Backing up computer software involves making a legal copy of the software or user files. Check the End User License Agreement for terms of use. Burn a copy of the installation disc to a new disc or save user data to a hard drive for future installation. Multiple copies on physical media or external storage on a remote server can provide sufficient backup.
There are a number of ways you can back up your computer software, although generally this involves making a copy of your software or user files related to that software. You can usually back up a program by burning a copy to some type of media disc for your personal use, although this depends on the terms of use for that software. If you can’t legally back up your computer software completely, you may be able to back up user data and then use that to accompany a reinstall if needed.
To back up your computer software, you must first make sure you’re backing it up in a way that is legal and doesn’t violate the terms of use for the software. Most software requires acceptance of an End User License Agreement (EULA), which includes terms of use. This indicates whether you are authorized to make physical copies of a software program for your personal use; some programs allow you to make a single copy as a backup.
If you are authorized to make a copy, you can back up your computer software by burning a copy of that software from the installation disc that came with the software to a new physical disc. You need to make sure that you do this copy directly from the installation disc to a new disc, because manually copying files from one disc to another can corrupt the file associations needed to actually run the installation. If you have installation files that you downloaded, rather than an installation disc, you can back up your computer’s software installers by simply copying them to a disc or other format such as an external hard drive or flash drive.
Since you may not be able to back up your computer software this way, you may simply need to back up your data for future installation. You can save any user data you’ve generated to a hard drive or secondary drive, in case your computer or primary drive fails. This allows you to continue using your personal and user data if you need to create a clean install of the software. If you want to back up any computer software you’ve created, you should generally make sure you have multiple copies of the program on numerous forms of physical media. External storage on a remote server can also provide sufficient backup for your files.
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