Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Software
High High High High Moderate High Low
Failure
Accidental
High High High High High High High
Deletion
Moderate to Low to
Theft High High High None None
High Moderate
Natural Low to
High High High High None None
Disaster Moderate
Very Low to
Capacity High High High High --
Low High
Moderate to Very
Expandability High High High Low High
High High
Performance Very Low to Low to Very High Very High Moderate Very High
Low Moderate High to High
Note: For a more complete picture on how the various methods stack up, make
sure to check out how they cover the various risks to your data as well. Many of
the methods that look very attractive based on what you see above actually don't
protect against enough of the data risks that you use backups for, to make them truly
viable options.
What To Back Up
To ensure that your backups are performed properly, in a way that ensures that you
are protected without taking so much of your time that they become a chore, you must
determine what files to back up and how often to back them up. Some files will need
to be backed up more often than others. This section takes a look at what files you will
want to include in your backup routine, and also the ones you will usually want to
exclude.
Full, Selective and Incremental Backups
There are several different ways that we can select files for backup. The way that you
will want to use depends on how you use your system, how often your files change,
and your chosen backup method. Many people will in fact end up using a combination
of these different techniques:
• Full Backup: Nothing complicated here, a full backup is done
by selecting all the files on the hard disk for backup.
Onlyspecial files that should not be backed up at all are left
out. This is the simplest type of backup, and yields the most
complete backup image, but it takes the most time and media
space to do.
• Selective Backup: In a selective (or partial) backup, you
select specific files and directories to back up. This type of
backup gives you more control over what is backed up, at the
expense of leaving part of the hard disk unprotected (unless of
course, you simply do another selective backup later on that
covers the area you skipped the first time). Selective backups
make sense when some files are changing much more rapidly
than others, or when backup space is limited, although in many
cases doing an incremental backup is better and easier.
• Incremental Backup: If you perform frequent backups, as
you should, you may find yourself backing up the same files
over and over, even ones that do not change over time.
Instead, you may want to consider a mix of full backups and
incremental backups. An incremental backup is one where only
the files that have changed since the last backup are selected.
It is like a selective backup, but the files are selected based on
whether they have changed recently or not, instead of an
arbitrary selection based on directory or file names. This gives
the time- and space-saving advantages of a selective backup
while also ensuring that all changed files are covered.
Incremental backups are supported by most decent backup software. They work using
the archive bit that exists for each file and directory. The backup software looks at this
bit to determine what files have been changed since the last backup, selects them for
backup, and then clears the bit for all the files it backs up. If any files are changed, the
software sets the bit again so on the next incremental they are again selected, and so
on. You must rely on this bit being managed properly, and I don't always like to do
this.
Warning: Programs that change files are not required to set the archive bit. Most
well-behaved software will do this, but you cannot absolutely guarantee that all
files changed since the last backup will be caught by an incremental selection.
Which type of backup you do depends, again, on what is important to you, in terms of
time, media cost, and also ease of restoration.Restoring a system that uses incremental
backups can require more steps, as first the full backup has to be restored and then the
incrementals, one after the other. You also don't have the redundancy (just in case you
need it) that you have when your backup scheme uses only full backups. If you can fit
a full backup onto a single media set and it doesn't take too long to do, I still prefer
this over incrementals, for this reason. It's just more secure to know that everything is
on one tape. The scheduling of backups is discussed here.
Backing Up Programs and Data
Most files on a typical PC can be broken down, loosely, into being either programs or
data. These differ of course in many ways, but not least is in how they should be
considered for backup.
In general, data files should always be backed up. These are the fruit of your labor,
and cannot be replaced! Every backup should include all of your data, either via a full
backup of the entire hard disk, a selective backup that includes the directories where
the data is, or an incremental backup. (Having all your data in a handful of directories
instead of scattered all over the hard disk is useful, for this very purpose).
Programs are a somewhat different story for two main reasons: first, they are static,
meaning once installed they do not change (with a few exceptions). Second, they are
recreatable; if your Microsoft Office directory gets wiped out, you can reinstall it from
your original CD-ROM disk. The combination of these characteristics suggests that
backing up programs is less important than backing up data, and this is true. Programs
do not need to be backed up as often as data does.
However, you should also remember that setting up and configuring a PC today takes
a considerable amount of time. Tweaking all the operating system settings, installing
all the software, and modifying parameters to get everything working the way you
want can take the better part of a weekend. While you can reinstall Windows 95 and
all of your applications if you have to, this is not something that is going to be fun to
do. You will also have the problem of remembering what you changed from the
standard defaults. For these reasons, installed programs should definitely not be
ignored when looking at backup.
