I can not stress how important it is to make regular backups of the important data on your computer. I backup certain files almost daily and have been doing this for years. I was lucky in that I started this practice a couple of months before a hard drive completely died.
I didn’t have any hardware failures recently but was having software problems (Windows). Earlier this week I got fed up and decided to reinstall Windows and restore from a disk image. And I didn’t have to really worry too much because I knew my external drive had all of the data that I wanted to keep – actually it probably has more than I need and I should clean it up.
If I hadn’t had the backup or if the problem had become worse and I hadn’t been able to use my computer, this would have been a much more serious issue that took up a lot more than an evening to deal with. Although, I should admit that I have old computers and parts that I keep around for emergencies since my livelihood depends on a working computer. Still, I work best on my current desktop.
And I’m so happy that I did the reinstall – more computer is super fast again and it seems like it’s new.
Do you backup regularly? If not, you should. And, if you do, what do you use? I use an external hard drive and have a script that backups certain directories.
If you are feel like it, you can take the poll.
photo credit: 4nitsirk
Amen!
The more smart people like yourself that can help me get the word out about backup, the better. Great articles as always Kim…I’m going to try out that PagePressApp as well since FB is changing their ways again. Good day to you!
Hi Rick – I didn’t used to backup – I’m just very lucky that I didn’t have a problem before I started making backups. I’ve now realized that I have too much backed up and am going through the files before I transfer them all back to my freshly clean computer :-)
I have 2 external drives which I use to backup my files just in case something stupid happens. I had trouble in the past before I decided to backup my files. It irritates me to remember it!
I also use two but I have too much data for one of them right now. I’m trying to decide if I can backup less or maybe get a new external drive.
Tell me about the importance of back up, I learnt about it at my own expense! Yesterday I updated iTouch and I completely forgot to make a backup, I lost EVERYTHING, almost 3000 songs, movies and other videos as well as photos. And from what I have learned online, it is impossible for me to recover all that.
I backup most of my imp. data at Amazon s3, its chap enough to store your imp. data. Hope it helps for others too.
My husband uses our external hard drive for saving game installers.. I don’t think that’s even important data!
Until I experienced two serious worm / virus attacks on my computer I did not back up on a regular basis. Now I do. Hard lesson learned.
In the (recent) past, think the main reason I didn’t back-up often was the lack of storage capacity. As I am not a big business nor do I have the means to buy the “business-like” back up equipment, my options were limited. I use a flash drive now.
Hi Kat – Unfortunately, many people don’t back up until they learn the hard way like you did. I was very lucky that I started backing up regularly right before I had a serious problem.
Believe me I know exactly what you mean – Couple of months ago my computer went completely dead and I lost all my data, personal Information. Thank God there wasn’t any unreplaceble stuff on there but still I learned my lesson Back Up, Back up or you ll will regret it.
Great post thanks
Backing up is SO important. I’m constantly nagging people about it …
Backing up files is essential to the health and sanity of any business owner – hardware fails, so it’s good to have the stuff you need to get your work done saved in other channels.
In addition to backing things up on an external, I would also recommend using a “cloud” service to save things. This way in case something terrible happens to both your computer and your external (something like a house fire, or even theft), you still have things in a third spot. There are lots of cloud backup systems – a good free one is Dropbox, but there are plenty of other options, as well.
Hi Laura – That is a really good point. A backup won’t do you any good if your house or office burns down. I used to keep a weekly backup offsite – I need to look into a solution for that problem.
I also vote for DropBox – I store all my important data there – other than photos and video, which take up far too much space for that and bandwidth transferring them.
But for all my other stuff I keep it in Dropbox. If it’s something I really wouldn’t want anybody else to access then I also encrypt it first – you can’t be sure that these cloud services won’t be hacked at some point so best to be safe if you’re saving login/bank details etc.
My backup problems are my photos and video, though, as they mount up over the years. My current solution is to use backup hard drives, but it’s not ideal as it relies on me to back up regularly and so far I’ve not stored any away from home.
One day we’ll have super-fast broadband and then it’ll be easier to store these online too.
Dropbox is a good idea as is encrypting the data. Offsite storage is a great idea – having an external backup won’t be of much use if the office burns down.
A computer crash can occur when you least expect it and sometimes data is irretrievable due to a harddrive failure etc. It’s something I plan to do more often but haven’t due to procrastination.
People usually don’t implement a backup solution until after a disaster happens. I feel really fortunate that I started backing up 2 months before my hard drive died.
I learned this the hard way a few years ago when my laptop died. Nowadays I back up everything regularly to an external hard drive. Kim – you’re right about how people don’t implement a backup solution until after a disaster. :(
It’s so true – we think it won’t happen to us … until it does.