We have all been there ; we are working on that big proposal for our finals, we’re doing the finishing touches on that big project thats sure to get you that promotion, you are making the final edits for that client who is going to literally hand you a burlap bag with a money symbol-when it occurs.  It may be a hard drive crash, a power surge, a tremor or a direct slap from God I do not know-but all your work is gone and you did not back it up.  If you haven’t begun to feel that wave of icy shock and fear, then you have to prepare-because what will you do when it *does*?  I remember years back, I was finishing my final project for my 2-D Advertisement class, merely a stupid old timey rhetoric war poster.  It was raining very heavily and the thunder was getting louder, I saved my project under one or two separate titles but I wanted to have a backup-just in case.  I put my USB memory card in and did another fast save-literally a second before we had a brown out / power surge. 

That 2nd of darkness felt like a cold, numb, terrifying century.  When the light came back on and my computer commenced booting up all I could do was pray that my final was there and any damage wasn’t .  My last was on my computer, one of the saves anyhow.  The final was still intact on my USB, but 1/2 the other files were corrupted and that port was fried and has not worked since.  The hard drive itself went 2 weeks later , a week after I handed in my project.  I got fortunate, intensely fortunate.  Hopefully if it happens again I’ll be as fortunate.  But always  ‘hoping for the best’ is a very foolish course of action.  That’s’s like never wearing a helmet on a bike and hoping you can never get hurt if you hopefully don’t fall-one search on Youtube proves you will get hurt when you fall off a bike.  Hilariously though, but still I am sure smashing your face on a concrete path hurts. 

Thankfully for those that do enjoy wearing wearing helmets while using our PCs ( or making your computers clumsily wear one ), there are dozens of options to make certain our files will be safe and backed up when the time comes.  Online backup is great to store your files, however it can be prices and you are restrained by the rate of your net and the size of your information.  If you’re happy to spend the scratch, it easy and convenient and always a comfort realizing that what ever you want should be available to you at all times-as long as an internet source in close.  Which naturally it always is, I adore living in THE FUTURE. 

Still, if you have got the art of funny coincidence and karma makes a decision to say Sup? when you’re backing up your data online-your doubly %$+.  And probably awfully short of a cuddle to boot. 
To avoid that rare disaster you can go with the classic methodology of offline data storage, the external disk drive.  Prices start for as little as under twenty bucks and you can purchase one just about anywhere, it’s truthfully one of those invests you will be thankful for. 

Any PC with USB or Firewire capacity will see the external disc drive as a storage device , and allot it a letter to designate it.  Anytime you plug it in, you fundamentally just deal with it like any standard drive.  You drag and drop what you need, it’s super easy to transfer huge files back and forth from work to home, to a friend’s house, or between your desktop and laptop.  It’s particularly useful if you tend to keep large amounts of photos, music, picture, or game files on your computer too.  Just treat your external like your attic, toss everything in there that you don’t really use or need-but your hoarder instinct is too dynamic to just delete them.  This way you get to fulfill your compulsion, your personal computer runs faster, and you all of a sudden have extra space to hoard more data!  Or you can use if for critical stuff like I discussed earlier, so that in an emergency your info will remain safe.  But I understand if that doesn’t slake your need to having floor to ceiling hard drives for your LOLcat addiction .

I work at Geek Choice, a nationwide computer repair company. We can help you with: Linksys Setup, Virus Removal, Spyware Removal, Computer startup problems, Printer not printing, Internet Connection Problems, and much more.

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Whether you are a student with school work to store or just someone looking for a place to keep your numerous photos, the best online backup services have a lot to offer you. If you  just want to make space on your hard drive for something else or if you are worried about possible damage to your files, you will find that the best place to  keep them is far, far away. Since most file backup companies have bunkers which are nearly impervious to outside disasters, there really is no safer place  that you can put your important files. But finding the company that works best for you can be a bit of a challenge unless you know what to look for.

First is the price. Most online backup services are priced about the same, around per month, which you can opt to pay monthly or at the discounted annual fee. But that’s just for the basic service. You can also avail of other additional services like network backup for an added fee. On the other hand, there are also online backup services that come for free, for some companies on a limited trial basis, and for others, for a limited storage capacity. While these offers are not uncommon and are done for promotional purposes, be wary of those backup services that are offered at no cost at all. While they need not cost a lot, the online backup solutions shouldn’t come totally free or you would wonder how the company can give trustworthy service.

