Ottawa PC News

Volume 34, Number 7 September 2017 ARTICLE by Chris Taylor and Avoiding Disaster in Disaster Recovery – Part 1 Alan German e are both strong advo- is generally in a proprietary format renamed original folder. If the re- cates of backing up our and you need to use the backup pro- covery fails for any reason, you can W computers. And, just like gram to read the image. However, simply rename the folder back to its us, everyone has lots of important how do you verify that your files original name. data on their computers – photos, were backed up correctly and – The first part of testing is to ensure videos, music, financial records, more importantly – that you can you can boot your computer from personal letters and emails, business recover them in the event of a disas- the recovery media. How you do correspondence, and much more, ter? this depends on your specific com- that all should be carefully backed All imaging software includes the puter and will vary from one brand up. The good news is that there are ability to create bootable recovery to another. In some instances, it many ways you can make copies of media, either on an optical disc or a requires you to press a key, such as your important data files. flash drive. It is extremely im- Del, or one of the F (function) keys, However, complete protection goes portant that you create at least one when you first start your computer. beyond just the information we cre- copy of the recovery media – before Typically, this brings up a boot ate and collect. It also extends to you need it! And, it’s also im- menu and allows you to choose the the installation of the operating sys- portant to check that the recovery boot device. In some case, it might tem and programs. Of course, it’s media can read the backup image require you to delve into the UEFI/ possible to reinstall these in the files. BIOS to change the boot order so event of a disaster such as a hard In this article, we will look at a the computer will first try to boot drive failure, a malware infection, number of ways to check that files, from either an optical disc or USB or theft. But, this can be a very time folders, partitions, and even the device before it goes to the hard -consuming process. As a result, we contents of an entire disk can be drive. are big fans of image backups, successfully recovered. So, for our (Continued on page 5) which backup everything on the present purposes, we will assume hard drive – your operating system, that you have installed your disk programs, and data files. imaging software, have run at least However, image backups bring with one backup, and have created re- Inside this issue: them a significant challenge – test- covery media. ing! Restore and verify a single folder Calendar / Coming Up / Raffle 2 If you decide to simply backup im- In preparation for testing, select a Avoiding Disaster in Recovery—Part 1 1, 5 portant data files by copying them folder under your Documents folder to another location, you can easily that contains a number of files. Re- OPCUG Tech Talks—Register now! 3 test the validity of the copies by name the folder (e.g. rename sam- Digital Photography Workshop 4 simply opening the files. With im- ple to sample2). The testing will age backups, things are trickier. A consist of restoring the original OPCUG Free Software Guide—Part 73 6 program that creates a disk image folder from the backup disk image OPCUG Free Software Guide—Part 74 7 produces a single file that contains and comparing the contents with the everything in the backup. This file Contact Information 8 th Next Meeting: W, September 13 , 2017 Page 2 September Raffle The September raffle prize is an Xtreme Audio Pod bluetooth mini round speaker. It features: Built in mic for hands-free call functionality Mini-Compact design with great audio quality Auxiliary input for non-Bluetooth enabled devices Micro SD Slot for playing MP3 files Full audio control through easy to press buttons Rechargeable LI-Ion battery Tickets are $1 for one, $2 for three, or $5 for ten. Coming Up… June Prize Winners th Wednesday, September 13 , 2017 Bob Thomas won our raffle prize Speaker: Chris Taylor, OPCUG President and Microsoft Windows Insider MVP of a Hype i-FX Virtual Reality Topic: Windows 10 – two year out Headset at the June 2017 meeting of the OPCUG. Last September, Chris presented on Windows 10's first year. On the same evening Frank Rubin and Jean Brasseur each took home Windows turned two this summer, so Chris is back to talk about the major changes one of our collectors item "Goup" that have occurred in its second year. As well, Chris will look at some of the future Mugs as door prizes. changes we can expect to see. Thanks to member Bill Palamar who donated an additional door prize of a Pen/laser pointer combo. Beth Handley won that one! For meeting updates and additional details, visit http://opcug.ca and click on the MEETINGS button. 2017 CALENDAR Meetings Date Time and Venue 7:30 p.m. Bush Theatre of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, OPCUG General Meeting Wednesday, September 13th 11 Aviation Parkway. http://casmuseum.techno-science.ca/en/index.php Q&A Session Wednesday, September 13th Immediately following the OPCUG General Meeting. 10:00 p.m. (after the Q&A) at Liam Maguire’s, Beer BOF (Wing SIG East) Wednesday, September 13th St. Laurent Blvd. at Innes Rd. Volume 34, Number 7 Page 3 CLUB LIFE he Ottawa PC Users Group (OPCUG) will hold a series of four “tech talks” during September through December, 2017. Each session will include a brief presentation of some aspect of personal computing, followed by a workshop where a pan- T el of experienced OPCUG members will attempt to provide answers to questions raised by workshop participants. The intention is that the sessions will be particularly useful to computer users ranging from absolute beginners to those with interme- diate skills. This will be your opportunity to find out how to do those things on your computer that have always mystified you! The Tech Talk sessions will be held from 7:30 to 9:00 pm on the second Tuesday of each month, commencing on September 12, 2017, in the Amphitheatre of the Heron Road Community Centre. The Centre is located at 1480 Heron Road, Ottawa, ON, K1V 6A5 (see map at: hps://goo.gl/maps/UPDAepRqUpG2). Register for one or more of these sessions and then send your computer-related questions by electronic mail to [email protected]. We will compile a list of the submissions and discuss the most frequently asked questions in sequence at the workshops. If we don’t have a sufficient number of pre-submitted questions for any given workshop, anyone attending will be free to ask a question. So, bring all your questions, but - it's a workshop - so also bring along your experiences; your input on any of the issues being discussed will be most welcome. The registration fee will be $5.00 per session, with a special price of $10.00 for individuals wishing to reserve a place at all four sessions. The capacity of the Amphitheatre is 75 persons. While we will allow cash payments to be made at the door, these will subject to non-reserved places being available for any given session. Don’t be disappointed! Reserve your place for one or more of the sessions by visiting our tech-talk registration web page at: hps://nyurl.com/opcugtechtalks If you have any questions about the tech-talk series, please contact us at [email protected] Volume 34, Number 7 Page 4 CLUB LIFE Digital Photography Workshop his fall, the club will be offering a Digital Photography Workshop with a variety of technical sessions de- signed to help you take better pictures with your digital camera, and to allow you to efficiently manage all the photographs on your computer. The workshop will be held on Saturday, September 30, 2017 (10:15 am T to 4:45 pm) at the Elmvale Acres branch of the Ottawa Public Library. The first step to taking better photographs is to make use of the specific features that your digital camera provides. Most of us simply set the dial on "Auto" and start shooting. Let us show you a better way! Topics covered will include an understanding of aperture, shutter speed and ISO which can be applied to any camera that has a dial for se- lecting exposure settings (e.g. "A" or "Av", and "S" or "Tv”). Similarly, how do we get those pictures out of our camera, and where are they actually stored on the computer? We will show you how to manage all your photographs, with simple ways to select and view individual images. Most importantly, we will discuss how to safely back up all of your digital photographs to prevent any possible data loss. Do you want to share your photographic masterpieces with family and friends? We can show you how to resize a batch of photographs for sending by E-mail, or how to share your pictures via the "Cloud"! Want to print photographs in many dif- ferent formats - and with special effects – or, perhaps you would like to create a slideshow of pictures from a recent trip. We can demonstrate how to do all of these things - and more! Finally, give your photos a professional look.

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