information which is stored on a computer
are often accessed from within another program and are defined by a specific file
extension
Folder
Also known as “directory.” A division of a drive into which you put files or further folders
(which are then called subdirectories).
Are used to group together related files and separate them from other unrelated files.
Subfolders are simply folders which are placed within another folder.
Drive – The piece of hardware that holds and runs disks; used as a top-level location criterion
for a file. Your "hard disk" or "hard drive" is usually designated with the letter "C," while your
floppy disk/drive is usually named "A.“
7. File Management Basics
Filename - name of a file, including or not including its file extension.
File Size
The size of a file measured in bytes. A floppy disk holds about 1.5 Mb; a
Zip disk holds 100 Mb or 250 Mb; a CD holds about 800 Mb; a DVD
holds about 4,700 Mb.
1,000 bytes = 1 kilobyte (Kb)
1,000 kilobytes = 1 megabyte (Mb)
1,000 megabytes = 1 gigabyte (Gb)
1,000 gigabytes = 1 terabyte (Tb)
Path C:My DocumentsTTSPBasic File Management.doc .
The exact location of a file, including drive letter, directory, subdirectory,
and filename
8. File Management Basics
File Extension
are a code of at least three letters, preceded by a period, that represent the format of the
file or the application in which the file was created.
represent the type of data found within the file and certain extensions will determine which
application will allow the file to be viewed or edited.
Common File Extensions:
Document File Formats Graphics File Formats
• .doc - Microsoft Word Document
• .bmp - Windows Bitmap Format
• .html - HyperText Markup Language
• .gif - Graphics Interchange Format
• .rtf - Rich Text Format
• .jpeg/ .jpg - Joint Photographic
Multimedia
Experts Group
• .mp3 - MPEG Audio Layer Three
Other Common File Extensions
• .wma - Windows Media Audio
• .avi - Audio Video Interleave • .exe - Executable
• .mpeg/ .mpg - Moving Picture Experts • .ppt - PowerPoint Presentation
Group • .xls - Excel Worksheet
• .wmv - Windows Media Video
9. File Management Basics
Compressed files take up less storage space and can be transferred to
other computers more quickly than uncompressed files.
To compress files:
Locate the file or folder that
you want to compress.
Right-click the file or folder,
point to Send To, and then
click Compressed
(zipped) Folder.
A new compressed folder is
created. To rename it, right-
click the folder, click
Rename, and then type the
new name.
10. File Management Basics
To extract files from a compressed file:
Locate the compressed folder that you want to extract files or folders from.
Do one of the following:
To extract a single file or folder, double-click the compressed folder to open it.
Then, drag the file or folder from the compressed folder to a new location.
To extract the entire contents of the compressed folder, right-click the folder,
click Extract All, and then follow the instructions.
11. File Management Basics
Password protecting your folders is a simple and effective way to
keep your sensitive files a secret.
The only way you can create a
password protected folder in
Windows XP without software is
with a Zipped/compressed folder.
Start by creating one in the target
location. Do this by right clicking on
your desktop or folder where you
want the compressed folder to be,
then go to New, then select,
Compressed (zipped) Folder.
Once you have created the folder, put
all of the files which you wish to
password protect into it, either by
cutting and pasting, or dragging them
in.
Once they are all there, go to File,
and select Add a Password.
Enter your password twice, and
you're done!
12. File Management Basics
File Management Tips
1. Organize by file types.
2. One place for all.
3. Create folders in My Documents.
4. Nest folders within folders.
5. Follow the file naming conventions.
6. Be specific.
7. File as you go.
8. Order your files for your convenience.
9. Cull your files regularly.
10.Back up your files regularly.
13.
14. Lost?
More? Let’s watch this clip,
Back-up files and software
15. Why backups are important
you might accidentally delete a file, or a virus might wipe one out
You can also have a complete hard drive failure.
your files can be protected against viruses or complete computer failure
when you back-up on separate locations
it makes it easy to retrieve and place them on a new hard drive and get
going again
The All-Important Rule of Backups
• The primary principle of backing up your data is that any important data
should exist in two or more physical locations at once.
• You cannot create a backup and delete the original, or else it is no longer
really a backup.
16. Back up Files
Backup is the activity of copying files or databases so that they will be
preserved in case of equipment failure or other catastrophe.
What is a Drive? It is a hardware on which you can store files and folders. Disk
drives are assigned a letter.
Your hard drive (the drive inside your computer) is known as the (C:) drive.
