Backup & Recovery – Do one so you won’t need the other

A lovely artistic couple recently asked why the size of the backup file is so much smaller than the size of all the stuff in the machine. They logically surmised that much of it is compressed. But it’s a little trickier than that.

There are program files and data files, and “backup” means different things for each. Their natures also determine how you can move these files around your machine.

Program files Install; I think of them as plants, their roots sinking into the operating system and going every which way. They cannot be deleted; cut off the top and the root system remains; you must gently pull them out  by uninstalling.  Data files are more like the decorative stones here. They can easily be picked up, moved – as can the data files for documents, music, spreadsheets, photos.

And that takes us right back to the differing size of all computer files versus backup files – Backup files contain data and program settings but not the programs themselves.

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