#ULTIMATE BACKUP FOR RECORDS FULL#

What to back up and where to put the filesĪs noted, you can back up only data files or your entire system. If this option is available with the backup method you choose, it can greatly reduce the time it takes to complete the backup process and take up less storage space. An incremental backup only copies files that are new or have been modified since the last backup based on the file history.

#ULTIMATE BACKUP FOR RECORDS FULL#

A full backup will copy all files in designated folders - new, modified or old - every time. But if you use backup software to back up your data, the backup app might use a proprietary format to store the data, which means you must also use the app to restore any of the data.

If you simply copy a file or group of files from your PC to a target device, the files will remain in their native format and can be easily restored through Windows Explorer or with the applications that created them. You don't want to find out that a backup data set isn't restorable when you really need it. Regardless of the backup method you ultimately choose, it's a good idea to test a data restore periodically. Restoring is the process of copying backed-up files back onto your PC. A full system backup allows you to recreate your entire system after a catastrophic loss - but you need special software that can handle that kind of backup.

A system backup goes farther and copies applications, the operating system and related configurations to the target device.

Most of the time, a backup operation involves copying only the files that you have created to the target. The target is where your backed-up files are stored - an external storage device, cloud storage or on the network. The source for a backup operation is the place where you have created and stored your files - it could be a local drive, a cloud service or a network share.

Ultimate backup for records