Backup Files and Storage

 Jan 6 5:06pm

Reply from Keith Mower

TEC101 – Week 3 Discussion Forum 1

Part 1:  Backup Files

TEC 101: Fundamentals of Information Technology & LiteracyLinks to an external site. manual lists this information:  “A computer's memory (RAM) holds data temporarily; when electricity is turned off, all data is lost. A computer's drive stores data even after electricity is turned off. Thus, items like programs, documents, photos, and videos are stored on the drive.

Accessing a drive is slower than accessing memory. Thus, when a CPU runs a program, the CPU first copies the program and other needed data into memory and runs the program from memory. Memory is expensive and thus smaller than drive, so might only fit a part of the program and data.” (Vahid et al., 2019, Chapter 2)

Computers organize and store files on physical memory, such as hard drives (HDD), solid-state drives (SSD), or USB storage devices.  This storage is used mainly for holding programs and files used for running the computer and different programs, as well as the files created with user data. A backup is essentially a copy of the file created and often compressed to save space that can be restored in case of an emergency or messing up a file, such as unintentionally deleting a needed Word file. A good user makes use of a backup schedule to save the working state of the computer.

There are several ways of making a backup. Manual backup is the first that comes to mind and is usually used when something important is in the works, such as a major upgrade of software. Other forms of backup are scheduled, either manually or automatically, based on a time schedule and usually set to act at a time when the computer is not being used.

In the past, I have been the victim of hardware issues that caused all files to be corrupted. This is a very frustrating situation. And usually, I make a sincere effort to be better about making a scheduled backup effort. And I do, for a time, until my storage gets full or heaven forbid the storage dies. It has generally fallen by the wayside within a few months.  At work, we use an automated backup solution, which sounds ideal, except that it is just as much work to keep track of the progress as it is to make the backup.  This system takes a weekly backup and keeps a set of 5 backup links.

There are different ways to make the backup as well. One type is to make a complete backup and then make an incremental backup of files that have changed since the last attempt. Another type is to make a complete backup each time. Another is to make a directed backup, where you set what files to backup – generally used to backup only the document and user files. This is beneficial in saving room and does not require the system files to be kept. The disadvantage to this type is that you must already have a working system with all applications installed to recover these files if they are needed.

Hardware failure is not the only reason for using the backup, there is also viral elements and theft to be considered. This is why the best practice is to have an off-site backup storage area for these backups to be kept in.

 

Part 2: Determine RAM

Random access memory (RAM) is much faster than storage arrays because there are no moving parts.  The computer software reads from the HDD to RAM to speed up usage. Using the Task Manager Performance sub-window, we can see, on a Windows machine, the amount of memory being used and the amount of data that is cached back to physical storage. In this case, my machine is using 6.5GB of the 7.8GB reported, as some of the 8GB RAM is used for video overhead. It is caching 1.3GB back to the hard drive as a medium for quicker access. My laptop has 32GB of RAM and usually has very little problem keeping up with the multiple applications that I use.  Using the RAM is very subjective to the number and size of applications being used at any given time.

At one time, we used to use a RAM cleaner program; as applications run for extended times, they would start leaking memory – or having a memory that could not be used because it was already thought to be in use. I am sure computer software has come a long way since then, but I still wonder about this type of problem. I personally like to restart programs periodically to clear the memory and compress the usage of the applications.

 

References

Vahid, F., Lysecky, S., Wheatland, N., & Siu, R. (2019). TEC 101: Fundamentals of Information Technology & Literacy (February 2019 ed.). zyBook. Retrieved from https://learn.zybooks.com/zybook/TEC101:_Fundamentals_of_Information_Technology_&_Literacy_(TED2450B)