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Data Backups
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 Cobain Backup 9, SyncBack
and Fab's AutoBackup 3.
You don't need to spend a lot of money on backup
storage devices, either. For about $25 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 $100) 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 -- which hold six times as much as CDs. 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.
It is important that the online backup process be secure (encrypted), automatic and transparent, and
permit "differential" backups so only changed files need to be
backed up. Those are reasons we
like, use and recommend IDrive Online Backup. Home users can store up to 2GB of data online for free and that's more than enough for most people. If more storage is required, 150GB of online storage is available for about $5 per month.
Take action now and set yourself up with a backup solution that reduces the risk of future heartache.
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