Backup Data
What would happen if you lost everything on your computer?
Could you replace your music, tax records, email, personal contacts, or digital videos and photos? Each year, millions of computer users damage or lose their personal information because they failed to implement a backup data plan.
Living in the digital age actually creates more work than with simple paper files, cds, and printed photos. You now must account for computer errors, malware, spyware, theft, and computer viruses. If the information on your computer is irreplaceable, a smart backup strategy must be implemented. An effective computer backup plan should include all computers in your house or office.
How To Start A Backup Data Plan For Your Personal Computer Or Small Business
Every computer that has valuable, irreplaceable data must have 3 copies of that information (including the original computer). This is a triple redundancy plan. Just like an airplane that has multiple backup systems, your valuable data should too.
Step One - You need to make two copies of your the files you wish to backup. This can include the settings and software installed on that computer. Apple Macintosh computers have this built in called Time Machine.
Step Two - Keep one local copy in your home, and continually update as needed.
Step Three - Relocate one copy to a third party location like a relatives home or safe deposit box. Out of region is most recommended to avoid loss during natural disaster.
Your local backup is a device or removable media stored in your home or next to your computer and can be utilized when their is a computer emergency, crash, or even a new computer added to your network. The offsite copy protects you if anything catastrophic happens to your computer or local copy, or even in your geographic region. Storing this offsite backup copy at your neighbors home serves you no purpose if their are floods or fires in your neighborhood.
Types Of Data Backup
Offsite Backup Service
Trusted companies such as Elephant Drive, Carbonite offer an automated online backup service of your entire computer. This allows you access to all of your data anywhere in the world, with an internet connection. Online offsite backup is a great solution for people who travel a lot and college students that may not want extra gadgets cluttering their room. Another advantage of offsite online backup, is your data can not be stolen off your desk like a thumb drive or external hard drive.
External Hard Drives
An external hard drive is the most common, and easiest method to backup your computer. When selecting an external hard drive, be sure that the drive speed is at least 7200 rpm, and to select a drive that supports usb 2.0 or greater, esata, or Fire Wire 800. It is important to be able to write and read your data through a high speed connection. Most higher end external hard drives will include the necessary connection cable as well. Many external hard drive brands also feature automated backup software included. This can make regular backups simple and maintenance free. Select a drive that is 2 tb or greater in size so that you don’t outgrow your storage capacity.
Western Digital Studio 2 tb
Western Digital Studio 4 tb
Western Digital Studio 6 tb
G-Technology G-Drive 2 tb
G-Technology G-Drive 4 tb
G-Technology G-Drive 6 tb
Seagate Free Agent Go Flex 2 tb
Seagate Free Agent Go Flex 3 tb
LaCie 2 Big Quadra 4 tb
LaCie 2 Big Quadra 6 tb
Rugged Fireproof And Waterproof External Hard Drives
A rugged external hard drive is a safe option for your local backup copy.
ioSafe SOLO Disaster Proof Hard Drive 1 tb
ioSafe SOLO Disaster Proof Hard Drive 2 tb
ioSafe SOLO PRO Disaster Proof Hard Drive 1 tb
ioSafe SOLO PRO Disaster Proof Hard Drive 2 tb
Removable Raid Drives
Raid hard drives utilize 2 or more hard drives per unit while making a duplicate mirror copy on the additional drive (depending on RAID settings). Both hard drives or just the extra cloned drive can easily be removed and stored in another location. You will need extra internal hard drives which are cheaper to purchase than multiple external drives.
G-Technology G-Safe 2 tb
G-Technology G-Safe 3 tb
Western Digital Share Space 4 tb
Thumb Drives
A thumb drive is a small flash memory based storage device that is similar in size to your thumb, hence the name. Thumb drives can range in size from 2 gb to over 128 gb. Thumb drives larger than 128 gb are not a cost effective device for storage. If you just need to backup important documents, an 8 gb to 32 gb thumb drive will work just fine. Music files, digital photos, and video generally take up too much space to utilize a thumb drive.
DVD/CD Backup
Burning a data DVD or CD disc has been one of the easiest backup methods in the past, but as file sizes grow, the capacity of a DVD has not. A DVD will hold approximately 4Gb of data, photos, and video. DVD’s are the cheapest short term storage option, but for long term storage, burned media has been rumored to degrade and suffer from “Bit Rot”, making your backup worthless and unreadable.
Frequency Of Data Accumulation
How often should you change out your offsite backup? Depending on the frequency in which you accumulate hard drive space, pick a designated time, or switch out your backups after a significant event like birthdays, weddings, tax time. That way you have those current events securely saved.
Location Location Location
In order to have a smart backup strategy, you must place your information in 2 separate locations.
