Time to Play Librarian
Before You Back Up,
You Need to Catalog
What's on Your Computer
August 11, 2006
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Two weeks ago, I wrote about the first line of defense when backing up your files: the disk image ("Your Image Is Everything," July 28). I'd recommend you start with that if you're looking for a thorough regimen to protect yourself against data loss; it's the quickest way to recover from something bad happening to your computer, whether it disappears, combusts or just dies of old age. But making a disk image has its limitations: It's not really practical if you're on the road, and more importantly, in this multimedia age, it may not capture all the files you have spread across lots of different hard drives, disks and computers. That's why you need to think about what kind of files you have, and how much you need them.
After polling a range of people in and outside the technology business, I reckon the best way of tackling this comes from Sydney Low, who runs a spam-and virus-free email service out of Australia called AlienCamel.com. "There are essentially three types of files on your computer," says Mr. Low. The first are Files That Make Your Computer What It Is -- operating system files such as those that make your printer work, and programs like Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat. Without the operating system, your computer won't run. Secondly, there are the Bread and Butter Files: working documents that you interact with on a daily basis, alter, edit and add to. These are vital, living organisms, and need special attention because you might not just need one version, but several (if you ruin one revision and need to rewind to an earlier one, for example). Finally, you have Heirlooms: music files, photos, videos and so on that are captured once and then never changed. (Of course, you may want to edit them, but you never want to lose the original.)
Let's take the first type. In most cases, you're not going to be too bothered by these files. The most likely cause for ruining your operating system and program files is a virus or an act of God. In which case, if you're creating a disk image every few days (or even weeks) then the easiest route back to sanity is to restore your whole hard drive. Or, if the worst comes to the worst, you can reinstall the applications using the original disks. The only potential hiccups here are that if you do need to reinstall, you've got to make sure you have the program disks or, if you downloaded the software from the Internet, access to those programs, as well as the serial numbers and any preferred settings and passwords you need to make them run the way you want to. There's no easy way to avoid this hassle, but it pays to keep A) a copy of all downloaded software on a disk separate from the place where these programs are installed, B) the original CDs of any software you bought that way, and C) a list of all the programs you commonly use and their serial numbers -- in a place that isn't your main hard drive. Backing up, you see, isn't just about backing up the files you have, but also the files and information you may need.
That brings us onto the second category: the Bread and Butter. If you've seen anyone trying to calculate in their head all the vital documents they've just lost to a crash, you'll know how painful it is to lose your Bread and Butter Files. The easiest way to define a Bread and Butter File is: Do I use the file regularly, or am I likely to need to use it again? Here, again, a list is a good place to start. First, there are the types of files you use a lot -- Word files, spreadsheets, presentations. Then there are the programs you use where the data is lumped together in one big file: Microsoft Outlook, and its PST files -- the ones that contain all your Outlook data -- spring to mind. Those files usually contain contacts, calendar items and emails all in one place, so losing one could be catastrophic. This could be a long, long list, but the most important thing is that it's exhaustive. You don't want to find you've backed everything up except the presentation that your boss needs you to revise for the annual general meeting.
The revision bit is important, too. Often it isn't just about retrieving a file, but retrieving a version of a file. Things happen, from deleting a vital paragraph to your boss suddenly preferring an older version of a document that you thought she'd long lost enthusiasm for. Backing up your Bread and Butter Files has to anticipate this by saving multiple versions of files, so that you can, if necessary, retrieve a long-forgotten and now-priceless version of a file.
Having made the list of documents that fall into this category, you then need to figure out where they are. This isn't as easy as it sounds. Keeping your files in some sort of order is never easy, and has gotten less so with the advent of desktop search, which effectively allows you to be lazy because you can find stuff just by tapping a few keywords into something like Google Desktop Search. I'm a strict disciplinarian when it comes to keeping files in orderly folders, and I spend a few hours a month keeping those folders in order. Beyond my clear lack of a social life, there's a good reason for this: Backing up. If you keep your files in a limited and logical set of folders, it makes backing them up much easier. For one thing, you're more likely to follow a system of naming that makes sense and avoids duplication and confusion; for another, copying one folder with lots of subfolders is a lot easier than moving lots of individual folders.