If your computer has a CD/DVD RW drive, it is usually called (D:)
If you insert a removable or external drive , it will indicate another (E:) drive.
17. What and When to Backup
Documents
Music
Pictures & Videos
Desktop Email
Application Settings
Virtual Machines
Bookmarks
When should you backup?
The best bet is to backup your files on a fairly regular basis–daily if possible. If
you’re using an online backup solution, they are often configured to
immediately start syncing any changed files when your PC is idle for a little
while. This can be a great way to keep your files safe without having to wait for
the next backup.
18. Backup Devices
This can be prevented by creating a back up of your files and there are
several different options:
Magnetic Tape
Optical Storage
Solid State Storage
Hard Disk
Online Storage
Windows SkyDrive
IDrive
Binfire
iCloud
19. Backing Up Your PC
Local Backups
A local backup is a copy of a file or document that is located on the
computers hard disk drive.
Back up files to a different location or device, including but not limited to
flash drives, servers, laptops, desktops, or other external drives.
20. Backing Up Your PC
Online Backups
are backups stored at an online
location such as an FTP server or
a cloud storage.
Advantages:
Online backups provide the
highest level of protection against
local disaster of any kind: since
online backup servers are located
remotely, no matter what happens
at your site, the backups will stay
safe.
Files can be accessed from any
point of the Earth via the Internet.
21. Back Up Outlook Mail
Go to your Outlook folder in Windows Explorer.
Highlight all files ending in ".pst".
Make sure in particular your selection includes "outlook.pst" and "archive.pst".
If you have Windows Explorer configured not to show file extensions for known
formats, look for Microsoft Office Outlook Personal Folders files.
22. Back Up Outlook Mail
Select Edit | Copy from the menu to copy the selected files.
23. Back Up Outlook Mail
Open the folder where you want to put your backup copies in Windows Explorer.
Ideally, this will be on another computer, on a removable disk stored far away
from your home, somewhere on the Internet, or at least on a different hard disk.
Select Edit | Paste from the menu to paste your .pst files to the backup location
Notas do Editor
File extensions are a code of at least three letters, preceded by a period, that represent the format of the file or the application in which the file was created. File extensions also represent the type of data found within the file and certain extensions will determine which application will allow the file to be viewed or edited.Document File Formats – Files that end in these extensions store text..doc - Microsoft Word Document - This extension opens with programs such as MS Word and Open Office..html - HyperTextMarkup Language - This file extension is used in Web Pages and .html files are displayed within a web browse like Internet Explorer or Firefox. .html files can be created with HTML editors such as Dreamweaver..rtf - Rich Text Format - Generally opens in Word Pad and can be created and edited in Word Pad or other word processors.Graphics File Formats – Files that end in these extensions are images. They are generally viewed with Windows Picture Viewer and can be created and edited in programs like Paint and Photoshop..bmp - Windows Bitmap Format - Common type of Windows graphics file format which is usually uncompressed and found throughout the Operating System itself..gif - Graphics Interchange Format - Graphics file format commonly used throughout the web due to its small file size. .gif images only support 255 colours but can be used in multiple frame animations..jpeg/ .jpg - Joint Photographic Experts Group - Used commonly for photographs taken with a digital camera and photos found on the web.Multimedia – Files with these extensions store audio and/or video. Depending on how you have configured your computer, these files will open with specific programs (such as Windows Media Player or Creative MediaSource)..mp3 - MPEG Audio Layer Three - Form of digital audio encoding which falls into the category of lossy compression and is a very popular format for streaming on the web..wma - Windows Media Audio - Compressed audio format developed by Microsoft..avi - Audio Video Interleave - Developed by Microsoft, this multimedia container format combines audio and video together for simultaneous playback..mpeg/ .mpg - Moving Picture Experts Group - This file format represents a variety of different forms of compression, each with their own specific features and uses. For example, the MPEG-2 video compression format is used in almost all digital video broadcasts and MPEG-1 video is the format used when making Video CDs..wmv - Windows Media Video - Common video format which was developed by Microsoft and if often combined with Windows Media Audio.Other Common File Extensions.exe - Executable - Basically, .exe files are programs that run on your computer and complete (execute) a task. For example, explorer.exe is the user shell which is seen as the taskbar and desktop..ppt - PowerPoint Presentation - Slide show presentation which can be created, edited, and displayed in applications like Microsoft PowerPoint and OpenOffice..xls - Excel Worksheet - This file extension opens within Microsoft Excel and stores a spreadsheet, which can contain lists, graphs, tables, and much more.
