User's Manual

Dell™ Backup and Recovery Manager V1.0 Page 31
12 Why do I need to back up?
Important files can be unexpectedly lost by accidentally erasing or replacing them.
You can also be victimized by a virus or worm attack, or a software or hardware
failure including a complete hard disk failure. While these events may be rare, they
are unpredictable because they can occur anytime and usually at the worst time.
That is why you need to make backups of your files, programs, system settings, etc.
It is strongly recommended that you follow these general guidelines:
 Back up your business and/or personal files daily. Keep your last 5 backups.
 Back up your system weekly and again…
• Before updating drivers, making any system registry changes, or
installing a major service pack.
• After any system security updates and patches are installed
• Before you install any new software (in case the software misbehaves)
• After you install any new software
Keep at least your last 3 system backup images.
 Keep your anti-virus software up to date
 Backup to an external drive or DVDs. External USB drives are reliable,
convenient, commonly available, and a good value.
 Do not backup to the same drive or partition where your operating system
resides in case your drive becomes infected by a virus or damaged.
 Set up regular restore points in Windows.