Note: Some PCs ship with their software preinstalled on the hard disk and no
original disks or CD-ROMs! This is a poor practice and I recommend that people
avoid buying from companies that do this, since it makes it very hard for you to
reinstall software if you need it in case of disaster. If you have no original disks, your
installed programs should be treated as just as unrecreatable as your data. Incidentally,
many PCs that come only with preinstalled software have utilities that will let you
create install disks from what is stored on the hard disk, sort of a "reverse install";
consult your owner's manual.
I believe that a full backup of the entire hard disk is still the best type of backup, for
the simple reason that it is the safest and easiest way to get you back where you were
before a catastrophic data loss--and that is the exact purpose of backup. If you don't
have the backup capacity to do the whole hard disk, then consider a combination of
full and incremental backups, which will preserve any changes you make to your
programs while saving media.
Files Not to Back Up
There are some files that should never be backed up. The main reason is that some
files do not contain anything that would matter if they were lost. Another reason is
that some files are representations of programs or data that are better backed up in a
different form. While virtually all regular files should be backed up, in most cases the
following kinds of files should be excluded from routine backups:
• Swap Files: A swap file is a large file that is used by the
operating system for virtual memory. When the system needs
more memory than actually exists in the PC, it creates a virtual
memory space and applications "share" the real memory by
swapping pieces of memory to the hard disk. The swap file
holds these pieces; the process is described in much more
detail here. This file can be quite large, sometimes exceeding
50 MB in size depending on the system. Since it does not
contain any real data, but rather is a placeholder for
information in memory while the PC is running, there is no
point in backing it up.
• Compressed Volume Files: If you use volume-based disk
compression, the compressed volume that you see mounted as
a drive letter is stored on the host disk as a single file called
a compressed volume file or CVF. All the files on the
compressed disk are in this file. If you use compressed
volumes, the files on them should be backed up individually
from the compressed volume. The big CVF file on the host disk
should not be backed up, since it contains the same
information but in a way that is much more difficult to restore.
Most newer software will in fact automatically deselect the items above, unless you
override and tell it you want them included anyway. Many types of backup software
will also let you select classes of files, by file type, that you want to exclude for
whatever reason.
How To Back Up
While backing up your data is in some ways a simple matter--"just do it!"--there are in
fact some special techniques that can come into play to make backups more effective
and less of a hassle. This section takes a look at specific techniques and considerations
for performing backups, some of which you might not think of. This includes a
discussion of backup timing, scheduling, media storage, and how to ensure that your
backups work, and will protect you in the event that you need them.
Backup Timing
Selecting a time of day to perform backups is a matter of personal choice. It depends,
as usual, on how you use your PC, and also on how long it takes for you to perform
backups. Most people prefer to do unattended backups, and therefore, set their
backups up to run when they are not around. The most common times to run backups
therefore are:
• Overnight: My personal choice, and the preference of many
other people, is to start a backup before going to sleep, have it
run overnight, and then see the results in the morning. This
makes sense because the PC isn't being used, and a full
backup of a loaded system, including time to
perform verification, can take several hours.
• During the Day: If you work during the day you can set up
your home machine to perform backups while you are at the
office. This is really not much different in concept from the
overnight backup; both use slack time where the PC isn't being
actively used, to perform backups. I don't do this myself
because I run routine maintenance on my PC during the day.
Warning: I only recommend backup overnight or while away from home for
backup systems that are established and known to work well. Do not attempt
your first backup on a new drive overnight, because if there is some problem, you
won't find out about it until 8+ hours later. A misconfigured or defective tape drive
can sometimes "shoeshine", meaning it constantly runs the tape back and forth over
the surface of the tape head. This can be very damaging if allowed to continue for
hours at a time!
Most backup software can be set to run at a specific time and day of week as well, if
this is convenient for you. Remember to watch out for interference from other
software.
Backup Software
An important part of the backup puzzle is using the right software. The difference
between good and mediocre backup software can be the difference between backups
that are reliable and easy to use and ones that are not. The difference between
mediocre software and bad software can be the difference between backups that
restore properly when you need them to, and those that leave you high and dry!