Compressed files take up less storage space and can be transferred to other computers more quickly than uncompressed files. You can work with compressed files and folders in the same way that you work with uncompressed files and folders. You can also combine several files into a single compressed folder, making it easier to share a group of files, since you only need to attach one folder to an e‑mail message instead of several files.To compress files:Locate the file or folder that you want to compress.Right-click the file or folder, point to Send To, and then click Compressed (zipped) Folder.A new compressed folder is created. To rename it, right-click the folder, click Rename, and then type the new name.
To extract files from a compressed file:Locate the compressed folder that you want to extract files or folders from.Do one of the following:To extract a single file or folder, double-click the compressed folder to open it. Then, drag the file or folder from the compressed folder to a new location.To extract the entire contents of the compressed folder, right-click the folder, click Extract All, and then follow the instructions.
Even when password protected, people will still be able to see what is in the folder, but they will be prompted to enter the password when they try to access the file.When you move the zip folder from computer to computer, the password will remain, so no need to re-enter it twice.Make sure you remember your password, if you forget it there is NO way to get it back.Once you put folders in the zipped folder, they become read-only, which means they cannot be edited. If you need to edit your files, you need an extras not in the zipped folders.
1. Organize by file types.Make applications easier to find by creating a folder called Program Files on your drive and keeping all your applications there. For instance, the executables for Word, PowerPoint and Simply Accounting would all reside in the Program Files folder.2. One place for all.Place all documents in the My Documents folder and no where else. So whether it’s a spreadsheet, a letter or a PowerPoint presentation, it goes here. This will make it easier to find things and to run backups.3. Create folders in My Documents.These are the drawers of your computer’s filing cabinet, so to speak. Use plain language to name your folders; you don’t want to be looking at this list of folders in the future and wondering what “TFK” or whatever other interesting abbreviation you invented means.4. Nest folders within folders.Create other folders within these main folders as need arises. For instance, a folder called “Invoices” might contain folders called “2010”, “2009” and “2008”. A folder named for a client might include the folders "customerdata" and "correspondence". The goal is to have every file in a folder rather than having a bunch of orphan files listed.5. Follow the file naming conventions.Do not use spaces in file names, keep file names under 27 characters, and use all lower case. So a file named for a client should be jackdawson rather than Jack Dawson. If you break any of these rules, be consistent about it.6. Be specific.Give files logical, specific names and include dates in file names if possible. The goal when naming files is to be able to tell what the file is about without having to open it and look. So if the document is a letter to a customer reminding him that payment is overdue, call it something like "overdue081210"; rather than something like “letter”. How will you know who the letter is to without opening it? See the next point. 7. File as you go.The best time to file a document is when you first create it. So get in the habit of using the "Save As" dialogue box to file your document as well as name it, putting it in the right place in the first place.8. Order your files for your convenience.If there are folders or files that you use a lot, force them to the top of the file list by renaming them with a ! or an AA at the beginning of the file name.9. Cull your files regularly.Sometimes what's old is obvious as in the example of the folder named "Invoices" above. If it's not, keep your folders uncluttered by clearing out the old files. Do not delete business related files unless you are absolutely certain that you will never need the file again. Instead, in your main collection of folders in My Documents, create a folder called "Old" or "Inactive" and move old files into it when you come across them.10. Back up your files regularly.Whether you're copying your files onto another drive or onto tape, it's important to set up and follow a regular back up regimen. See The 3 Steps to a Successful Backup System for more information.The search function is a wonderful thing but it will never match the ease of being able to go directly to a folder or file. If you follow these file management tips consistently, even if you don't know where something is, you know where it should be - a huge advantage when it comes to finding what you're looking for.
A backup is a copy of one or more of your computer data files. Backups are stored at a location that is physically separate from the location of the original files. You can back up your data manually, by copying files from your hard drive to another hard drive or to removable media, such as CDs or DVDs. You can also use backup software to automate the process of backing up your files. If you use backup software, you don’t have to worry about remembering to back up your data on a regular basis.