Getting immediate access to your files may not really be extremely important to you. For instance, if you are simply looking for a space to store your photos in, you do not always need them at a moment’s notice. Nevertheless, if you are a student or a businessman, you need a service which does not ask you to wait for a day before you can retrieve your files. Different companies provide different levels of access to the files that you store – which is why getting one which perfectly suits your needs is highly important.

And then you also have to think about the actual software that you’d need to install on your computer. Is it user-friendly enough for you? Would you have to deal with a lot of technical stuff that you’re not comfortable with. Most backup software are designed to be as simple and convenient as possible for the user but you’d need to find out which you would be most happy to work with. Remember that online backups are there to make backing up your data easier without having to go through hoops for it. The best online backup services make sure you get that.

Lastly, you need a secure service. Most companies offer encryption of your stored information as it travels between your computer and theirs. However, some companies can offer more than that. You can find companies which scatter your files across their services making it impossible for any outsider to decipher any important information. You may also choose to put a password on your files. All these added services work together to give you the top-level security that you need. But to make sure that a service is right for your needs, just read a few reviews, like the Carbonite review.

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For some people, backing up computer information does not seem very necessary. After all, they’re not bankers or government officials with millions of important information to protect. However,  personal e-mails, pictures and notes on your drives should not be taken any less seriously. Just like a banker’s file of finances, every personal file of photo or of just about anything can hold wonderful memories of you and your loved one. Losing these things may not have a great impact on anyone else but you owe it to yourself to protect these important bits of info and backup your computer. Ensuring the safety of your data is very important especially in the digital age when every person can put so much about himself on his computer.

Traditional ways of backing up one’s files have been developed over the years, and for many people, these seemed to work just fine. A widespread backup method used is buying a large stack of floppy disks or more recently CDs, copying your files into them, labeling all disks for organization and for easier retrieval when the need arises, and finally, storing away everything. You somehow manage to successfully make backup copies of your files but it took a lot of time and effort. Plus, with this method, there’s really no guarantee that a few years down the road, you’ll still have files to retrieve. This type of file storage devices are susceptible to damage caused even by the smallest amounts of water, some scratches, or exposure to magnets.

But technology has come a long way when it comes to storage space. Now, you can buy external hard drives which will plug in to almost any computer you can find and work immediately. And all of your data is organized in folders, just like on your home computer’s built-in drive. No more digging through stacks of CDs and floppies. You can also get these drives in sizes that were unheard of until recently. Some drives can hold multiple terabytes of information, more than almost anyone could possibly need. For instance one terabyte drive could store over 200,000 photos at 5 megabytes each.

The thing is though, external hard drives don’t come cheap and while it gives you a convenient way to keep your files safe, not everyone is sold out on using it. Some people think that external drives are good only for those with technical background.

For these types of computer users, a good option for ensuring that your data is safe from all possible causes of data loss would be to avail of online backup services being offered by many companies, one example of which is Carbonite online backup. With this backup method, you don’t need to be a techie because most of these online storage solutions are very user-friendly. And, you get the assurance that your data is being kept away from prying eyes using advanced encryption technology and stored in servers located in a protected area.

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Losing all the information that you have on your computer can be devastating, whether it be your personal computer or your business pc. At least when at work you are able to call your IT Support Company and hopefully they will be able to rescue your PC by using an online backup, but as a home pc user you do not always have that luxury. Whilst it is possible to recover data after a disaster such as a hard drive crash, this is not always the case. Corrupt files can cause havoc on your home pc. 

Some scenarios where data could be lost include, but not limited to,

1. Virus attacks
2. Hardware malfunction
3. Human error
4. Natural disaster
5. Theft
6. While Deleting Programes
7. Other unpredictable causes

For small, medium and large businesses data backups and data recovery stratergies and the IT tools they use to do this are essential to their survival, they refer to this as Business Continuity or Disaster Recovery, a term you are sure to have heard before.

