Backup your Computer! | Technology Tips - Tech Training CT

Most people today take digital pictures, create documents and store information on their personal computer. What would you do if: your hard drive crashed?; If a burglar stole your computer? ; or, if your home caught fire? If you are like many people, you would have lost valuable information.

All computers today come with a program to create regular backups of your documents. In addition, there are several online companies that will remotely backup your hard drive.

Some people use a CD or USB to save important files. While relatively convenient, they require you to remember to put in the disk and save. In addition both forms of media can fail. If a disk gets scratched it will be rendered unreadable. USB drives are easily lost or misplaced.

Better solutions are to have an external hard drive connected to your computer, or better yet, use a ?cloud? storage system. Both can be setup to perform regular backups of your files.

Pros and Cons to hard drive backup:

Pros:

• Inexpensive and easy to setup
• Both Windows Backup and Mac?s Time Machine allow easy access to recover documents
• Multiple versions of your documents can be saved for retrieval
• A complete backup of your hard drive is possible ? programs and documents.
• Backups retrievals are made quickly. A complete system restore of you programs and files can take 2 hours. A restore of documents, seconds.

Cons:

• Hard drives can fail ? including those used for backups!
• Could be lost or damaged in a fire or other catastrophe.

Pros and Cons to online backup:

Pros:

• Easy to set up
• Will backup every time a document in changed
• Both Macs and PC are supported
• Easy to retrieve documents ? even if you are in a location other than your computer.
• Storage is in a different location than your computer, adding extra security that your files will not be lost in case of a break-in or fire.

Cons:

• Yearly fee charged
• Takes approximately 2 weeks to fully backup or restore your computer files
• Only documents are backed up. You need to make sure that you have the disks for the programs if you ever needed to reinstall them.
• Only the most recent version of your documents will be saved.
• Internet connection is necessary.

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That being said, below is a list both hard drive and online backup systems. In addition, you might want to checkout your ISP. Many Internet Service Providers like Charter Communications, Comcast and the like, offer free online backups for customers. The pros to these are they are included in your Internet bill. The cons are that they usually offer limited storage.

Hard drives ? It makes no difference what OS you are using, Mac or Windows, any of these can be used. Compare the prices with online places like PC Mall, Mac Mall and Amazon against the big box stores like Best Buy, Office Max and Staples. Brands that are comparable are Seagate and LaCie . I would recommend a terabyte or larger. That should store plenty of photos and music!

Online servces ? Check out the terms of service, some allow for multiple computer backups. Carbonite and Mozy will probably give you the most storage for the money. iDrive and Norton Online Backup are others, but are a bit pricier for less storage!

What do I do? Both! I like the quick access that the hard drive affords. If I get a new computer or hard drive I can have it fully loaded with my programs and files in about 2 hours. At the same time, I have peace of mind that my documents are also safe guarded at an offsite location. If you decide to go for Carbonite ? use this link and you will get a $25 Amazon gift card.

Source: http://techtrainingct.com/blog/?p=174

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