I just finished having to re-install my operating system after picking up a nasty virus. As you can imagine, and have probably experienced, dealing with this is time consuming, frustrating and if your data is not managed correctly, you can lose a lifetime worth of work.
Luckily I’ve had to do this a couple of times already so I am a seasoned back up pro. Here’s 6 things that I suggest you consider doing, before it’s too late!
What do you do to prevent data loss and virus infection?
1. Back up your personal library
Getting into the habit of doing this every month, new girlfriend, etc is a good habit.
Get all of your prized personal data together – including photos, videos, resume, games and mp3s – and burn to a series of DVDs and put them away in a safe place, out of light and harms way. You should probably also copy the data to at least one other hard drive that is not constantly in transit. This includes your mp3s, personal videos, photos and any other documents that you may not need at the moment, but will as soon as your computer crashes. You may want to run a virus scan on all of the items that you are backing up – just to make sure what you are saving is secure.
2. Back up your project files and sample library regularly
Same as number one but this one is even more important for us producers – keeping a well organized and maintained sample library not only makes it easier to find the sounds you’re looking for while working on music, but makes it much easier to back up and restore, especially by eliminating duplicates of large sized samples.
If you are using a DAW that has a “collect and save” or “export project files” then you need to take full advantage of this and double check that your most important projects are saved with all elements in one place. This may prove to be redundant over time as you will have duplicates, but I’d rather lose some hard drive space to know that all of my files are in order and accessible in the future.
3. Verify that you have installation files for your applications
It’s probably a good idea to make sure that you still have the install CD or USB that contains the software that you use to create. You should probably also make sure you have a text document, or even a sheet of paper with your notations, that contains serial numbers and other registration information needed to activate your wares.
Few things are more frustrating than reinstalling your OS and realizing you lost the serial number to CS5 or Ableton Live!
4. Create a folder or list of applications that you will need to reinstall
Every time I have to reinstall my operating system I have to also reinstall a number of programs and it’s always the same core group. It may be a good idea to just keep a folder or list of these. This list could include utilities such as WinZip, uTorrent, TweetDeck, etc. You may find yourself somewhere without an internet connection, post-reinstall, missing a crucial application. Keeping a folder with all of the install files is smart but beware of outdated software.
5. Create restore points and/or disc image
If you are using a Windows machine, you can easily create restore points. Meaning, instead of having to reinstall your operating system and every other program that you use, you can go to Start > search for System Restore and configure your settings. You can also create an “image” of your computer at it’s current, functioning state that can easily be restored. It’s kind of like having a big Edit > Undo button. But remember – it can’t restore it unless you take the couple of minutes to create the restore point.
If you are using a newer Mac then you already have Time Machine and should use it. In my opinion it’s worth it to get a secondary hard drive and let it sit on your desktop – to use exclusively for Time Machine. In case you don’t already know, Time Machine automatically backs up everything on your Mac and you can simply select a previous point in time to restore to. Simple and slick life saving utility.
6. Virus protection and software updates
This should go without saying but unfortunately I find myself sometimes running my PC without some sort of virus protection. I’ve used everything from Norton to Avira to Avast and the best protection I have found is Malware Antibytes. Make sure you are only running one anti-virus, otherwise your computer will be slow as molasses in Alaska and there will be conflicts and make sure your anti-virus and system utilities are at the most current version.
