Planning your backups

If you are a first-time user, or if you only back up files occasionally, you can use the table in this topic as a checklist of preliminary steps to consider before backing up data.

Read the list of tasks to determine whether you are ready to back up your data.

• Decide whether you want to back up files or archive them. See When to back up and when to archive files for more information.
• See Pre-backup considerations (UNIX and Linux) for important considerations before you back up your files and directories.
• Do you need to exclude files from backup services? See Include-exclude options to control processing for more information.