This is a hardware site and I am getting pretty far afield with this long look at backup
as it is, so I am not going to try to get into too many specifics on backup software
(which I could write quite a lot about). You have to carefully compare the different
packages out there and get one that meets your needs, much as with any other piece of
software. The various features of backup software can be confusing however, so I will
list below the types of capabilities you will want to look for in backup software, to
help you make a good choice when you look for a package.
Beware that here, as in many other places, you sometimes only get what you pay for.
Many backup devices ship with basic backup software, provided as a courtesy by the
hardware manufacturer. In many cases these are functional but stripped-down
versions of commercial packages. They will usually work, but may not be nearly as
full-featured as a package you would buy at the store. The best thing to do is to try
any software that comes with your device; if it meets your needs then you don't need
to buy anything else.
The following are abilities or features that you may want to consider carefully when
looking at PC backup software (not listed in any particular order):
• Wide Device Support: Backup software varies significantly in
its ability to support backup devices. Generally speaking, it is
more difficult to find software support for newer devices than
well-established ones. Some software companies will make
software updates available for their users to provide expanded
support as new drives hit the market; others will not. Do
remember that while support for more devices gives you more
flexibility, ultimately the only device you really need support
for is the one that you are actually using.
• Operating System Support: The software should support all
of the features and requirements of the operating system
under which it runs. This means, for example, that Windows 95
software should have full support for long filenames, backup of
the Windows 95 Registry, and backup of FAT32 partitions.
• Backup Type Selection: All good backup software will let you
choose between doing full, selective and incremental backups.
Better ones will let you select files and directories based on
search strings or patterns.
• Media Spanning: The software should provide proper support
for backing up to multiple pieces of media in a media set. So if
you did a backup to Zip disks and the data took up 250 MB, the
system should prompt you when it is time to switch disks, etc.
Strangely, some poor backup software has problems with this.
• Disaster Recovery: A very important feature, and one that is
often found only on more expensive products (as opposed to
the freebies that come with many tape drives) is support
for automatic disaster recovery. With this type of software,
sometimes called one-step recovery or single-step restore or
similar, a floppy disk is created with a special recovery
program that will let you restore your system simply. Without
this feature, you often have to reinstall the entire operating
system before you do a restore, which can cost a lot of time
and cause a lot of problems.
• Scheduling and Automatic Operation: Depending on how
and when you do your backups, it can be very helpful to have
the software run automatically at a preset time. Most of
today's software will support this.
• Backup Verification: Every decent backup package will allow
you to enable a verification mode. When active, the software
will read back from the tape every file that it backs up and
compare it to the file on the hard disk, to ensure that the
backup is correct. This is important to ensure that your
backups are viable.
• Compression: Good backup software will give you the option
of enabling software compression, possibly at various levels, to
enable you to save space on your backup media.
• Media Append and Overwrite: You should be able to set the
software so that you can control easily what happens when the
software starts a backup of a tape that already contains a
backup set. You should be able to tell the software to always
append to the tape, always overwrite it, or prompt you each
time to let you select.
• Tape Tools: If you are using a tape backup unit, the backup
software will allow you to do things like formatting, rewinding,
retensioning or viewing the catalog on your tape. The tape
drive may come with software that does this for your particular
model; it's much easier if the backup software supports these
tools also, however.
• Security: Better software packages will let you password-
protect a backup set so that the password is required to view
or restore from the backup image. (Be very careful before
using something like this, you don't want to lose that
password!)
• Backup Configuration Profiles: You may want to do
different types of backups at different times. For example, you
might have a bunch of compressed ZIP files on one drive and
want them to be backed up with tape compression off (since it
won't do anything anyway) while your regular files on another
drive are backed up with compression. Good software will let
you store different profiles for different types of backups to
save you from having to change things every time.
• General Quality Issues: You should find out about the
general nature of the software. Does it work well? Is it buggy?
Are people having problems with it? What is the warranty?
What is the upgrade policy of the manufacturer? USEnet can
often be of assistance here.
Software Conflicts
When performing backups in a multitasking operating system, it is necessary to be
wary of possible conflicts between the backup software and any other software that
may be running simultaneously. Any programs that are running in the background that
might write to files or directories on the disk can confuse the backup software,
especially when it goes to verify the files it has backed up, because it may find
different files in some directories at the end of the backup compared to what was there
at the beginning.
Another problem is with files that are locked due to another program having exclusive
access to the file. To prevent more than one application from changing a document at
the same time, many applications will lock them out so no other application can use
them. This can cause the backup software to be unable to back up these files.
