Quite often, when somebody calls me they already have a fairly serious problem - something like their computer not booting for example. Most of the time this can be resolved without any data loss, but sometimes, if a critical component has failed, it can be too late to retrieve their data. That’s why backups are so important. Generally, we all have good intentions when it comes to backing up our data, and we plan to regularly manually copy things to an external hard drive or burn it to a disc. However, there are two problems with this approach: 1) it rarely gets done (if at all!) 2) In the worst case scenario of a fire or burglary, the chances are, your backup goes with the computer. That’s why I recommend a backup system that avoids these two pitfalls.
Firstly, it needs to be automated or unless you’re different to 99.99% of people, it probably won’t get done at all or at best will get done very rarely - meaning there’s a very good chance that the files you want aren’t included in your latest backup. Secondly, your backup should be kept somewhere different to where your computer is. In my opinion, the perfect way of doing this is to use an automated sytem that backs up your files remotely, so they’re stored on another computer which means in any situation, your files are always safe. There are many such services around, but I recommend Carbonite.
The main reasons I recommend it are because it’s so easy, it’s automated, and unlike most services, it offers pretty much unlimited storage space. I use it myself, which is probably the biggest recommendation I can give it! You can try it free of charge and see how easy it is to use. Either click on the link above, or the banner over to the right hand side of this page. If you decide to buy it, it then costs $49.95 for the first year and then they generally seem to offer you a discount if you choose to renew. If your data is important to you, then I’d say it’s a small price to pay for the peace of mind.
