There are kinds of hard drives: those that have failed & those that will fail.
Every week, new clients come to us in crisis. The worst case scenario became a reality: a hard drive has died. A computer has crashed with years’ worth of knowledge. Immediately they ask if there is a backup somewhere & inevitably the answer is no. How did this happen? They don't know. When? Minutes ago. What have they lost? Irreplaceable pics, financial knowledge, emails, documents, presentations & a host of other knowledge. Can they save it? It depends. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Could they have saved it? Absolutely.
Some issues are inevitable in the world of computers. Hard drive failure is of those issues. Regrettably, computers don't come with a comprehensive guide that warn users of all the issues they might experience & how to resolve them. That is why our clients always appear to be surprised that this has happened to them. After all, their computer was fully functional last time they turned it on. As they talk to increasingly clients they recognize that the issue is not that they didn't need to back up their knowledge, it is that they didn't know how. In this editorial, they will evaluate the different means of backing up & securing your knowledge both locally by physical devices & online by knowledge backup services.
Before they start, let me stress thing: backing up your knowledge is a lot simpler & so less pricey than trying to recover it. Don't put it off!
1) What is a backup?
A backup is a fancy way of saying "a copy of your knowledge." Backing up your knowledge does not must be any more complicated than copying your knowledge somewhere. On a small scale, backups can be made of documents that are receiving multiple edits so that you can return to an earlier version if a used is unsatisfactory. As a more complete solution, backups can be whole copies of the content on your hard drive.
2) Where am I able to make backups?
Backups ought to be made on a medium other than the hard drive you are trying to backup. The reason for this is that if something happens to your hard drive then your backups will even be lost. That is why backups are usually done on a second hard drive or other storage device such as a thumb drive or DVD. There is a risk associated with most backup methods: a thumb drive can be lost, an outside hard drive can be knocked off the table or a DVD might get scratched. All of these things must be thought about when choosing what medium to make use of as a backup device.
Additionally, they must plan for actual catastrophes: what if your home office is broken by a natural event & both your hard drive & backup source are damaged? While it looks as if there is a lot to think about, the lessons are simple: use multiple backups & keep them in different places.
Online service providers like Mozy & Carbonite address all the issues of choosing a recovery medium by providing knowledge backup centers that have redundant servers with additional copies of your knowledge. While their basic services are free, both companies charge for higher knowledge usage on a recurring basis.
3) How do I make a backup?
First, you require selecting a medium. Because of size constraints, they recommend using an outside hard drive because thumb drives & DVDs are limited by the amount of knowledge they can store. Time you have an outside hard drive, fundamentally plug it in to your computer by the usb cable. On most computers, your main hard drive is assigned the letter C: & your outside device will be assigned another letter (D, E, F, and H: etc...). Select the folders you would like to copy on the C: drive. In most cases, you will have an interest in copying your documents, music, pics, video & desktop folders. So why not grab all of them?
On Windows Vista & Windows 7, your user folder can be found at C:\Users\*Your profile*
On Windows XP, the user folder is usually found at C:\Documents & Settings\*your profile*
Time you have selected the folders you would like to backup, right click on them & click copy. Then, navigate to your outside drive by going to Start Menu -> My Computer -> Outside Drive & paste them there. You can generate a brand new folder called "my backups" or a dated folder such as "07-08-2011 Back up." Voila! You have created your first backup.
Note: copying your whole profile will include copies of other folders such as your application knowledge & local settings folders. This is where programs such as outlook store all of your electronic mail or financial knowledge in database formats. To make positive that these folders are also copied, navigate to Start Menu -> Control Panel -> Folder Options -> View -> Select "Show Hidden Files, Folders & Drives."
4) Automating the method.
To make positive that you have current backups, they recommend using an automatic backup program to schedule when your backups ought to occur. These programs will let you set a backup schedule & pick which folders are backed up & to where. There are a lot of different products that automate backing up. However, they require discouraging you from using an application that converts your knowledge in to proprietary archive files because you will be entirely dependent on that software/company to store & retrieve your knowledge.
In plain English, this means avoiding a program that takes your documents & pics & stores them as anything other than pics & documents. In lieu of having thousands of pics, these programs will store them in a few database files such as "data001.fbf, data002.fbf" & you will only be able to open them with that application exclusively! Anti-virus providers are now tying their backup application with their antivirus application. This means you are stuck using their antivirus & paying their fees in order to keep using the backup parts of the program.
They recommend a free & straightforward to make use of program called Automatic Backups that can be downloaded from http://automaticbackup.frigerio-ar.com/
Set the frequency of your backups to a every day, every week, biweekly or every month schedule. The frequency depends on you. In case you cannot afford to lose your day to day work, then set an everyday schedule!
5) Online backups.
To further minimize the risk of losing your knowledge, they recommend using an online service to generate another copy of your most precious knowledge. Here is a 2011 review of current providers:
http://online-data-backup-review.toptenreviews.com/
The advantage of online backups is that they are usually safer than local backups. Additionally, you can access your knowledge from anywhere in the world with a web connection. However, they come with an every month cost!
Looking after your knowledge backups now will save you tons of funds in the long run & a few stressful journeys to a computer repair shop. Don't wait!
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