Selecting Mr. Low's third category of files -- Heirlooms -- follows similar rules, although it's somewhat easier. Whether it's MP3 files, videos or photos, it pays to keep them in some sort of folder hierarchy. Pictures, in particular, can quickly get out of hand and there's a danger, if you don't keep them in well-labeled folders, that you overwrite older pictures because your digital camera has assigned the same file name to different sets of snaps. Music files can quickly get messy for different reasons: Different software programs and music Web sites may assign different systems of naming song files, so that you end up with lots of copies of the same song, often for no apparent reason.
But, as with Bread and Butter Files, there's no point in starting a backup regimen until you've checked that you know where all these files are. They could be hidden in subfolders in weird places; they could even be burned to a CD or stored on an external drive. The easiest way to reduce this chaos? Launch a search of different file types on your computer via the Search function: Microsoft Windows XP, for example, lets you search for all pictures and photos in one go, and will capture not only the obvious JPG format but photos in lesser-known formats that you might also want to save. Once you've tracked down all the photo files, start putting them in some order.
Then you're ready for the Big Backup -- which you'll have to wait a couple more weeks for.
文件备份前先编目
两周前，我谈到了给你的文件进行备份时的第一步：创建硬盘映像文件（参见7月28日的《用映像文件备份整个硬盘》一文）。我在文中建议，如果你想完全避免数据丢失，就应从创建硬盘映像文件著手。这是在电脑遭遇了最糟糕的情况时你找回电脑中所存储数据的最快捷方式，有了硬盘映像文件，电脑无论是丢失、烧毁还是老化失灵，你都不用怕了。但硬盘映像文件也有其局限性：如果数据丢失时你正在旅途中，它就帮不上忙了；更为重要的是，在当今的多媒体时代，它可能无法将你分散在许多不同硬盘、碟片和电脑中的数据包罗无遗。因此你需要考虑自己都有哪些种类的文件，它们对你的重要性如何。
在调查了一系列业内外的人士之后，我认为解决这一问题的最好方法来自希德尼?劳(Sydney Low)，此人在澳大利亚经营著一个名为AlienCamel.com的网站，向人们提供免受垃圾邮件和病毒邮件困扰的服务。他说：“实际上你的电脑中有三类文件。”第一类是使你的电脑之所以成为电脑的文件──操作系统文件，打印机驱动程序以及微软(Microsoft)的Word软件和奥多比系统公司(Adobe)的Acrobat软件等都属于这类文件。没有操作系统文件，你的电脑就无法运行。第二类是所谓“面包和黄油”文件：它们是你每天都要与之打交道的工作文件，你每天都会修改、编辑、补充它们。这些是时时处于更新中的文件，你需要特别关注它们，因为你需要的可能不仅仅是这种文件的某一版本，而是好几个版本（比如说，如果你某个版本的文件损毁了，你需要以较早时的版本为基础重新恢复它）。第三类是“传家宝”文件：音乐文件、照片、视频这类一经获取永不更改的文件都属于这一类。（当然，你可能会编辑它们，但你永远不想失去原始文件。）
