If your computer died today, what would you lose? Let's talk backups.
Your computer just died. What did you lose? A favorite photo album or important file? It can be a scary thought. Increasingly, our files are being stored on platforms like Facebook, Google Docs, and iTunes. These platforms store data on their servers independent of your personal device and your information will be as you left it if your computer crashes. But what about everything stored locally on your desktop or in that all-encompassing documents folder? Backup options can be difficult to tackle because everyone has different needs. Certain backup solutions are needed for businesses, while personal files or large video files require other storage options. In addition, technology changes so often it can also be difficult to recommend a single solution. Maybe you made a CD/DVD backup, but now they make laptops without CD drives. Don't give up! Take some simple actions forward to backup your important files. Your future self will thank you.
What You Should Backup
For this discussion, let's focus on backing up the most basic files on your machine: your documents, photos, and music. There is really no reason to backup your applications. For example, don't worry about backing up Microsoft Word, just backup your Word documents. Don't backup iTunes, just backup your music folder. The better option for these applications is to keep any software disks or login information so that you can easily reinstall them. Experts recommend having two backups for your files. This is for redundancy in case the other becomes corrupt, lost, or destroyed. Ideally, these backups should be in different locations as well to protect against fires, floods, or other unforeseen circumstances.
Backup to a USB or External Hard Drive
A USB stick or External Hard Drive can be the most cost-efficient backup solution. Plug it into your computer and manually copy your files to store for safekeeping. This solution is simple, however, it relies on you routinely updating this drive with your latest files to avoid losing any new files. Create folders on the external drive for your different file types like Music, Documents, and Photos. Copy and paste, or drag, all your files onto that drive. Make sure everything has copied over correctly.
Backup to the Cloud
There are a number of online backup services such as Carbonite or CrashPlan that offer paid solutions that will continuously backup the files and folders you choose. You install software onto your computer, and as you create, download, or edit files, these programs upload and the files to their servers under your private account. In the event of a crash, you just reinstall the service's application on your new system, and the application will walk you through the recovery of your files. There are also potentially free solutions in Google Drive, Apple's iCloud, and services like DropBox. They usually have a limit to the amount of data you can store. If you are only backing up a few files consider these services.-Links in this article to Carbonite are referral links. If you end up purchasing a plan through Carbonite, Edwin earns a commission.