By Sonam Sawlani
EchoSonam@gmail.com
Before we continue to indulge in using our computers to shop, work, and play, let’s face it – computers are not perfect – files do become corrupt someday and motherboards eventually begin to malfunction.
While computers today have become a bigger part of life than ever before – replacing stereos, encyclopedias, and even, the postman, we also have to understand that they do fail on us dependable beings.
Time and again, we hear fellow friends regretting upon losing their files due to system crashes or computer viruses. So if you do not want to accumulate all the e-mail addresses from your friends all over again, lose a to-do note, a nice picture that someone had sent, a game which took you weeks or months to get to a certain level, or even, a document for work – like a presentation, then backup your data! By backing up your files, you are storing your files separately from your computer that will give you access to your files on backup disks or other online backup means.
However, common excuses such as “I’m too busy to backup my computer”, “I don’t know how to backup data” or “My computer won’t crash” continue to live on. Well, do not fall into the old paradigm of “it’s not going to happen to me” because if something does happen, you will certainly be glad that you have done a backup.
“I always thought I was a responsible user and that nothing would happen to my computer – but one day, it just crashed! I lost a lot of important data and business contacts,” said 32 year-old product executive, Elaine Leong.
Another common cause of loss of data is physical failure of the media the data is stored on. Most of us probably have everything saved on the hard drive of our computers but that hard drive is not going to live forever. Hard drives eventually die – gradually or even suddenly, when the hard drive simply dies without warning the user.
Power failure or spikes are also possible causes of data loss. They can result in loss of the document you are working on at that moment because you did not save it constantly before the power failed and the computer shut down.
There is a variety of backup software available suited to different natures of computer usage. CD-Rs are an excellent method for backing up files. You could buy a million discs or perhaps invest in a larger-capacity external Zip drive.
Online backup is yet another excellent method. This allows you to store your files online, where you can simply download your files back onto your computer whenever you want. While one can continue to use physical media forms to backup data, there are more advantages to why you should opt for an online form of backup.
Firstly, your data is stored offsite. It is important to store your data away from the building that currently houses the data. For example, if your house were to be on fire and your computer is destroyed, you can still recover your backed up data since it was stored outside of your house.
Secondly, your data will always be accessible with an Internet connection. You will not have to search for a specific CD or retrieve the USB flash drive. As long as you are connected to the Internet, your data is available.
Thirdly, your backed up data will be secured. Online backup providers usually encrypt your data on your local machine before sending it to their servers. The transfer is done over a secure SSL connection and remains encrypted on their servers so your data cannot be read.
Also, your data is automatically backed up as many online backup providers supply a small executable that runs in the background on your computer. When your computer is not in use, these applications will automatically read the files you specified to be backed up, and then backup the new or changed files. In other words, this saves you from remembering to backup your data.
Lastly, online backup is definitely affordable. It is not difficult at all to find online backup providers that offer a few gigabytes of free storage space. Others may charge a small fee for unlimited storage space.
While there are many means to backup your data, online servers are definitely the easiest methods, keeping your data safe.
If you think your computer has been good all this while so you do not have to worry about backup – think again. You wear your seat belt even though you are not expecting a car to crash each day. Today, we live in a high-tech world full of sneaky spyware and venomous viruses which increases danger of data loss than ever before.
EchoSonam@gmail.com
Before we continue to indulge in using our computers to shop, work, and play, let’s face it – computers are not perfect – files do become corrupt someday and motherboards eventually begin to malfunction.
While computers today have become a bigger part of life than ever before – replacing stereos, encyclopedias, and even, the postman, we also have to understand that they do fail on us dependable beings.
Time and again, we hear fellow friends regretting upon losing their files due to system crashes or computer viruses. So if you do not want to accumulate all the e-mail addresses from your friends all over again, lose a to-do note, a nice picture that someone had sent, a game which took you weeks or months to get to a certain level, or even, a document for work – like a presentation, then backup your data! By backing up your files, you are storing your files separately from your computer that will give you access to your files on backup disks or other online backup means.
However, common excuses such as “I’m too busy to backup my computer”, “I don’t know how to backup data” or “My computer won’t crash” continue to live on. Well, do not fall into the old paradigm of “it’s not going to happen to me” because if something does happen, you will certainly be glad that you have done a backup.
“I always thought I was a responsible user and that nothing would happen to my computer – but one day, it just crashed! I lost a lot of important data and business contacts,” said 32 year-old product executive, Elaine Leong.
Another common cause of loss of data is physical failure of the media the data is stored on. Most of us probably have everything saved on the hard drive of our computers but that hard drive is not going to live forever. Hard drives eventually die – gradually or even suddenly, when the hard drive simply dies without warning the user.
Power failure or spikes are also possible causes of data loss. They can result in loss of the document you are working on at that moment because you did not save it constantly before the power failed and the computer shut down.
There is a variety of backup software available suited to different natures of computer usage. CD-Rs are an excellent method for backing up files. You could buy a million discs or perhaps invest in a larger-capacity external Zip drive.
Online backup is yet another excellent method. This allows you to store your files online, where you can simply download your files back onto your computer whenever you want. While one can continue to use physical media forms to backup data, there are more advantages to why you should opt for an online form of backup.
Firstly, your data is stored offsite. It is important to store your data away from the building that currently houses the data. For example, if your house were to be on fire and your computer is destroyed, you can still recover your backed up data since it was stored outside of your house.
Secondly, your data will always be accessible with an Internet connection. You will not have to search for a specific CD or retrieve the USB flash drive. As long as you are connected to the Internet, your data is available.
Thirdly, your backed up data will be secured. Online backup providers usually encrypt your data on your local machine before sending it to their servers. The transfer is done over a secure SSL connection and remains encrypted on their servers so your data cannot be read.
Also, your data is automatically backed up as many online backup providers supply a small executable that runs in the background on your computer. When your computer is not in use, these applications will automatically read the files you specified to be backed up, and then backup the new or changed files. In other words, this saves you from remembering to backup your data.
Lastly, online backup is definitely affordable. It is not difficult at all to find online backup providers that offer a few gigabytes of free storage space. Others may charge a small fee for unlimited storage space.
While there are many means to backup your data, online servers are definitely the easiest methods, keeping your data safe.
If you think your computer has been good all this while so you do not have to worry about backup – think again. You wear your seat belt even though you are not expecting a car to crash each day. Today, we live in a high-tech world full of sneaky spyware and venomous viruses which increases danger of data loss than ever before.
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