If you are doing backups from a single-tasking operating system like DOS, you don't
generally have this concern (because you don't have multiple programs running
simultaneously). However, watch out for TSR (terminate and stay-resident) programs
that might be in memory at the same time as your backup software. If you schedule
backups to run at a pre-set time while you are away, you may have a more difficult
time of ensuring that nothing else is running at the time the backup starts.
The solution to avoiding these problems is, in most cases, to simply turn off other
software when you are doing a backup. This is what I do. I close all applications
before I begin a backup, and make sure there is nothing running in the background (I
use Windows 95). I also disable my screen saver, to ensure that it doesn't cause
interference (this can be done by going to the Control Panel, selecting "Display" and
then "Screen Saver"). Another advantage to doing this is that I ensure that the backup
software gets as much of the processor's attention as it needs.
Data Verification
After you have backed up your data to tape, you can feel confident that you have a
copy of your data that you can use in the event that anything happens to your PC. Or
can you? If you're paranoid like me you might want an additional level of security to
help you feel safe. This is easy to do, by using backup software that includes the
ability to perform data verification, and enabling the feature.
The idea behind verification is simple: after the files are backed up, the backup
software reads back the information from the backup media and compares it back to
the original files. This ensures that the backup just made is readable, and that the files
match what was just copied. I recommend that data verification be used, as it is a
simple way of feeling more sure that your backups are working correctly. The only
disadvantage is that it lengthens the amount of time that it takes to perform the
backup, but if you are backing up overnight or while away from the PC, this will have
no effect on you anyway.
There are two different levels of verification that you will sometimes find, depending
on the software you are using. The most secure level of verification is full verification,
where each and every file that is backed up is also verified by reading back from the
backup medium. A lesser type of verification is sampling verification. Here, instead of
verifying everything that was backed up, a sample of what was backed up is read back
and verified. This makes the verification take much less time, but of course doesn't do
nearly as good a job. Usually full verification is easier to find on most software than
sampling.
The ultimate in backup verification is doing a test restore, but this takes both time and
some spare hardware. If you have an extra hard disk or PC, you can take your backup
set and try to restore the backup to this machine. If it works properly, you can feel
confident that your backup will probably protect you when you need it.
Backup Compression
Most backup systems support some type of compression. The idea behind
compression is simple: to save space and allow the backup of more data onto a given
media set. Most software supports compression, and in fact many backup devices
even quote their capacity on the assumption that compression will be used during
backup.
Normally there is nothing wrong with using compression, and in fact I use it myself in
many cases. You do need to bear in mind a few things, however:
• Compressability: Not all files will compress equally well, as
explained in this section on hard disk compression. If you are
backing up a large number of files that are already in a
compressed format, it may make sense to turn off
compression, since it isn't going to do much for you anyway.
• Proprietary Formats: Each software program (or in many
cases, family of software programs made by the same
company) will use its own compression algorithm. This means
that the tape written by one program may not be readable by a
different software package. This is not normally a problem
since most people only use one package on one PC, but it is
something to bear in mind. The backup formats themselves are
reasonably universal if compression is not used.
• Processing Power Requirements: In order to write some
types of backup devices, especially tape drives, it is necessary
for the software to provide to the device a steady stream of
data. This is because tape can only be written to when it is
streaming at constant speed. Compression algorithms take
time to run and can sometimes interfere with this steady flow
of data, causing problems like shoe-shining (where the tape
has to repeatedly back up and restart sections of the backup).
Compression should be turned off in most cases if doing the
backup on a slower PC or if it is suspected that compression
overhead is causing problems.
• Exaggerated Compression Ratios: Watch out for overly-
optimistic estimated compression ratios. Many tape
manufacturers like to claim that their 1.6 GB tapes for example
will hold 3.2 GB "with compression". In practice, I rarely if ever
see any full disk volumes (as opposed to collections of certain
types of files) that will compress at a 2:1 ratio.
Media Storage
Your data backups are exactly as safe as the physical media that contains
them. If you do a tape backup and then leave the tape lying on top of the PC
box, then you are partially defeating the purpose of doing backups. You will
give back the protection that tape offers against risks like theft, disaster or
sabotage.
