Data protection 101: Backing up

From David Tranter, TranTech Computers

A common problem that many people face is having little or no backups. I am not just talking about business – I mean everyone.
So much of our everyday lives are stored digitally – from the births of our children, business files, wedding photos, accounting software, holidays, finances, birthdays, the list could go on. However, far too many people have no backup solution in place. One fatal hard drive failure or nasty virus could mean the end of many of these photos, videos and documents forever.

Do you have two copies of your data?
Putting all your data on an external hard drive and nowhere else is not safer than having the data saved on your computer’s hard drive – at least two copies is the key.
Make sure your backup is on another physical hard drive. Many people think they have a backup of their data however it’s on the same hard drive, just in a different folder. For your data to be backed up, it must be on more than one drive.

Backup regularly
Another common issue many people face is not keeping updated backups. You may have a backup solution in place, however, if the data is not being backed up at the end of each working day or after major changes, like the birth of your son, then you need to do a backup. And if it’s accounting software, backup every day.

Backup options
An easy backup option is an external hard drive. To control your own backup at a very low cost (under $100), you can get a drive which can hold a copy of all your data.
Or, you can try a cloud backup solution. This means your data is uploaded form your computer to a server in a datacentre. On a personal level, there are many free and cheap options.

Don’t just read this article. Take action, keep a regular backup. Ask your regular IT person for some advice. You won’t regret it!