Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Backing Up Data

Looking at statistics regarding the information that has been lost in regards to laptop computers, you would find yourself amazed. Even though this information can be astounding, many of us still don’t take the time to back up the information on our notebooks or netbooks.

We need to be reminded that nothing in the computer industry is fool proof. Hard drives can crash, the notebooks can get stolen, or it can even be dropped and rendered useless. To ensure that we are never left without our precious data, we should always create a backup of our information.

The fact is over a million laptops have been stolen over the years in the United States alone. Anytime a laptop is stolen, chances are that it won’t be recovered. If the information wasn’t backed up, then the owner will be left with no notebook - but more importantly - no backed up data either.

Just like you can with a desktop, you can also create a backup of the data on your laptop as well. You can use online services, back it up remotely, or use several other methods to ensure that you keep all of your data. Preserving your data is something you should really look into, especially if you have business material on your laptop.

What I use is an external hard drive where all my important files are. I started doing this when our old desktop computer used to always get a virus and we always had to reformat its hard drive. Another way to go about backing up your data and files is to burn them to a data CD. Data CDs can hold up to 700 MB (Mega Bytes) of data, which means a lot of files. A DVD, on the other hand, can store up tp 4.7 GB (Giga Bytes). Now there is even a dual layer DVD available which stores twice the size of a regular DVD. To back things up this way, all you need is a CD/RW or DVD/W burner in your laptop, which most of the newer ones come with.

The only drawback to laptops is the fact that they don’t offer near as much storage or security measures as a desktop PC. Desktop computers have a lot more power, and they can also do things (including backups) in a fraction of the time.

The laptop computer was designed for on the go use, which is the main reason why people don’t really think about backing up their data. When the thought finally does come to mind, it is normally too late to do anything about it.

Another easy and quick way to backup your data is to use an online backup service. Depending on your connection to the Internet, it can take anywhere from several minutes to several hours. Although it may take you a little bit of time, you’ll have the satisfaction in knowing that your data is there if something should happen. There are online services that give free services like these. But for greater security, you can use a paid service.

Whether it’s for your business or personal use, you can’t go wrong backing up your data. You should always create a backup of your data at least once a month, even more than that if you have a lot of important information that you add to your laptop regularly.

Jeff

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I strongly encourage going the online backup route and use a site like http://www.myotherdrive.com.

In addition to preventing data loss due to damage, theft, or loss of physical medium, which cannot happen to your data when using online storage, it also gives you the additional benefit of file sharing.

I pointed out MyOtherDrive because they are the only online backup site that really blends both backup and file sharing so well.