Backup media should be stored in a safe place, away from the PC. In fact,
the word safe is appropriate, since a locked safe is the best storage
container for backup media. The use of a safe allows the media to be
secured from prying eyes and fingers while remaining in the same general
vicinity as the PC. A fireproof safe is an even better idea, for obvious
reasons. Just make sure you don't lose the combination. :^)
Depending on the type of backup media you are using, you want to make
sure that the storage environment is appropriate. For magnetic media such
as tapes and disks, you want to ensure that the storage area offers
protection from the hazards that threaten them, including temperature,
moisture, dirt, magnetic fields and the like. A plastic box on a sunny window
sill is definitely not a good idea.
Boot Disks
A very important, but separate, part of your backup strategy should be the creation
and maintenance of boot disks. These disks are used in the event of an emergency
with your system (they are in fact sometimes called emergency boot disks). They are
designed to enable you to quickly and easily correct large-scale software and
operating system problems with your PC, and to allow you to reconfigure or update
your system without being totally dependent on the contents of your hard disk.
This section discusses boot disks and how they work, and provides details on how to
make and use them effectively.
Importance of Boot Disks
You rely on your hard disk to boot your PC each day, but what would happen if
something happened to your hard disk to make it unbootable? There are many
different situations that can cause this to happen, ranging from hardware failure to
erroneous operating system upgrades to virus infections. In addition to a backup of
your data and programs, you need a backup of your bootable operating system so you
can start the PC even when something happens to your hard disk. This is what
emergency boot disks are for.
Typically, a boot disk will be used in the following situations:
• Booting the System: In the event that your hard disk fails
and is unable to boot, you can use your boot disks to start up
the system. This will allow you the opportunity to troubleshoot
and hopefully correct the problem with the hard disk.
Sometimes a hard disk will be accessible after booting from a
floppy disk, even if the hard disk itself will not boot. Without a
boot disk, you are dead in the water since you will be unable to
even start up the system at all.
• Disaster Recovery: Ideally, the restore software for your
backup media should be on an emergency boot disk. This will
enable you to recover from a hard disk disaster and restore
your system from your last backup media set(s).
• Virus Detection and Disinfection: Many viruses, especially
boot sector infectors, will automatically load into memory
every time the hard disk is used to boot the PC. Once in
memory they will interfere with attempts to remove them from
the system. To avoid this, a virus disinfection session should
always be done after a boot from a floppy disk that is known to
be clean and functional.
• Hard Disk Upgrade or Installation: A new hard disk
normally comes unformatted with no operating system on it,
and therefore cannot be used to boot the system. The normal
way to get the operating system onto the disk is to use a boot
floppy to start up the system and then transfer the operating
system files to the hard disk.
I strongly recommend that every PC owner have a set of boot disks for their system,
for use in any of the above circumstances.
Boot Disk Contents
Depending on how you use your system, you may have one or several boot disks. The
main reason for this is that programs are getting larger and larger, and it can be
difficult to get all of the contents that you need onto one disk. In addition, many
programs such as the Norton Utilities or backup software with disaster recovery, will
volunteer to create their own boot disks, sometimes called "emergency disks" or
"rescue disks". These will normally use separate physical disks, and sometimes
duplicate some of the information that is on your "homemade" disks. There is nothing
wrong with this at all, as long as you don't end up with a ridiculous quantity of boot
disks.
Regardless of how many disks you have, you should always have duplicates of every
one in the set. The simple fact is that floppy disks have a high rate of failure, and you
do not want to get a "Sector not found reading drive A:" error as you attempt to reboot
to recover from some disaster.
If you have multiple boot disks, it isn't really necessary for every one of them to be
bootable. ("Huh?") What I mean is that if you only have one boot disk that holds all
the files you need, you must ensure that it contains the operating system files that will
let you boot the system. If your boot disk set includes several disks holding items such
as your antivirus software or other files, they don't all need to be bootable as long as
you have at least two disks that will let you boot the system.
Remember that especially with the operating system and system utilities files, you
need to put on the disk the programs that are appropriate to whatever operating system
you are using. Putting a copy of DOS 6.22's FORMAT.COM on a Windows 95 boot
disk is pointless, because it will not run if the system is booted by that disk (which is
DOS 7.x).
Here are some of the items that I think it is important for you to consider putting on
your set of boot disks:
• Operating System: The boot disk (at least some of them)
must be capable of booting the computer, of course. This
means creating a boot disk that contains whatever files your
operating system needs to boot up; see this section for more
on creating the boot disk itself.
• System Configuration Files: Assuming you are using DOS or
a DOS-based operating system like Windows, it's a good idea
to include your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files on the
boot disk. You may want to rename them however, so that
they aren't automatically used by the floppy disk when it boots
(since these files will contain lines referring to items on your
hard disk that may not work when booting from a floppy).
