To determine how important it is for you to back up your files, you can simply ask yourself the following question: “How bad would it be if I turned on my computer tomorrow and all my files were gone?� If the answer is “It wouldn’t be that bad, there’s really nothing important on my computer anyway� then you don’t really need to be backing up. On the other hand if your answer is like mine and you say “I would be dead in the water, and I would probably go out of business� then you need to make sure you are backing up your data to a separate location than the usual one.

In this tutorial I’m going to tell you exactly what you need to do in order to set up a back up for your files. This tutorial applies to the Windows XP operating system. If you have an older version of Windows there are still plenty of options, but those are not covered here.

The first thing you are going to need to do is make sure you have a working USB port on your machine. Test it out by attaching some kind of USB device to the machine. A good item to test with is a portable USB flash drive. If Windows recognizes the device then you are set.

Next you are going to need an external hard drive. This is where your files will be backed up. My favorite external hard drive is the Western Digital Portable 40GB external drive. It’s small, unobtrusive and needs no additional power supply as it gets its power from the USB port. I like to avoid extra cords if I can. Western Digital has been a good name in hard drives for many years. Another nice thing about this drive is there is no software to install. You just plug one cable in and Windows XP recognizes it. You can purchase this drive from Buy.com by clicking on the picture of the item below. If you think you need more than 40 gigs for your backup they make a 100 gig version of the same drive, but 40 gigs should cover most people’s important files.

Before plugging in the new external hard drive go to “My Computer� (Start, My Computer) and take a look at what is under “Hard Disk Drives�. You may see a drive labeled (C or a (D , in any case just take note of the drives you see there. After plugging in your new drive give Windows XP a few seconds to recognize it. You should get a pop up saying something like “Your new hardware is ready to use�. Go back to My Computer and again look at what is under “hard drives�. You should now see a new drive that was not there before. This new drive is the external drive you just plugged in. Take note of its letter (D: or E: etc).

Now that your new drive is hooked up and recognized by Windows XP, it’s time to set up the Windows XP backup utility. If you have Windows XP Professional edition this is already on your computer. You can check to make sure it is there by going to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools and you should see “Backup�. Windows XP Home edition does not ship with the XP Backup Utility. If you follow the above path in Windows and you don’t see the back up utility this means you do not have it. In that case you will need to download it (can be downloaded from my site). Once you have downloaded the file it is fairly simple to install. Just double click on the file and follow the directions.

If it is installed correctly you will see the “Back Up� file when you follow the above path in windows. Click on “Back Up�. The utility starts in Wizard mode by default, so you will probably see a screen that says “Welcome to the Backup Wizard�. Click the Next Button.

The Next screen is called “What to Back Up�, choose the one that says Back up selected files, drives or network data.�

Here you have a screen that looks a lot like Windows Explorer, and you can see a layout of your folders. Most people keep their important documents in the “My Documents� folder, so go ahead and put a check mark by that folder. Put check marks by any other files you think you need to back up. Expand the folders as need be by clicking the check marks by the folders. When you are done click Next.

Now you need to decide where to back up to. Click the “Browse� button. If a window with “please insert a disk into disk A: comes up just hit cancel. Use the drop down menu to find the external hard drive you just plugged in (remember you took note of what drive letter it was) Click on the drive letter. This window will show that there is nothing on the drive, since you just added it. Right click anywhere in the white empty space and left click “New� and then “folder�. Name the folder something like “backup�. Once you’ve created this new folder double click on it to go inside the folder. Once inside click on the “save� button.

Now you should be back at the Backup Wizard again at the window called Backup type, destination and name�. Under “choose a place to save your backup� you should see the name of your new hard drive as well as the folder you created. Click Next.

You are taken to a window that says “Completing the Backup Wizard�. Click “Finish�. Watch it back up. If it went well it says “back up complete�. Click Close. You should now be back at the ‘Welcome to the backup utility advanced mode� screen.

Click the button again for “back up wizard (advanced)�. Click Next, choose “Back up selected files,or network data� again and click next. Again choose the folders you want to back up. Click next.

Again you are at the Backup type, destination and name screen. Under “Type a name for this back up� enter “backupincrement� . Click browse and find your hard drive and the folder you made earlier. When are again inside the folder you made, click in the text field to the right of “File Name�. There is probably something in there that says backup.bkf. Whatever is in there, rename it to “backupincr� or just “increment� if you prefer. Click “save�.

Now you are back at the Backup type, destination and name screen again. Click “Next�. Now you are at the “Completing the Backup Wizard� screen again. This time click the “advanced� button.

Hit the drop down menu and choose “Incremental�. Click Next. Check the box that says “Verify Data after backup�. Click Next. Check the radio button that says “Replace the existing backups�. Click Next. It asks “When do you want to run the back up?� Choose “later�. For the Job Name put in anything you want then click on “Set Schedule�. Choose when you want the back up to run. I would recommend daily at night, say 9 pm. After you choose the schedule, click “Ok� Click “next�.

Choose a password for the backup. This can be anything though I would make it easy to remember; “password� should do fine. Click ‘Finish�.

That’s it. You have set your back up to run on a set schedule. It should run automatically without you having to do anything.

Carlos Cabezas writes regularly about home technology at http://www.HighTechHomes.tv/blog. His business, High Tech Homes, helps work at home professionals, families and small businesses with their technology issues.