Backup Your Data

How often do you backup the data on your computer? If you're like most people, it's not very often, if at all. Yet the information stored on your hard drive can be incredibly valuable. Think of your financial records, business contacts, e-mail addresses, letters and so on. Then there's your music and video collection.

What would happen if it all disappeared? How long would it take and how much would it cost to place the missing data? Can't happen? It does every day for a variety of reasons:

• The disk drive you use for backups fails for mechanical reasons.
• Your computer is stolen--laptops are particularly vulnerable.
• Your computer is destroyed by fire, floods or other disasters.
• A power surge fries your machine (Make sure you have a surge protector on your computer equipment.)
• An employee accidentally or intentionally erases data.
• A virus infects your system, wiping out your files
• Your hard drive crashes. Sooner or later it will fail; the only question is when.

Computer files can be restored in the event of a crash, but it can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. In the meantime, you will be without essential data.

If you diligently backup your system and store the backups off-site, you're in good shape. But most of us never do--until it's too late.

The good news is that you don't need to copy everything on your hard drive. These data-intensive days, that would entail many gigabytes. You only have to backup your own data files, such as word processing documents, spreadsheets, e-mail, digital photos, graphics, video, music, etc. Basically, any files you've created, downloaded or that were sent to you. You probably already have copies on CDs or DVDs of your programs--Microsoft Office applications, games and such. In the event that your computer crashes, you can use those discs to restore the programs, or in many cases, you can download replacement programs.

Backup files in one of two ways. The first is by using removable media like CDs, DVDs, data tapes or external hard drives. Recordable media cost little and also provide a convenient way to share data with friends and colleagues. CD-ROMs hold 650 Mb and DVDs store 4.7 gigabytes. You can now buy external drives that store terabytes of data--an excellent way to safeguard your burgeoning music and video collection.

To backup your files, first insert the storage medium in the drive. (If you use an external hard drive, then it should appear with a letter designation in Windows Explorer.) If you use Windows, launch Windows Explorer. You'll find it in the Programs folder under the Start menu.

Now locate the files you want to copy. Place your mouse pointer on the folder or file, hold down the left mouse button, then drag it to the appropriate drive. Copying files can take a while depending on how many you have and the speed of your system.

After you've backed up all the files, open a few to make sure they copied correctly. Now remove the disk, label and date it. Finally, store your backups in a secure place, preferably off-site.

You can also backup your files by uploading them to a remote server. While there are a number of services out there, one that we like is Skydrive. The free service from Microsoft gives you 25 gigabytes of storage, which should be plenty for your data files.

After you register, select the files you want to backup from your hard drive, then upload them. Windows users can download Skydrive Desktop, a handy software program that schedules your backups automatically. What could be easier?

On advantage of storing your files online is that you can access them from any computer by logging onto Skydrive. You can also share files with other folks that have Skydrive accounts.

If you follow this procedure regularly, you should sleep better at night.

Last update: Jan 14, 2010