Backup, backup, backup its all about the backup.

The most important thing you can do to protect your PC is to backup your data.  Plain and simple, if your data is not backed up you could be one lightning-strike or spilled cup of coffee away from losing everything.  You may be thinking that nothing bad will ever happen to your data because you do all the "right things".  You don't have to run through an open field carrying your laptop while drinking coffee in a lightning storm for bad things to happen to your data.  Believe it or not accidents happen; data gets lost and it's not pleasant to find out you've lost your wedding pictures or vacation photos because you didn't backup.

OK so lets talk options....



You can head on over to Staples, Walmart, Amazon.com or whatever store that you prefer and get an external USB drive on sale at around $75 .

External Hard Drives on Amazon.com   External Hard Drives

The shiny new 500GB drive could unfortunately still get zapped and die in a storm; so what other options do we have.  You could also make daily, weekly or monthly backups of all your data onto DVD's that you then bring over to your Aunt Edna's.  Aunt Edna has a nice safe place to store the DVDs, but since she lives 45 minutes away it can be a real pain when you need to restore  your backup from the DVD's right now.  Why not just tuck the DVD's in you desk drawer instead of driving all the way to your Aunt's house?  Bad things can happen to your data, fires can burn down houses and businesses can be flooded and destroyed.  Off-site storage of your backups is a vital step in the protection of your data.  OK, so after burning our data to DVD 's,  going to our favorite Aunt's house for a quick fresh baked chocolate chip cookie and DVD drop-off, you start driving home.  The long drive home gives you time to think and while waiting online at the toll booth it dawns on you...on-line....."on-line backup that's it" once you get home you start looking for a good online backup site.

There are many many online backup solutions, most will offer 2+ GB of free online storage and let you purchase more space for a monthly fee. The only drawback that I see  is the length of time it takes to do a network backup as compared to backing up to an external USB drive or even to DVD's.  Please check out the following links that offers free or low cost backup solutions.

PC Magazine review of Online Backup options http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2288755,00.asp


This is by no means a complete list of backup solutions.  You could also use a tape backup drive, external SATA drive, network attached storage in an environmentally controlled bomb shelter 3 floors below your house protected by the CIA, keep your back DVD's at you trusted neighbors house or safe deposit box.  I could continue but the point is that you really need to backup your data.  The data on most PC's is worth far more than the cost of the machine.  Don't forget to backup, backup and backup.

By the way, if you decide to use the online backup exclusively....make sure you still visit your Aunt, she did babysit your DVD's after all.





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Comments

[Handy Backup?]

I'm currently using Handy Backup and their online backup service... but it seems to be pretty expensive, priced at $100 per 5GB of storage per year. Can anybody suggest a better online backup solution?

[Scott]

I find Mozy to be an excellent online backup solution. The home version is free for 2GB and 4.95 per month for unlimited storage. Check out the home version at https://mozy.com/home