The vast majority of people don’t ever give a single thought to backing up their computer. Why would they? That’s something for the IT guys at work to worry about. It’s their problem to make sure the network drives are protected against loss or failure, not yours. But whose job is it to look after the PC at home, or if you’re self employed, the laptop you use for your business? Answer: Yours. And what do you do about backing up? What do you do to to guard against a catastrophic failure? Most likely answer: Nothing.
Does it really matter? There’s probably no mission critical data of earth shattering importance on your laptop that could decide the fate of a multi-national corporation. Just a few Word documents and spreadsheets of your small business accounts. And several years worth of invoices. And some tender documents with associated charts and diagrams. Plus a few standard letters. Your address book and your emails. And of course all your web bookmarks, (where would you be without them?). Not to mention your research papers, business plans and form templates.
That’s before I get to the ‘home’ stuff that you probably also have on your work laptop. A collection of irreplaceable videos and photos of your children, some match reports from your daughter’s netball games, and a few notes for next Thursday’s wine club meeting. Nothing important, just the stuff that defines who you are.
This subject is unconnected to my business, so for once I’m not writing a post as a thinly veiled attempt to sell my design services. I was prompted to write this article by a feature on the radio this morning about burglaries. Several people phoned in complaining about the loss of coursework, photos, work and personal data. However, even more likely than a loss by theft is data loss through hardware or software failure. Without any exaggeration, I can honestly say I’ve lost count of the number of times a client has said to me “Could you send me that file again, my laptop broke and I had to take my computer in for repair. I lost everything.”
Hard drives don’t last forever
The life of a computer hard drive is finite. All hard drives eventually fail. Sooner or later, your computer will stop working, and if its a hardware problem (as opposed to one of the everyday Windows software problems) it will probably be a fault with the hard drive. Not that I’m criticising hard drives, actually I have an enormous amount of respect for them. When I think about the technology that goes into one, I’m astounded they work as well as they do. With the disc platters spinning at thousands of revolutions every minute, the constant stopping and starting, the rough treatment given to laptops, they really are an amazing piece of engineering.
Even the ‘power users’ among you don’t do enough backing up. You think that the sexy portable drive you throw in your pocket when you go out is enough? It might be, if you’re lucky. But if someone steals your laptop or the hard drive fails, it’ll make you sweat as you start to restore your data onto the shiny new laptop, knowing that just one bad data sector on that two year old well-used USB drive could ruin your year.
Keep your options open
Don’t buy one backup drive. Buy several, preferably different types from different manufacturers. And don’t leave everything to your drives, subscribe to an online backup plan. Because sooner or later, you WILL experience a data loss event. Whether it’s a hardware failure, or software error (almost inevitable if you use a Windows PC), you’ll find yourself relying on copies you’ve made of all your precious data. Make it easy and allow yourself the option to restore from multiple sources. No backup solution is failsafe, so don’t put all your eggs in a single basket.
Both Mac and Windows have built-in software to make it easy to back up your computer. USE IT. Or use some software that comes free with whatever backup solution you buy. Speaking of which, here are your options:
Additional internal hard drive:
Advantages: Tidy, convenient, cheapest option possible if you install it yourself.
Disadvantages: Only really an option for desktop computers, not portable, so if your computer gets lost or stolen, so does your backup. So you’ll need another solution in addition to this.
External Desktop Hard Drive:
Advantages: Robust, reliable 3.5 inch high capacity drives, cheaper cost per gigabyte than a portable drive, can be transported for off-site backup, capacities go higher than portables.
Disadvantages: Not as portable as a 2.5 inch portable drive, requires own power supply, built-in fan is often quite noisy.
External Portable Hard Drive:
Advantages: Small and convenient, carry all your data in your pocket, usually no additional power source required.
Disadvantages: Normally more expensive than a same capacity desktop drive (especially multi-interface models), can be error-prone if allowed to get too hot due to the absence of an on-board fan.
USB Flash Drive:
Advantages: Dirt cheap for the lower capacity ones, ultimate portability and convenience, no cables, ultimate reliability due to solid state memory.
Disadvantages: Capacities are too low to use for serious backup, and the highest capacity models are pricey. Easy to lose due to small size, USB interface only.
Online backup and storage service:
Advantages: Just set it and forget it, no hard drive to lose or break, you’ll always have an off-site backup.
Disadvantages: Most services are not yet ready for prime time, the initial backup can take weeks to complete, not always as reliable as they should be, can slow your computer down quite considerably, requires permanent fast internet connection to be truly effective.
Conclusion
Tags: Data Security, IT, Online Backup
