How to Setup your Laptop/PC to Save Important Information Even After a System Crash!

Posted by Abbas ||

October 29, 2008 ||

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Save Data after a System Crash Recently my system crashed and I did lose some data. I was lucky to setup my laptop up in a way that I don’t lose much data in case of system crash.

But when it actually happened I realized I actually lost some data that was important to me. So, since the last crash, I am making sure I don’t lose ANY of my important information, not a single file!

It’s not rocket science its simple. Using few “Free” software’s to make it happen.

Ok, here is how you do it…

Step 1: Hard disk should be partitioned, Primary(C:) and Logical (D:). Makes sure partition/drive D: has more storage space then drive C:. Why? Because most of the information we save will be saved on the D: drive.

Step 2: Change the storage path of “My Documents” folder to save all the “My Document” files on D: drive.

Step 3: Sync important directories with directories on D: drive. I’ve synchronized “Desktop” and my Firefox profile directory.

The basic idea is to save everything on the second drive so that even if the system crashes you can just re-install the OS and it wouldn’t affect drive D: at all.

The reason why we are changing the path of just “My Documents” and not other important files, like Desktop or Firefox profile path is because that could affect the performance of the applications.

Now here are a few more details.

Step 1: Creating partitions is important part of the solution. If partitions are not already created you can use utilities like Partition Magic (Paid) or EASEUS Partition Manager (Free) to create new partitions.

Though this software is easy to use and creating partition is a fairly simple procedure be careful and know what you are doing when using this software. You could lose your data if things go wrong.

Like I mentioned earlier, space on drive D: should be more than C:. I’d suggest 40% – 60%, for example if the total storage is 100GB’s then drive C: gets 40GB and D: gets 60GB.

Step 2: Follow the steps below to change the path of My Documents directory to save everything on D: drive.

Right click on “My Documents” directory and click on “Properties”

Click on “Move”, create a new directory on your D: drive and Click “Ok”

Going forward save everything in the My Documents directory which will save everything on D: drive so that it safe.

Step 3: Sync all the directories that are placed on drive C: and hold important information. I synchronized “Desktop” and “Mozilla” directory with the directories on drive D:

Follow the steps below to setup a sync for “Mozilla” directory so that even if your computer crashes, you don’t lose your Firefox settings, extensions, passwords, etc..

Before you start click on the following link to download an open source based Sync software called DirSync Pro.

Click here to visit the DirSync Pro site and download it. (http://directorysync.sourceforge.net/)

First create a directory called “Mozilla Backup” on drive D:
Now launch the DirSync Pro software and setup the sync settings under “Dir Settings” tab.
Setup one way sync from A to B, A being the original Mozilla directory found here (C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla) and B being the backup directory.

Once you set the sync up, just run the DirSync Pro software once every week so that updated information is synchronized.

That’s all, now even if your computer crashes due to virus or some screw up it will not affect the D: drive. Hope this will minimize the troubles that come with a system crash.