Uncracking MySQL Backup and Data Recovery
In the world of computer repair, we come across the issue of data recovery very often. At my shop, at least once a week we find ourselves being asked to “please save all my files”, whether it be pictures, music, documents or whatever. The sad thing is, so many people out there don’t make backups of their information, that by the time they bring it to us there is a lot of work involved in getting to their stuff. I stress the idea to everyone that comes into my shop that they should backup regularly, but no one seems to listen.
When I first started learning about computers back in the late 1980’s, I found that if your computer crashes you can lose all your data. The obvious solution was to pop in a floppy disk and make a copy of everything you are doing. In those days a floppy was more than enough to save your work. With technology advancing by leaps and bounds, we now have the ability to store literally gigabytes worth of information. What I really have trouble understanding is that all computers nowadays come with DVD burning capabilities, and we use this all the time, but it seems that not many people actually use them to save their data. Instead, they will burn music, movies, pictures and whatever else they want for entertainment purposes, but people seem to forget all about the operating system (Windows, Mac OS, Unix…and so on) and the important data they keep on their computer, like work related files or important emails. This article will hopefully change all that.
I am going to lay out a plan of action for those of us who are not accustomed to making backup copies of our work. It’s relatively easy to do, and it can save you a ton of heartache and headaches.
- When you get a new computer, make a complete backup right away. This way if anything ever happens, you can always get your computer back to it’s original state. Many computers do not come with recovery CD’s anymore, but there are utilities that come with your computer that will allow you to make recovery disks. Read your manual for more information on how to do this.
- Once you begin working on the computer you can start planning a backup schedule. I would make a full backup once a week at least. A full backup covers everything you have done for the week so if you crash on a Tuesday, all you need to restore is the last backup you made.
- For a daily solution, you could either do a differential backup, or an incremental backup.
- Differential backup: Backs up only what has changed since the last full backup.
- Incremental backup: Backs up only what has changed since the last backup of any kind.
These are all easy to do, however some take quite a bit of time. Obviously, the full backup is the most time consuming. It copies everything on the drive. There are subtle differences between the differential and incremental backups, though. A differential backup copies everything changed since the last full backup. So, by the end of the week you may notice it takes a little more time to do. An incremental backup takes the least amount of time because it only backs up what has changed since the last incremental backup (or since the last backup of any kind). So if you backup daily, you will have very little to copy each day.
I cannot stress the importance of this enough because on a weekly basis we get at least 3 people who have damaged computers and they plead with us to save their data. It’s a lot easier for us, and less expensive for you if you are prepared for this situation by making regular backups. The price difference alone should be a deciding factor, since at $65 per hour the cost can grow very quickly. Recovering lost data can take a lot of time and is very difficult to do.
So, for your own protection make a backup schedule and stick to it.
Mike Nealon
“The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action.” ~~Lee Jun Fan (Bruce Lee)