Start the New Year with a clean back-up file

If you have been using an external hard drive and the Shadow Copy feature in Memory Manager it is a good idea to start the new year with a clean backup.  The way a shadow copy works is that every time you close out of Memory Manager it automatically backs up your work.  It does this as an incremental backup - only backs up what you have added, changed, or deleted during that session.  Over time this file becomes very large.  By periodically creating a clean back up you decrease the size of the file.  Here are the steps to take to create a clean backup.  The actual backup process may take some time if you have a lot of pictures so do it when you have time to let the computer run.

1. Open Up Memory Manager

2. Click on Show Me More Details from the Welcome Screen

3. Click Mark Entire Memory Vault for Backup.

4. Now Go to the Media Library and click on the Protect Tab

5. Click on Shadow Copy and be sure this is pointing to your external hard drive.

6. Click on Update Now. This may take a while because it is backing up your whole vault.

7. Congratulations you are done!

If you do not have an external hard drive I would highly recommend you purchase one.  You don't want to lose all your precious photos.  But if you don't have one you need to be backing up to a CD/DVD on a regular basis - at least monthly.  If you need help on how to do this please let me know.

If you want to be extra careful about your pictures you may want to create a backup on CD/DVD now too and store these somewhere outside of your home.  This gives you protection in case of fire or theft.  DVD's will hold a lot more than CD's.  If you click on Show Me More Details from the Welcome Screen in Memory Manager it will tell you the size of your Memory Vault.  From here you can figure out how many CD/DVD's you will need.  Be sure you have enough before you begin the process. 

When you have your CD/DVD's in hand you want to go to the Protect Tab and Choose the arrow under backup and then choose Full Vault backup and follow the steps.  Be sure to label each CD/DVD with the number given.  This is critical if you ever have to restore your Memory Vault. 

As I said this is an extra precaution.  You could also do another backup to a second external hard drive if you find it easier than the CD/DVD method.  Depending on how many pictures you have the external hard drive may actually be cheaper than the CD/DVD method. 

Please contact me if you have any questions.