How to Prepare for and Recover
from a Computer Crash

How well you prepare for a crash will determine how stressful and costly the experience will be.

by Barbara Brabec

IF YOU’VE NEVER HAD a total computer system crash, count yourself lucky, because all the gurus say it's not "IF" your computer is going to crash, but "WHEN." Having had three crashes myself over the years, I can confirm that statement. How well you prepare for this inevitability will determine how stressful and costly the crash experience will be.

When my computer’s operating system was fried one year (curiously during the night of Friday the 13th), I braced myself for the stress that was to follow. My computer was only about three years old and was probably killed accidentally during one of Microsoft's automatic downloads in the middle of the night. The reason given on the "black screen of death" I got the next morning was that perhaps I had temporarily lost my cable Internet connection or the power had failed momentarily during installation of an update or during the reboot. (For that reason, I have now instructed Microsoft to download updates to my computer in the middle of the night, but give me the option of installing them when I choose.)

Not wanting to put any money into a three-year old computer I'd bought refurbished to begin with, I trekked over to Tiger Direct the following Monday to see what my options were. I was VERY happy to learn that I wasn’t going to be stuck with Vista’s operating system, and that I could buy a Hewlett-Packard computer with a free “downgrade” to Windows XP Pro; further that Microsoft would continue to supply critical updates for years to come. (In fact, I was told they are still issuing critical updates for Win 3.1.)

Coming back from a computer crash is going to be stressful, no matter how you carve it. But if you have prepared for a crash by taking steps to insure that you have everything you need to get back up and running as quickly as possible, your stress will be manageable. Then, your primary concern will be the time it's going to take you to shop for a new computer (if necessary) or reformat the drive and begin all over again to reinstall the software programs you normally use, plus all the time it will take to download the latest updates to the operating system, browsers, software, etc. If you use Outlook as your email server, you will need a current .PST backup file containing all your email messages and contacts (see below).

Backing up and Restoring Files

Getting all your documents and files back on the computer again can be easy or difficult, depending on what backup system you use and whether you back up files regularly. The thing that gave me the most comfort when my computer crashed was knowing that all my documents, website files, pictures, music, and programs I had downloaded from the Web but did not have CD-ROMs for were waiting for me on a remote site. For just $59/year, I have total peace of mind that, the minute I complete a new file, or update an old one, it is backed up offsite. If I accidentally delete a file, I can quickly access my account and restore that file to its original location. And if the computer crashes, or blows away in a tornado or burns up in a fire, everything that’s important to me on my computer is protected and can easily be downloaded to another computer with a few key clicks. (For more information on the backup program I use, read my report on Carbonite.)

Outlook is the only fly in the ointment (see below). Knowing how to back up Outlook and actually doing it on a regular basis are two different things. It's easy to "forget" to back up Outlook, even when you've got the automatic backup program in place. I get busy and think I'll do it tomorrow, and before I know it, it has been a week or more since my last backup. I was lucky the last time my computer crashed in that I lost only four days' email messages and whatever changes I had made to my CONTACTS folder in that period. I’m now being very good at backing up Outlook every other day at least, and especially when I’ve got unanswered email messages in the Inbox at the close of day.

Tips for Getting Everything Back Up Again

Before your computer crashes, do these things:

1. MAKE A LIST of all the software programs you have on your computer, which ones you have CDs for, and which ones will have to be downloaded again. And keep all your computer program disks together in a safe place, such as a fireproof file drawer in your office, or in your safe deposit box. (I've been amazed to learn how few computer users actually do this.) If you buy a program that you download and then install from your computer, make SURE you put that .exe file either in a folder that is backed up to a remote location, or on a CD disk to be stored with your other program disks.

Free programs such as Adobe Reader, File Zilla, etc. can always be downloaded from the Web, but you may need a reminder list to remember all that you want to restore. For example, the last time my computer crashed, I had forgotten that I had to download Microsoft’s "backup tool" in order to get the backup option on the FILE button so I could make regular backups of the .PST file. Now that file is in my downloads folder, which is always backed up by Carbonite. (This Web page has the download link to Microsoft's backup tool, along with instructions on how to do regular backups.)

2. EVEN IF YOU HAVE a current .PST (personal folders file) for your Outlook email and contacts list, you will have to manually set up all your email addresses again. This will be easy to do if you go into the settings for each email address you have now, and then copy that information into a document you can print and save. (Be sure to protect your email passwords; you don’t want them in a document on your computer.) If you regularly archive sent messages, you’ll need to figure out how to save this file and restore it too, as it's not included in the .PST file.

3. ALWAYS HAVE A PRINT COPY of all your passwords and contact information for everything related to those passwords. If you keep this information only on the computer and you lose access to your hard drive, you’ll really be up the creek without a paddle.

4. IF THERE ARE SOME DOCUMENT FILES you absolutely must have to keep your business going in the event of a major computer crash, put those files on a CD that can be used on another computer. For example, I'm an Amazon Marketplace seller, and I normally include customized cover letters with outgoing orders. When my computer crashed, I could temporarily access my Amazon orders from a computer at the library, but I couldn't include my usual package inserts because I didn't have a CD backup of those important file folders I could use on my laptop.

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