I was about to say the same thing, lol.
Back up --> Confirm --> Restore.
Also, sit down with a little pad and paper. Yes, paper.
Look at your computer and write down everything you could afford to lose. Can you afford to lose your billing? Your accounts receivables? When people call in on their EOBs and swear they are all paid up, what are you going to do. Maybe that is just a given, but everytime there is a backup thread, it seems to revolve soley around AC. Yes, mission criticial, but so are a lot of other things that get backed up unless you do a full backup.
But James is right. I can't believe he said the exact same thing. You can't test a backup on your production "main computer." Restore on VM or "sandbox." Personlly, I find using a sandbox computer more the same.
Remember, too, what you do when you set up a computer. Forget the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and let's look at a Vostro. Unfortunately, they pretty much come with the OS on it. I won't buy any computer that the manufacturer won't give me the complete install disk. Not a retore disk. The install disk. I get to the point of purchase, ask for the install disk, they say, oh no, can't be done. I say see ya. All of a sudden it can be done.
You want to set up your drive or drives with partitions that separate your OS and data. To be sure, this is easy. It really is. It's easier than installing AC. The advantage of this is when you do backups at night while backing up the whole computer has its advantages (bare metal restore), if you have your data, you can always reinstall your OS.
Right James?
