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Data Backup What
would you do if your hard drive crashed while you were reading this? Are there
any e-mails, address books, files or documents you would regret
losing forever? How about school homework/projects, or personal pictures that can't be replaced
because someone in them is no longer available or they were a magical
moment, lost to time? If you don't backup the personal information on
your computer on a regular basis, you could really regret it one day, maybe even today!
If it's not automatic, users have to remember and be disciplined enough to make periodic backups, or it
just never seems to get done. With many backup solutions, schedules can be set up to do it automatically, so you can
just set it and forget it. There are numerous freeware
programs that make backing up information as easy as clicking an
icon. My favourite on-site backup programs are GFIBackup, Cobain Backup, SyncBack
and Fab's AutoBackup 3.
Fab's AutoBackup 3 has most of the files to be backed up pre-selected, so you don't need to be a computer tech to ensure that you back up everything important, and to know where to find the files on your system. Click the Fab's Autobackup 3 link above to see a list of what it backs up. We are an authorized reseller, so if you are concerned about purchasing online using a credit card, you can purchase a license from us and pay us by cash/cheque instead.
You don't need to spend a lot of money on backup
storage devices, either. For about $20 you can purchase an 8GB flash drive (also known as a memory stick or thumb drive) that holds
the equivalent of 8,000 floppy disks or almost 12 CDs! If you have a song collection or many digital camera pictures to back up, an external drive (about $80) makes more sense. An external drive has the added advantage that it makes drive imaging feasible. Another option, is saving data backups and drive images to DVDs. Most new computers come with a DVD burner and one can be added to an older computer for about $30+installation.
Online
backups let you backup to a server (computer) on the internet. If your
computer and your on-site backups get stolen or destroyed,
your online backup files are safe and secure, accessible via the internet. Internet upload speeds are only about one-sixth as high as download speeds, so it takes time to
back up online. For that reason, it makes sense to just backup
important user data --- documents, pictures, e-mails, address
book, financial data, etc. --- versus the entire system.
Dropbox makes it super-easy to backup critical files to your online storage account, and to synchronize them with your other computers. Non-commercial users get 2GB of free online storage, which is more than sufficient for my critical files. Two gigabytes (GB) is not nearly enough to store many picture or music, but it's enough for my financial data and documents. I use SynchBack to periodically and automatically compress ("zip") and encrypt my critical files to the Dropbox folder on my PC, which the Dropbox program then automatically uploads to my online storage account. Couldn't be easier than that!
Take action now and set yourself up with a backup solution that reduces the risk of future heartache.
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