Backup and Recovery

Paul is looking for software to allow him to backup each version of what he's working on. Leo says that's called "versioning." Windows 7 has versioning, called "Shadow Copy." He can enable it in his settings, inside System Properties Control Panel. He should look for a System Protection Tab, and enable Shadow Copy. It'll copy to a portion to the local hard drive that he can then backup.

There are several third party programs that can also accomplish this:

• Fileback

This is $55, but has a free trial.

Leo advises making a copy of the data and then running the Mac Disc Utility to repair it. Drives can go into read only mode for a variety of reasons, but it can be repaired. If he wants to get a complete copy of the data off of it, then it's just easier at that point to format it (HFS+) and start over. It may also indicate a physical problem with the drive controller. Job one is to get that data off, though!

Paul has taken on the task of repairing his sister's computer, which has had registry errors. He tried reinstalling Windows, but may have messed it up.

Leo suggests backing up the data, wiping the entire drive and then reinstalling Windows. He should watch carefully during the install process, and at one point he'll have a chance to re-partition the drive. He'll want to delete all existing partitions so there's one C drive. Format it NTFS and install Windows on it.

Leo says he doesn't think so. It largely depends on the software, but most restore utilities will read the hard drive he's restoring to and avoid duplicates. It largely depends on the utility that was used.