In today’s world, we store large parts of our life on computers. Information such as pictures, documents, movie clips, contact lists, etc. is all stored on our computers. There are many ways your data could get lost, a hard drive could crash, the software you using stop working or your file system could get corrupt. It is important to have backups of your information so you do not lose important information.
So how do you go about securing your information, a good start is to select what files you would like to take a copy of. Documents, pictures, music, and movie clips are the most common files to backup, even your spreadsheets, web readers bookmark and games are worth taken a copy of. One thumb of rule is whatever you are going to miss if it disappears, you should make a copy of it.
Service or your own backup
There are many different programs and services available to handle your backup needs automatically – just configure what you would like to copy and the program/service you selected will do the job. It is fully possible to also create your own archive, all you would need is some kind of storage device to copy your files to and set up a process on what files and when they should be backed up.
Selecting Backup Options
Depending on having your own program managing your backup or “do it your self, you have to select what storage media to use. What is the best option, it comes down to two things – how much information needs to be backed up and how often the backups are being updated. If you do not have many files that needs to be keep up to date daily you can use a USB device to backup or an external hard drive.
Online there are many services available to do your backups. The online service copies your file to a server hosted by the service provider. Using an online service protects your files against theft, fires, etc, Most of them charge a fee, could be a monthly or yearly fee.
Here are some services online:
- Rogers offers 25GB – 25 GB CDN 7.99/month
- Microsoft offers 25 GB free storage space – skydrive.live.com
- 1 year of unlimited backup of one computer 25 GB cost $5.95/ month – www.kabooza.com
- Unlimited backup of one computer: US$/4,95 dollar/month – www.mozy.com
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