The C drive is what came with your computer. It is the default drive where all of your system info, & programs. The D drive could be a "partition" which is still on the C drive, but set up as a separate drive.The CD-ROM is usually labeled as the D drive.The F drive could be a memory stick(or other storage media) that is in a USB port.Drives D, E, F, G, and so on could also be additional hard drives that have been installed on your computer.Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_is_the_c_drive_and_a_d_drive_and_a_f_drive#ixzz1zrSzeK7g
The most important files to backup are probably your documents, pictures, music, and other user files, but they are not the only files that you need to backup. Let’s walk through some of them.Documents: You should backup your entire documents folder all the time. This should be a no-brainer.Music: If you’ve paid lots of money for MP3 downloads, you’ll probably be sad to lose them. Make sure to include this folder. Note: if you’re an iTunes user, you should make sure to backup your iTunes folder, which is thankfully usually inside this directory.Pictures & Videos: It’s really sad when I get emails from people saying their hard drive died and they lost all their pictures of their family. The photos might not have actually costed you anything, but you’ll probably be more sad about losing memories than paying for music downloads again.Desktop Email: If you’re using Outlook or Windows Live Mail, make absolutely certain that you’ve backed up the files from these applications. Outlook stores all your email in a .PST file, and here’s how to find it.Application Settings: If you look within the AppData folders, you’ll see directories for each and every application you’re running. These settings can often be restored from a backup so you don’t have to tweak everything again. Just head into C:\\Users\\Username\\AppData\\ to see the Local, Roaming, and LocalLow folders that contain many settings for your applications.Virtual Machines: If you use virtual machines for real work, you should probably create a backup of your virtual machines at some point. We wouldn’t necessarily recommend backing these up every single night, but you should at least consider some type of backup plan.Bookmarks: Most browsers other than Internet Explorer actually make it difficult to backup your bookmarks using Windows Backup, but the much better option is to sync your bookmarks to the cloud. Naturally, we’ve got a full list of all the bookmark syncing services that you can use. If you’d rather use local backup, you can simply backup the application settings folder and restore that—this works especially well for Firefox in our experience.Backup These Files More EasilyInstead of trying to find all those locations, backup your entire Users folder, which is at C:\\Users\\Username in Windows 7 or Vista, and C:\\Documents and Settings\\Username for Windows XP. This will include all of those files, unless you’ve stored them somewhere else.Files You Should Not Bother Backing UpThere’s simply no reason to backup these directories:Windows: There’s almost never a reason to backup your Windows directory, as you’re going to have to reinstall the whole thing anyway, so this backup will likely do you no good.Program Files: You’re going to have to reinstall your applications if your computer dies and you have to reinstall. Why bother backing up all these files?It’s worth noting that if you create a system image backup, you won’t have to reinstall all of your applications, and backing up these folders would still be pointless.
Magnetic tape Magnetic tape has long been the most commonly used medium for bulk data storage, backup, archiving, and interchange. Tape has typically had an order of magnitude better capacity/price ratio when compared to hard disk, but recently the ratios for tape and hard disk have become a lot closer.[6] There are myriad formats, many of which are proprietary or specific to certain markets like mainframes or a particular brand of personal computer. Tape is a sequential access medium, so even though access times may be poor, the rate of continuously writing or reading data can actually be very fast. Some new tape drives are even faster than modern hard disks. A principal advantage of tape is that it has been used for this purpose for decades (much longer than any alternative) and its characteristics are well understood.Hard diskOptical storage Recordable CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs are commonly used with personal computers and generally have low media unit costs. However, the capacities and speeds of these and other optical discs are typically an order of magnitude lower than hard disk or tape. Many optical disk formats are WORM type, which makes them useful for archival purposes since the data cannot be changed. The use of an auto-changer or jukebox can make optical discs a feasible option for larger-scale backup systems. Some optical storage systems allow for cataloged data backups without human contact with the discs, allowing for longer data integrity.Solid state storage Also known as flash memory, thumb drives, USB flash drives, CompactFlash, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, Secure Digital cards, etc., these devices are relatively expensive for their low capacity. A solid state drive does not contain any movable parts unlike its magnetic drive counterpart and can have huge throughput in the order of 500Mbit/s to 6Gbit/s. SSD drives are now available in the order of 500GB to TBs.Hard diskThe capacity/price ratio of hard disk has been rapidly improving for many years. This is making it more competitive with magnetic tape as a bulk storage medium. The main advantages of hard disk storage are low access times, availability, capacity and ease of use.