• Hard Disk Partitioning and Format Utilities: You definitely
need utilities on the boot disk that will allow you to partition
and format your hard disk if you need to. This means, at a very
minimum, including the programs FDISK.EXE, FORMAT.COM
and SYS.COM on the disk. Make sure you use the versions
corresponding to the operating system you put on the disk, or
the programs will give an "Incorrect DOS version" error and will
not run. If you have a copy of Partition Magic or a similar
partitioning utility, creating a floppy disk with this utility on it
can be very useful; follow the directions that come with the
software to create one.
• CD-ROM Driver and MSCDEX: In order to allow the
installation of CD-ROM-based operating systems, you must be
able to access your CD-ROM drive. This requires two pieces of
software: a CD-ROM driver and the file system extension
MSCDEX.EXE that comes with the operating system you are
using. Make sure both are included and that the driver is
loaded in the CONFIG.SYS system file and MSCDEX.EXE in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT system file.
• Diagnostic Utilities: If you have diagnostic utility software on
your PC, including a copy on a disk can be very useful for
troubleshooting problems with your system. At a very
minimum, include SCANDISK.EXE so you can scan for file
system problems if need be, and MSD.EXE (Microsoft
Diagnostics) so you can check your system setup, installed
disks, ports and channels.
• Restore Software: If you are using backup software that
comes with disaster recovery capabilities, the application
should create or allow you to create a floppy disk that contains
the program that will restore your system from backup. Make
sure that you create this disk and include it as part of your
boot disk set.
• Image Information: Image information created from your
hard disk file system should be stored on a floppy disk to allow
you to recover from disk problems.
• Antivirus Software: Good antivirus products will include a
floppy-disk-based version of their software, which will allow
you to boot and run the antivirus scanner directly from the
floppy disk. This is very useful since it will allow you to bypass
any viruses on the hard disk. It isn't always possible to do this
with all antivirus software, however, so you may have to boot
from a clean floppy disk and then run the scanner from the
hard disk (which should still work in most cases but isn't nearly
as good.)
• Editor: Many people don't think of this, but including a simple
editor on the disk like DOS's EDIT.COM will allow you to make
quick changes to configuration files if you need them, which
can be a real life-saver.
• Miscellaneous File Utilities: Any other file utilities you may
have that you find useful should definitely be considered. For
example, a simple file-transfer program can be helpful in
setting up a new PC. I sometimes like to have DEFRAG.EXE on
a boot disk, and MEM.EXE is helpful in diagnosing memory
usage on a new or just-upgraded system. PKUNZIP.EXE comes
in handy for dealing with ZIP files, of course. And DOSKEY.COM
is a helpful addition as well to any boot disk, as it will save you
a lot of typing by letting you recall and reuse previously-typed
commands.
If you are using something like Norton Utilities or similar, a good antivirus product,
and a backup program with disaster recovery, you may find that you will end up with
several different emergency boot disks or "rescue disks". Again, there is nothing
wrong with this at all, since floppies are pretty cheap. The only possible disadvantage
is that you will spend more time keeping them all up to date.
Warning: One final word: if you are using a dynamic disk overlay product like
Disk Manager to allow you access to larger hard disks on a system without
proper native BIOS support, you must ensure that you have a boot disk that contains
the drive overlay software as well. Otherwise, if you boot using a regular boot disk,
you will not be able to access your hard disk. This is very important! Usually the disk
manager program itself will come with a utility or menu item to create a boot disk that
includes the overlay software.
Creating Boot Disks
Creating a boot disk is really a very simple affair, although it depends to some extent
on what operating system you are using and what you want to put on the disk. Bear in
mind that many utilities and backup applications will in fact create their own boot
disks for you. This can be a real time saver, although you often will find other things
that you want on your emergency disks that the software decided not to include. See
this procedure for step-by-step instructions on creating boot disks.
Updating Boot Disks
Since the boot disks that you create as backup for your system contain key
information about your PC, you need to update them whenever your system changes.
For most people, this is not very often. In fact, you probably only need to recreate
your boot disk on an annual basis, when you perform other maintenance tasks that
need to be done once per year.
In addition, you will want to update your boot disks immediately if you make major
changes to your system, such as installing a new operating system. Not keeping your
boot disks up to date can leave you stranded at a time when you really need them.