System information

Chapter 4: Backing Up and Restoring System Software

Planning a Backup

Strategy

Data is sometimes lost when a user accidentally deletes

or overwrites a file, or misuses a command. Also, a

power failure or hard disk crash can result in lost or

corrupted data. Data can be restored if you use effective

backup procedures.

One of the most important responsibilities of the system

administrator is to implement an effective backup

strategy. The backup strategy you use to protect from

data loss depends on a number of variables:

■ How frequently is the system used?

■ How often does the data change?

■ How critical is it that files can be restored

quickly?

One typical three-tiered backup strategy follows:

1 Make a new set of boot Recovery Diskettes for

booting your system periodically, as magnetic

media can deteriorate. Also, create a new set

every time you:

■ install new software or update existing software or

operating system.

■ add or remove users.

■ change logical volumes in any way.

■ change the Windows Administrator password.

For instructions, see Creating Boot Recovery

Diskettes on page 4-6.

2 Create a full system backup once each week.

NOTE

You can recover individual files from a full or

partial backup tape.

For instructions, see Making a Full Backup Tape on

page 4-9.

3 Create an incremental backup once each day.

Incremental backups are faster to create than full

backups, and they require less backup media.

However, recovering a system may require several

backup tapes: the full backup, in addition to multiple

incremental backups.