What Should I Backup On My Personal Computer?
A question that is often asked is “what should be backed up?”
The answer is simple, any and everything that is of value to you which may include

1.personal data
2. pictures
3. emails
4. documents and other files

You should also have copies of all software that you use including relevant serial numbers.

When Should I Backup My Personal Computer?
How often you backup your personal computer depends on how often you use it. It is important to back up any important folders or files whenever a major software change is made, or new folders and files are created that are of value to you. 
 
A full backup should be made of all your documentation and then periodic backups should be made when data changes. The period of time depends on how often changes are made and how crucial the data is.

Types of Backup for Personal Computers
There are three main types of backup with other strategies using a combination of at least two of them.

Full backup: a complete set of all the files that you want backed up. A full backup will provide a complete copy of all your data and makes restoring easier if only certain files are to be restored. A full backup is only performed occasionally.

Full backups take a long time to complete because of the amount of data and take up the most storage space on the backup media. Redundant backups are stored on the server taking up valuable space. You need to keep at least two consecutive full backups.

Differential backup: this backs up those files that have changed since the last full backup and should be on a regular basis. Differential backups are faster and take up less space than a second full backup. The problem with differential backups is that redundant information is stored as each backup is similar to the previous one plus any changes that have been made since the previous backup. Subsequent backups will take longer as more files are changed since the last full backup.

Incremental backup: this is a backup of any changes to files since the last backup of any type. If a full backup is created every month and incremental backups run daily, only data changed that day will be backed up. This is different to differential backups that would create larger and slower backups. Taken over a one-month period, this could use a lot of storage.

With incremental backups, it is possible to backup multiple versions of the same folder. The downside for incremental backups is slower restoration. To restore incrementally, the last full backup is restored and then each subsequent backup in the correct order until the data is restored.

Although it takes longer, if you do not expect to restore on a regular basis, incremental backups from an offsite server is your best option.

Where Should I Backup My Personal Computer?

A copy of your operating system and applications should be onsite in case of the need to restore a failed hardware or operating system. It is not necessary to keep a copy of data backup’s onsite as this leads to complacency and a loss of all your data should disaster strike.

It is foolhardy to have backups in the same location as the original data. A flood or fire could mean losing all the data. Leaving backups with friends or neighbours is not an ideal solution either as a loss of data could lead to a loss of friendship.

Backups are more secure it a remote location. Many hosts and ISP’s provide backup and data storage at a minimal price. Restoration from a remote backup server is easy and painless.

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If you’re interested in using online backup solutions and are concerned of the technical difficulties you might encounter, you would be happy to know that it’s really quite simple to restore files from Carbonite. Most of us think that tinkering with our computer hardware needs a lot of technical wisdom. The same is true with a new program or software. With Carbonite backup however, doing data backup and recovering the data when the need arises involves processes that are very easy to follow even for novice computer users.

If you are ever faced with the task of restoring your files after reformatting your hard drive or after a computer crash, the first thing you would need to do is download the Carbonite software again. As soon as you do this, the setup wizard will ask you to choose from two options – restore your files later or restore your files now. If you choose to retrieve them right there and then, you will then be asked if you prefer the files downloaded to their original locations, or choose specific files for specific users. Most users would choose option one but even the more advanced option is not that difficult to follow.

However, if you only want to restore a single file or an older version of a file, you have options there as well. Since Carbonite is listed under My Computer as a virtual drive, you can open it and navigate it just like any other drive. Once you have opened it, you simply have to find the file you want to restore. Click Restore to send it back to its original location or click Restore To if you want to send it somewhere else. You also have to choice to retrieve previous versions of files by clicking the Restore Previous Version option. Carbonite will save older versions for up to three months.

However, you are also bound to discover some drawbacks to Carbonite as well. You will not be able to restore files from Carbonite very quickly if they are huge. A file that is a few hundred megs could take hours or even days depending upon the speed of the servers. Carbonite servers can be fairly slow, but that is how they are able to offer such an affordable price. In the event of a system crash, where you lose all of your data, you may not care if it is slow so long as you get all of your files back. However, if you need to restore an important document very quickly, you may be left waiting for a bit.

