Backup your precious memories and files
These days the humble home PC is much more than just for entertainment. It contains so much important data, family photos, work or study documents, music collections and much more.
Yet how many of us actually backup and safe keep our data on a regular basis? We put it off till later, but never seem to get around to it. You could lose it all in an instant, and usually without warning. What about all your photos if you haven’t backed them up!
CD/DVD’s
These are the most common method of backing up. They are cheap and easy, and can be a great way to safe keep your files, as long as you actually remember that is. If you take good care of the discs, and store them properly they can last up to 40yrs. Try to buy a good quality disc. Make sure that you check to make sure your files have been saved properly after you have burnt them.
While this is a good method of saving your important data, it isn’t going to protect your files in the unfortunate event of a fire, flood or theft. It’s a good idea to store copies of your important discs in another location.
External Hard drive
External hard drives are a handy tool to back up your files and make them portable. They are a little more expensive, and can suffer the same risks as your internal hard drive like virus or disk failure.
Online Backups
I have been trialing this method myself over the last few weeks. Even after multiple drive failures and data lose, I have yet to learn my lesson. I always mean to get around to it, but never do.
Mozy automatically backs up your files and stores them in a secure, remote location. Mozy has a free option for personal users which allows you to backup up to 2gig of data. Or for $4.95 a month you can backup unlimited data.
Using it is super easy. You download a small application to your computer (it works on Windows and is in Beta for Mac) and it will take care of it for you. Your able to select which folders and files you wish to back up or you can choose to save everything. The application sits in your toolbar and will detect and save any changes you make to your files. If you have a drive failure, or loose data restoring your files is just as easy.
This is a great option for those that are a little lazy and forgetful. You will need a high speed broadband connection.
Now, you have no excuse for loosing your important files. Get into the habit now for making regular backups. Remember not everything is 100% fool proof so it can be best to try a few options to back up your really important data like your family snaps.
Filed Under: Internet
