A backup is used to restore the information on your hard drive in the event of its failure. In plain terms a backup is a copy of your data stored in a different location other than on your hard drive. A backup can contain either all the information on the hard drive or just the user files on the hard drive. Everyone should do a backup of at least your personal files. In other words if you write documents or draw graphics or do music and don't want those files lost in the event of a hard drive failure, it takes only a second or two to copy them to a floppy disk.
Some computers come with a restore disk.
There are a few ways to backup just your information or the entire computer. You can backup to floppies, tape, zip drive, CD, or a second hard drive. Floppies are good to back up your documents or pictures but, a floppy is limited in size. Tape drives and zip drives are a good way to back up a lot of information. Web Safety and Security .