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Thursday, December 6, 2007
Back up for a moment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Years ago I felt like a hypocrite when I urged readers to back up their computers. I didn’t do it very often myself.
In those days - unless you had one of the expensive external mass storage devices available then - back-ups were done on floppy disks. Backing up required feeding floppy disks into the machine as needed, like putting quarters in a slot machine. You had to sit in front of your computer the whole time. It was just too much trouble.
Nowadays, external hard drives are so inexpensive (I just bought a 250 gigabyte model for $100) that there’s really no excuse in failing to back up a computer. Heck, I even do it myself these days.
Today’s software pretty much automates the process. If you buy or own an external hard disk it will have its own back-up software. For instance, the $100 Maxtor One Touch 4 (I just bought it for my wife) has back-up software already loaded.
I recommend using the software that comes with your hard disk - with one exception: I really like the built-in back-up program that comes with Windows Vista. It works seamlessly. Windows XP has back-up software, but it’s not worth the trouble. And if you have the Home Edition of XP, you’ll need to install it from the CD. It does not install automatically when the Home Edition of XP is installed.
So far, this has been pretty simple. Get an external hard disk and use it. If that’s all you do, you’re in pretty good shape.
But for those of you with data that just can’t be replaced - maybe family photos, financial records, or the bookkeeping data for a small business - there are extra steps that lessen the chances of disaster.
Here’s why these extra steps may make sense. If a power surge or lightning strike hits your computer and the external hard disk is attached, odds are both the internal and external drives are gonna get fried. There goes your backup.
At home I use the next layer of protection by disconnecting the external hard disk after it backs up my machine. That’s more work. It means you have to start the backup myself, rather than let the automated software do it. Still, a lighting strike can’t hurt a disconnected external hard disk.
Even that’s not foolproof. If a tornado or a fire destroyed my house, I’d almost certaintly lose both my computer’s internal hard disk and the external one. The way around that: Online backup storage.
You can find several Web sites that store backups. You’d use the external hard disk but also store an extra back-up online. While some of these sites will store small amounts free, you’ll probably end up paying for the storage. I am not going to recommend a specific service since I haven’t used one myself in a while. But you can get a feel by visiting ibackup.com, usdatatrust.com or idrive.com. You can find more with Google.
Perhaps you like the idea of having a backup copy away from your home or business, but - for whatever reason - don’t want to use an online site. There is yet another way. Just buy two external hard disks and use one for a month, then swap it out for the second one for a month. Store the external drive that’s taking the month off with a family member, a trusted friend or at work. That gives you physical offsite storage.
Worst case, if disaster destroys your home, you have data that’s one month old.
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