Don’t forget to BACK IT UP!!

Posted by Karen • September 5, 2006 • Printer-friendly

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According to statistics, 6% of you will suffer an episode of data loss this year and 31% of you have lost all your files due to events beyond your control. There are many ways you can unintentionally lose your files. Something as simple as lightening, a power surge or your adorable daughter playing the piano on your keyboard can cause the loss of data. Sometimes equipment just fails. If you have been faithful about backing up your files, you can be back up and running with little or no loss. However, most of you probably have not been backing up your files. Data loss can be the deathknoll for a business. A full 60% of companies that lose their data will shut down within 6 months of the loss.

Now that I have your attention, I will offer some easy and affordable solutions. The solution you choose depends on the size of your company.

On-site and off-site

While simply backing up your files to an external hard drive, CDs or other data storage unit is better than nothing, it is advisable to store a copy of your files off-site. A flood or fire that damages your computer will also damage your back-ups if they are kept in the same location. You can take a copy of your back-ups home with you, or, my preferred method is an off-site data server.

Back Up Solutions

The best option for you will depend on the amount of data you want to back up, the frequency and the size of your organization. For the intents of this article, I will assume you are backing up a single computer harddrive.

Back Up Software
There are several great products out there to make backing up your computer very simple. Most start around $50 and have wizards that help you decide what to back up and how often. Here are the top rated programs according to PC World:

External Hard-Drive
External harddrives are small drives that you can plug into your computer via USB plug. You can buy extra storage anywhere from 2GB to over 250GB. Backing up files to an external harddrive is as easy as copying your files onto the new drive. You can carry your external drive with you and keep it at home or other safe location.

Virtual Servers and online storage:
A simple hosting account can provide you with 100GB of space for about $10/month. The advantage of this is that your files are safely stored off-site and will be safe in case of fire or flood. Additionally, you will be able to access your back-up files from any computer or location. You will need an ftp program to upload your files, but these can be found for little to no cost online and are very easy to use.

For smaller amounts of storage (up to 2GB) you can get an online file folder for as little as $7.50 a year.