让我们先说说第一类文件。这类文件不会给你造成太大麻烦。最有可能毁掉你电脑中操作系统和应用软件的是电脑病毒和操作失误。如果你每隔几天（或几周）就创建一个硬盘映像文件，那么当这类文件损毁时，使电脑恢复正常的最简便方法就是将硬盘上的数据全部重装一遍。如果最坏的情况出现，你可以用安装盘重新安装应用软件。这方面唯一可能遇到的小麻烦是，如果你真的需要重装应用软件，你应该确保自己有相应的安装盘；如果你选择从互联网上下载相应的程序，你也应该确保自己能够找到这些程序；此外，为了使这些重新安装的程序按照你希望的方式顺利运行，你还需要掌握相应的序列号，个性化设置和密码。虽然没有避免这些小麻烦的简便方式，但做到以下几点还是有有帮助的：A)将这些被下载的软件都在另外一张盘上存一个副本，B)将你所购软件的原装CD盘都另存一个副本，C)将你常用的程序及其序列号列一个清单，注意不要把它存在你常用的硬盘上。你看，所谓备份并不仅仅是将你现有的文件备份，还要给你可能需要的文件和信息做备份。
再来谈谈第二类文件。如果你看到过人们冥思苦想自己在一次意外事故中究竟都丢失了哪些重要文件的样子，你就能体会丢失“面包和黄油”类文件是多么痛苦了。确定这类文件的最简单方式是问自己：我会不断用到这些文件吗？ 我可能会再次用到它吗？还是先来列个单子吧。首先是你经常使用的文件──Word文档、电子数据表、讲话稿等。其次是你使用的那些一个文件中包含有大量数据的程序，如微软的Outlook程序及其“个人文件夹”（其中包含有你全部的Outlook数据）。你的合同、大事记和电子邮件等往往都包含在这类文件中，所以丢失一个这类文件其后果将是灾难性的。这样列出的可能是一个长而又长的单子，但最重要的是要确保这个单子包罗万象。如果你把所有的文件都备份了，却偏偏遗漏了你老板要你修改的那份他准备在年会上发表的讲话，这样的事你想必是不愿意发生吧。
文件的修改稿也很重要。你往往不仅需要重新找回一个文件，还需要找回一个文件的某一版本。当你不小心删除了一个重要段落的时候，当你的老板突然心血来潮想要重新启用一个你认为她早就否决了的文件版本时，麻烦就来了。在对你的“面包和黄油”类文件进行备份时也要预见到这种情况的发生，办法就是将一个文件的多种版本一并备份，这样才能在需要时将某文件一个被遗忘已久但现在却是无价之宝的版本重新找回来。
在列出了这类文件的清单后，你接下来就是要确定它们在哪里。这件事说起来容易做起来难。让你的文件井然有序从来不是件容易的事，硬盘搜索技术的出现使这件事更难了。这项技术实际上使你变懒了，只要在Google Desktop Search等硬盘搜索引擎中敲入几个关键词，你就能在自己的硬盘中找到自己需要的文件。在把文件归入井井有条的文件夹方面我是个自律极严的人，我每个月都要花上几个小时整理文件夹。除了本人社交生活不丰富外，我这样做还有一个重要的理由：备份。如果你能将自己的文件存放在几个数量有限且分门别类清楚的文件夹中，那么将其备份起来就会容易得多。首先，这使你给文件命名时有章可循，这样文件的内容一看名字就可了然于心，从而能在文件备份时避免重复和混淆。其次，给一个包含众多子文件夹的大文件夹备份要比将一个个文件夹单独备份容易得多。
挑选希德尼?劳所说的第三类文件──“传家宝”文件──时可遵循与上面类似的原则，不过具体做起来还要容易一些。无论是MP3文件、视频还是照片，将它们分门别类地保存在不同文件夹中总是有益的。这样做对于迅速找到自己需要的图片尤其有帮助，而如果你不把照片保存在标志清楚的文件夹中，那么你在存入新照片时就有可能把旧照片抹去，因为你的数码相机会自动用同一个文件名来命名不同的照片系列。音乐文件会因如下原因而迅速变得一团糟：不同的软件和音乐网站会有各自不同的音乐文件命名体系，所以你最终会发现同一首歌被自己用不同的名称在电脑中存了多次。
像“面包和黄油”类文件一样，给“传家宝”文件做备份的前提也是要知道这些文件都存在哪里。它们可能隐藏在不知哪个鬼地方的某个子文件夹里，它们还有可能已被刻进了CD盘或被放入了某个外挂存储盘里。避免这类混乱的最简便方式是什么？通过电脑的搜索功能来搜寻你电脑中的不同文件类型：例如微软的Windows XP操作系统就可以使你一次搜索到硬盘中存储的所有照片和图片，不仅JPG格式的照片能被找到，以其他不常见格式存在的照片也能找到。一旦你找到了硬盘中所有的照片文件夹，接下来就应将它们归类整理好。
接著你就要准备进行“清仓大备份”了，这个工作可以间隔更长时间做一次。
Jeremy Wagstaff
