Data, Restore, Recovery and Backup
Controlling and managing data takes manual effort and time. Making regular or real-time backups may be essential to save your data correctly.
Losing data is a negative experience and recovering data is not much more enjoyable. So take good advice and take a helpful hint to make copies!
At times, making backups can get messy if you are not organised, particularly when dealing with large volumes of data.
If you are in the situation where your computer, tablet or smartphone will not start up correctly, staying focused on taking the correct recovery steps in a systematic order to find and get back your documents and photos could be crucial to getting your stuff back.
Notebook computers usually fall into 3 categories of system restore or recovery:
No built-in system restore or recovery availability unless you buy the Operating System Disk or download, such as Microsoft Windows or Apple Macintosh OS and install it from a DVD disc or purchased Digital download in the form of an installer.
For a long time, many notebooks have contained 1 (one) HD or SSD partitioned (split into two or more sections), which is usually the main drive where the OS and data are installed, split into virtual partition drives, labelled as C Drive and D Drive, whereby the second drive (2nd drive), D Drive is where the System Recovery Image is stored or is used for storage space by the user.
To activate or launch System Recovery, press the Function Key(s) or other keys and follow the offline (hard copy printed in the computer manual) or online instructions for your Brand and Model of notebook computer, supplied by the manufacturer. For example, if you own a HP notebook, you can search www.hp.com to search for your model of notebook and use a keyword search for 'system recovery' or 'system restore' on their website.
Some modern notebooks, such as Lenovo notebook computers (www.lenovo.com), have a System Reset button inside a small pinhole. On older models, it is located under the laptop (at the base), with the text written next to it, 'Reset.' On newer models, the reset button and hole is next to the Power button on top of the notebook.
Turn off the notebook with the power plug still connected and electricity flowing to the computer. Insert a paperclip, pin or other thin object, then Menu Options will appear. Select 'Troubleshoot,' then 'Reset This PC.'
If that does not work, select 'Advanced Options,' then select ‘Reset This PC.'
*[CAUTION]: REMEMBER, THAT THIS WILL ERASE ALL OF YOUR FILES (DOCUMENTS, PICTURES, MUSIC AND VIDEOS), SO BEFORE DOING SO, YOU SHOULD CONSIDER BACKING UP YOUR FOLDERS AND FILES TO A SPARE DRIVE OR DISC. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO THIS, TAKE IT TO A COMPUTER REPAIR SHOP AND THEY CAN DO IT THERE FOR YOU, BEFORE USING THE SYSTEM RESET BUTTON, TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL OF YOUR DATA.
Data
Data is something everyone uses in a digital environment. We create it, move it, copy it, paste it, delete it, erase it, remove it and basically move it around all day and night. Every time we are on a computer or technology device and using it, we are working with data.
Restore
System restore’s are a common task that owners should know how to use - particularly Microsoft Windows, which is prone to malware attacks more than other software such as Apple’s iOS, Android and probably the safest are Linux OS’s.
Making a snapshot or disk image is a smart idea, to keep a carbon copy of your machine and be able to restore it from a .iso file format and continue working. Sure there may be some data loss, but if you backed your data up often, you should be okay, with only a few documents that were not updated.
Typically, System Restore’s restore your computer from an earlier backup time.
Recovery
System recoveries are usually a complete reset for the whole drive – that is, the hard drive (HDD or SSD) are formatted and a system image (.iso file) written to the selected HDD or SSD.
Backup
A backup is usually a daily or weekly task involving copying (or backing up) your documents, pictures, music and videos to a local storage device/location or network (such as a server or in the cloud [cloud computing]) and make copies that can be recovered in case of local data loss.
You can manually do a backup by: selecting the file or folder to copy, then move to the destination where you want to replace the other file or folder, right-click the mouse, touchpad or screen and then select ‘replace or replace all.’ Replace, will only replace one (1) file or folder, whereas the replace all function will replace everything.