Never lose that important file again
Even though I have spent my entire working life with a computer in front of me, I can’t really say that I am a very IT technical person. I see computers more as a tool that anything else. The truth however is that they play such a critical role in our day to day commerce and hold such critical data that they should be given a little more respect (by me anyway).
Over the Xmas break, I was thinking about what would be a backup routine that could be used by the everyday non computer literate person. I am sure there are lots of these articles out there, but the stats still show that most people have never or don’t regularly backup. I personally will really follow a routine that is simple and doesn’t compromise the million other things I have to do day to day.
When most people think backup, they think an external hard drive. I have a hard drive at home and I use it for all of the data on my laptop. In thinking about this backup strategy, I concluded that hard drives should form the primary role in your home backup strategy.
Hard drives don’t cost much these days. Dicksmith offers a 500GB Maxtor for under $100 (limited time). Once you have purchased the hard drive you need to take it out of its box and use it. Simply transfer all critical files and applications on to it. These include your PST file if you use Outlook (no need to backup emails if you use Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo), all of your documents, downloads, pictures and videos.
If you are using Vista, you should also try using the Vista Backup and Restore Centre. You will find it under All Programs. This Vista service will enable you to create a complete working image of your PC (includes all of the software and the files on your PC). A 500 GB external drive will be more than enough for a 500GB internal hard drive as the backup will be compressed to make it smaller.
Creating a restore point is very important should your PC crash to the point of needing to reinstall all software from scratch, which can take hours.
You should try and do a backup of all your files to your hard drive at least monthly. Vista Backup and Restore Centre can also help you with this. I should be saying weekly if not daily, but I know that I personally have only used my hard drive several times in the past year and so I think monthly as more realistic.
Now, hard drives that are used on a monthly basis can provide you with backup for the core of your critical files. However for many of us that use our home PC’s for more than just reading emails and visiting websites, we really do something that is a little more immediate and most importantly automated. This is where your secondary backup process kicks in.
An online backup service such as Carbonite is ideal for this. Carbonite provides automatic backup. Once you install it and select the files that you want to backup, it will automatically back them up and any changes made to them from then on without you needing to lift a finger.
Online backup is ideal for email and folders/files that you are using on a daily basis. This is also particularly relevant for those using book keeping packages such as MYOB and Quicken at home. Carbonite can easily backup the database file that the application generates.
In addition to being automatic, Carbonite is also very affordable. At just $71.99 per year, it will allow you to backup as much as you want (yes unlimited backup). What is also an important feature, is because the backing up is done offsite (ie your data is transferred online to an offsite data centre in Boston, USA) should your PC get stolen, or there be a fire at home or in the office, the files stored with Carbonite can be accessed within minutes (depending on their size of course). Your external hard drive will most likely endure a similar fate to the computer.
To make the most of your investment with Carbonite, I would try and backup all of your data (even though you might not necessarily be using it for restoring). This will ensure that you have a full copy of everything both on a hard drive as well as online. It might take some time to complete that initial upload (I would also recommend staggering the files over a few months to ensure you don’t have any bandwidth issues) but it will be worth it. When it comes time to doing a restore, if the file is large and you need it urgently, then you can use the external hard drive to get it back right away (as long as it is still around). If you absolutely need the latest version, then you can restore it via Carbonite. Downloading is nearly twice as quick as uploading and small files are accessible in minutes.
So by investing in a hard drive to do a total backup of your entire system and all your files on a monthly basis, as well as an online backup solution such as Carbonite as a secondary but also more immediate solution, your home/office will be secure should that inevitable disaster occur.