[7] External disks can be connected via local interfaces like SCSI, USB, FireWire, oreSATA, or via longer distance technologies like Ethernet, iSCSI, or Fibre Channel. Some disk-based backup systems, such as Virtual Tape Libraries, support data deduplicationwhich can dramatically reduce the amount of disk storage capacity consumed by daily and weekly backup data. The main disadvantages of hard disk backups are that they are easily damaged, especially while being transported (e.g., for off-site backups), and that their stability over periods of years is a relative unknown.USB Flash DrivesThese aren’t great for storing a lot of data but an 8GB flash drive is relatively affordable. It’s a great way to transfer files from one computer to another and since it’s small and portable, you can access the files on a USB flash drive with ease and with no need for an Internet connection.External Hard DrivesDepending on the size of the hard drive you get, you can probably put every file you have on an external drive (including photos and videos). As these range in size from roughly a deck of cards to a large book, these are somewhat portable, although certainly not as much as the USB flash drive. And depending on the storage size, external hard drives can be expensive. However, like the flash drive, you will be able to access the data on an external hard drive from any computer without the need for Internet.Online StorageWe’ve discussed using the Cloud for online storage before. The benefit of online storage is that no equipment is necessary and you can easily access your information anywhere there is an Internet connection. There are a variety of free options, although you will be limited by the size of storage space you can get without paying a fee:DropboxWindows SkyDriveIDriveBinfireiCloud
Local BackupsThis type of backup provides a minimal guard of ensuring that you have a way to restore your data. This minimal level of safe guard is because if something causes your hard disk drive to fail in your PC, or corrupts your data, you may loose the backup copy also.It’s important to create local backups to an external drive or another PC for speed of restoring files should something bad happen, and also because this is going to be the quickest way to create backups.
Online BackupsThere are a number of paid online backup services like Mozy, Carbonite, Spideroak, and Jungledisk, and there are also some file sync services like Dropbox and SugarSync that provide backup type of capability. These are all excellent secondary backup services, but probably shouldn’t replace a regular backup just because they will take a long time to restore.Note: if you’re looking for a great way to keep a folder in sync between PCs and accessible from anywhere, Dropbox rocks. We love it. Otherwise, you should probably check out Mozy, since it has a unique ability to create local backups as well as online backups.Online storage services can keep your files from being vulnerable to loss, getting damaged, or being inaccessible from outside your computer. Some online storage companies are very secure and affordable. Best Online Backup Services with Free StorageBacking up of data that is less than 2GB would not cost you even a cent.Except SkyDrive, all other services would let you to download a client to your PC, select the local folders that are to be stored online and the client will automatically copy the files from the folders and monitor them. Except Mozy, all other services will let you to access the data that is backed up online.SugarSync is for Windows and Mac whereas ZumoDrive is for Linux, and both are easily configurable. Dropbox provides online backup and also file synchronizationSubscription Based Online Backup ServicesIf you have all your data like emails, files, photos, etc (totally less than 2GB) organized together in your hard drive, you can choose subscription based service.1. Backblaze – The true ‘set it and forget it’ backup serviceEasy installation. Backup all the folders expect the OS files and application files.Newly created folders will be updated automatically online.Restoring files from online backup is little complex2. Carbonite – Makes data recovery really simpleFiles and folders having a colored dot are selected for backup and others not having a dot are not.Access the backup data anyplace with PC’s browser or apps from Blackberry and iPhone.Recover backup data using Windows explorer pretty easily.The client tool is looking bad and old, but the web interface is better.3. Mozy - The original cloud backup serviceThis will group the folders and files to sets (of emails, images, songs, etc). So, the user can easily select the sets that they want to backup.The older version can only backup data online, but the recent version can backup to external disk also.Easy methods to restore the backed up files.4. iDrive – For quick and easy backupsIt shows tree structure of folders in your PC. You will have to select the folders from the tree and it will be uploaded.Add folders and files by right clicking on them in the Windows explorer and upload them.You can restore all the data from the client tool or restore individual files from their website.The family plan lets you to backup data from several PC to a same account.5. CrashPlan – One backup service for all platformsYou can backup your data to several places like a cloud, a folder on same disk, home PC, or other PCs networked.Ease of work, interactivity with better understandability.Works on several OS like Mac, Linux, and Windows.6. Jungle Disk – Metered online storageMakes use of Amazon S3 for backup.Backup several PCs data with a single license.This also works with all OS.7. SugarSync – Access your backups from any mobile deviceReal time monitoring of changes to files and updating real time.Access the backup data through web or apps from handsets.Will not work with Windows Explorer and so it tough to add new files for uploading.8. ZumoDrive – Simple and elegantConfigure easily by just right clicking on any file and you can add it.Restore data in ZIP package and so you have to extract them to any particular location.