It is hard to believe that even though so much depends on information technology that few people have reliable, tested backups of their most important data. If you haven’t thought about it for awhile, take a few moments to consider how bad things would be if your computer wouldn’t start. If you are a portable computer user, think of the horror if your machine was damaged or lost or stolen. How would you function? Would you loose a day or more of productivity?
If your office computers are linked together, then there is a potential for a bigger problem if the main system or server isn’t backed up. If one machine has all the data for all the users in the office and it doesn’t start one morning there could be a big problem.
The good news is that the cost to back up a computer isn’t that great. Gone are the days of tapes and special software and hardware that were needed to archive and retrieve information. These methods are still around and are used, but they are not as simple and cost effective as newer methods.
External Drive Backup
A very easy and inexpensive way to back up your system comes in the form of the external hard drive. These drives are available for around $100 and hold anywhere from 500 MB to 2 TB (Terabytes) of information. This is a size usually way larger than most hard drives in computers. These drives plug in to the USB ports on the outside of the machine. The external drive has a separate power supply, so it is independent of the machine it is plugged into. Once plugged in, the drive installs some software (a driver) and then appears in the file manager of the machine as another drive letter. It is then easy to drag and drop files from the computer to this portable drive. There are several methods to automate this process so the backup can run on a schedule.
Outside Backup Service (in the Cloud)
Another popular method is to pay for an outside service to download your data and store it on their servers. You end up paying for the number of computers that connect, and the quantity of data that is stored. Of course you need to be a little concerned about what kind of information is transmitted to the cloud. Some people feel a bit scared about putting their personal information into an outside server that they don’t control.
These are just two of the quickest methods to backup your data. Of course you need the automated process to back up the information, as well as a test to make sure it works. Additionally, if you have several devices, or mobile devices, there needs to be a back up for them as well.
Please make sure that your most important data is backed up, and contact us today on (201) 796-7967 or chat with us below so we can make sure you are ready for any disaster.