Carbonite is far from perfect, but it could be the best option you have. It has its flaws yes, but for the fee they are charging, they are entitled to some. Other companies offer practically the same services, but at a price ten times higher. Plus, you won’t need to jump through hoops when you restore files from Carbonite so on the whole, you get everything you would need from an online backup service.

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We know your wondering why would you use the Internet as a backup method. Well, there are a great deal of reasons. First, if you back up your data on the Internet, you dont need any additional software or hardware. If you have an Internet connection, you’re ready.  Second, your files will be available to you anywhere as long as you have an Internet connection.And by using proper precautions and encryption your data will be safe and secure.

The Internet has thousands of pedabytes of disk space available, and there are several good services you can find that specialize in Internet backup.I pay about $4/month for over 30 Gigs of data.Now I have over 40% of my allocated backup space available for added data at a low cost.

The first step is to decide which service is best for you.Most of the “free trial” providers are way more expensive each month that the providers that use simple pricing.So you can do a little homework and get a better deal by discovering and joining a site with great features and no hidden expenses.It will save a fair amount of money for you in the end. With all the product review sites, blogs, comparison sites, etc. it’s easy to make an informed decision.

So now, you’ve decided which service provider you’ll use. Now you need to transfer files that are important and that you want in your backup. Providers that have software to make backups easy for you also tend to be the best Internet backup providers as well. and will automatically upload files after they’ve been encrypted for security. As you can see what I described so far the best backup sites are very easy to use.And the best ones will be full featured on all systems (Windows, MAC, and Linux).

The basic reason is that you’ll go somewhere else if they make it too hard for you to use. Just as in any business the market is a competitive one and services who don’t have a rich feature set or are only providing services for Windows or MAC, etc. generally arn’t very stable and may not even exist in a few months. Therefore, make sure they support Windoes, MAC, and Linux.  If they’re serious about their business they will. 

So, now you have a good outline of what to look for with Internet backups, here’s some basic questions you need to ask.

Do they provide free software to do the dirty work for you?

Do they provide all features on MAC, Windows, and Linux?

Can you keep all your systems backed up with a single user account?

What kind of Internet backup is it? How often can you back up?

Do they protect your files with encryption? You must have encryption (preferably 256bit AES) for maximum security.

You have other issues that are important to you.But by doing a little research and answering these few questions will help you discern between “the men and the boys”.

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We would all like to think that we are immune to a system failure and that our trusty computers will just keep on going without a hint of a problem. Sadly regardless of whether you’re are a home or business user, systems are prone to boot up failures and these often result in unexpected data loss of varying degrees.

If you have been here before then at least you will have a vague or depending on your experience a deeper level of knowledge here, but for many potential data loss scenarios are a new computing horror to overcome, so what typically should we be looking out for?

Computer starts up but never reaches the login window: When this happens there are a number of potential problems that can be to blame, these range from hardware issues relating to the hard disk drive, down to driver incompatibility or the loss of important system files. Sometimes the problem can be resolved by booting up in Safe Mode, however, not always.

Computer starts to become slow: When we first get our new computer there is very little on it when it comes to programs and games for example, and over time the operating system due to the way it is designed becomes cluttered. Registry repair utilities can help operating system problems but data loss is always a risk. In extreme circumstances a total ODS re-install is the best option.

Viruses, trojans and malware: Unless you are sat behind the strongest firewalls known to man, or are not connected to the internet or share any files then your computer will always be at the risk of data loss due to these rogue programs. In extreme cases the only rectifiable solution is a totally fresh install.

So what are the options here once the problem has arrived, and how can we avoid any form of data loss when in a lot of circumstances the only answer is to wipe our system and start from fresh?

The Key, wherever possible, and where there is no hard disk drive fault requiring professional data recovery services is simple: Backup! Sounds simple enough if the drive is working fine, but not enough people do it.

External hard drives can be purchased in most computer shops now days and a quick search online for online backup will also give you a number of remote back up options.

So what options do you have to get your important or vital data back? If things seem really bad and saving the data is crucial, don’t take any risks and contact a data recovery specialist. They will have a whole host of solutions available to save your data and whilst it cannot be guaranteed, they do stand the best chance of success.

You can find more great advice on data recovery and in particular for businesses raid data recovery here.

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