Are Offsite Data Backups Really Neccesary ? « LifeSnips

I’ve had some bad luck lately with technology, but thankfully back-ups saved me from any data loss. If there is one thing I can’t say enough to friends, family and even co-workers, it is “backup your important data”.

These days, with double-digit megapixel digital cameras on the market, video cameras being attached to nearly every phone, and documents and PDF’s everywhere, backing up your important data might seem more complicated than ever, but thankfully, there are a number of tips, tricks, and tutorials that will make saving the digital bits of information that are most precious to you both fast and easy.

Services

Backupify
Dropbox
Mozy
Jungle Disk
Carbonite
Amazon
Gmail

Hardware

Second Internal Hard Drive
External Hard Drive
DVD’s and USB thumb drives

Software

CrashPlan
Cobian Backup
SyncBack
Acronis True Image
GFI Backup

The Extreme Solution

If your business depends on safe data, then learn from a business owner friend of mine. Get a safety deposit box, a multi-hard drive network attached storage device or two, and keep multiple copies of your data at home, as well as a copy of your most important data off site each day. You drop off one hard drive and pick up the stored hard drive each morning on your way to work, making your data more safe than if it was just on one or two drives, and just in one place.

Q&A

How often should I backup my data? – Each file you create has a different value to you, and as such, you’ll want to take that into account, but I would say that you should have a backup done once a day, maybe after your nightly virus scan (which I am sure you are all doing). Some people have the technology and software to sync files as they are changed, which is usually ideal, but again, it depends on how often you use your computer and change files. The important factor is to find ways to minimize possible data loss. You don’t want to have those pictures you just took on your vacation vanish into a digital black hole, unless you are rich enough to go back, and re-take them all.

What is the biggest limitation in creating a backup solution? – Usually it is about how much you can afford. People are usually really hesitant to spend money on a data redundancy or backup solution assuming that they’ll never lose anything important, but with more and more of our lives being put onto computer hard drives, it is imperative that we all strive to find the best solution we can that still fits our budget. If you can’t afford much, buy a USB thumb drive, and subscribe to an inexpensive web backup service. These are usually cheaper than other hardware methods, but aren’t usually as versatile and helpful as more expensive solutions.

The essential thing is that your most important, most relevant data is being backed up. It could mean the difference between losing days and even months of hard work. So yes Offsite Backups are really neccesary!

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