Backup Your Computer

Most people don't understand how valuable the information on their computer is until there is a catastrophe. Your backup can stand between you and economic ruin if you are a business and heart break if you are a home user.

It is vitally important that you back up your computers. Even if you are a home user, you need to understand how your backup works. Knowing when and how your backup works is essential to the safe storage of your information and recovery in the event of a technological incident.

Most small businesses do the majority of their work on a computer. Even if the nature of your work is not computer related, the record keeping is probably on your computer. Your marketing information, customer contact information, correspondences, and contracts are probably also on your computer. That information can be extremely costly or impossible, not to mention time-consuming, to recreate.

I bet every home user has family pictures on their computer. Most of you keep your important family contacts on your computer. Many of you have tax information stored on your hard drive. Pictures, contacts and the rest are hard to replace. In a fire, you could lose those family pictures from your computer as easily as if they were made of paper.

I Have a Backup System Already

Even those who have a backup are vulnerable to losing their information if they are not using their backup properly or do not understand their backup. Here are the questions you need to answer to make sure your information is safe.

Do I have a backup? The right answer is yes. If you do not have a backup system it is important you get one right away.

What kind of backup do I have? There are lots of different kinds of backups. The most common type is the external hard drive but there are also tapes, CD, DVD and online backups. If you think you have one but don't know what kind, please call your tech right away to find out if you do.

When does my backup save my information? Most backups are set for a day and time you will not be using the computer but the computer is on. The computer must be on for the backup to run, no matter which kind of backup you have. It will not run when the computer is off. When your tech installed your backup system they probably asked you when your computer would be on but you wouldn't be working. At the end of the appointment they told you the time and day your computer's backup would run. If you don't know when and what time your backup runs, call us immediately.

Does my computer have to be on for my backup to run? Yes. All backup systems require the computer to be on. There is no way for the backup to access your information if the computer is not on.

If my computer was off during a scheduled backup, will it remind me when I turn my computer on? No, it will not remind you. It will wait for the next scheduled date to run the backup. If you only run your backup once a week, that means your backup will not be completed for at least two weeks.

Should I double check my backup? No matter what kind of backup you have, it is important to double check your backup and make sure it is still working and that your information has been backed up properly. If you do not know how to check, call your tech.

Should I get a different backup system? That depends on a lot of factors. Read through the different types of backups there are, the risks involved with each and our recommendations. If you are still confused, call and ask your tech to get more advice.

If you cannot answer each of these questions, give a call to your tech and they will do their best to explain your backup system.

I Don't Have a Backup System

What if I don't have a backup system? You are taking a monumental risk by not having a backup system. There is no way to sugar coat it. Once a hard drive (the part of your computer that stores information) fails, getting information off of it is challenging and extremely expensive.

Finding the Right Backup Type

What are the different kinds of backups? There are numerous different kinds of backups, it is about finding the one best suited to your needs.

CD or DVD: This type of back up requires a person to copy their information onto a CD or DVD.

Pros: This method is inexpensive and most computers have a CD or DVD burner.

Cons: It can be unreliable and it requires the person to remember to do the backups on a regular basis. Many hard drives are large enough now that it would require several CDs or DVDs to complete the backup, making the process challenging. You have to have a good understanding of where and how things are saved on your hard drive. To truly protect the information from natural disasters such as fire, it requires a trusted place away from your computer such as a safety deposit box or trusted friend's home because both the computer and the CD or DVD will be damaged in high heat or water.

Summary: It requires a great deal of effort to complete a small back up but if you create only a few documents or keep limited information on your computer or the information is not terribly valuable to you, you are diligent and routine about doing the back ups and you have enough knowledge to understand the backup process, it could work for you.

Tapes: Tape backups use tape to store information.

Pros: You can store backups for a long time and transport them easily from one location to another. They are easy to archive to keep track of previous saves.

Cons: This type of backup requires a person to remove and replace tapes at predetermined intervals. There are automated programs to do the backups without supervision but the tapes need to be changed out to preserve previous backups. To truly protect the information from natural disasters such as fire, it requires a trusted place away from your computer such as a safety deposit box because both the computer and the tape will be damaged in high heat or water. This backup can be expensive, depending on the number of tapes, their size, the kinds of computers, and the number of computers.

Summary: Tape backups are only right in limited situations. We would not recommend this type of back up for a home user. For a small business with a trusted staff member who can remember to change tapes regularly, it can be a reliable backup system.

External Hard Drives: An external hard drive is a hard drive kept in a case and connected to the computer, usually through a USB cable.

Pros: In the event your computer has an electrical problem inside, usually the external hard drive is undamaged. A program can be installed that automates the backup so you don't have to remember to do the backup.

Cons: An external hard drive will fail after three or four years. If we set the program to only do a weekly backup, you will have to remember to leave your computer on so the backup program can work. The external hard drive will not survive a fire or other natural disaster.

Summary: External hard drives are affordable, reliable and easy to grab in the event you need to in the event of a natural disaster.

Online Backups: Online backups use your high speed internet connection to send your information to servers in a different location through the internet.

Pros: Reputable online backups use high levels of encryption to protect your information while it travels across the internet and into their care. Most of these backup services have their software backup all day, while your computer is on. When you have little internet traffic, it takes the opportunity to run a backup. Your backups are always up to date as long as your configuration is set properly. This service is inexpensive, often costing a small business or home user $50 a year or less for the space necessary to store their information. In the event of a fire or other natural disaster your information will be safe, even if you are not geographically close to the host company's servers.

Cons: It requires a subscription to the service that ranges in cost depending on the amount of information you store, usually about $50 a year.

Summary: Online backups work continuously to make sure you are completely backed up with little to no interaction from you. That means you have to think less about it and it is more secure.

Recommendation: Online Backups

For all users, home or business, we suggest you use an online backup system. It is the cheapest, most reliable option and does not require you to remember times, dates or programs. It does require some knowledge of how your things are saved to make sure you set it to backup properly but after that, it works on its own.

If being able to recover your information immediately (within seconds) is a concern for you, we encourage you to also have an external hard drive.

Backup Failure Horror and Success Stories

The reasonably smart learn from their own mistakes but the truly wise learn from the mistakes and success of others! Here are stories of success and failure, you decide what to do with them.

Video: How drives fail

This guy lost his data twice!

5 ways backups fail.

$200,000 to restore data

Hurricane Katrina Success

Lessons of Katrina

Quickly Develop Disaster Plan

Lost her Christmas card list

Tips for Small Business Owners

Video: Drive failure sounds

13% of home users loose info

Computer company backup fail

Several Horror Stories

How much they spent to fix

Failure causes -500 Dow Jones

More learning from Katrina

Video broken hard drive

Video smoking hard drive

Sex and the City Backup Scene

Hard drive failure by Wiki

Early signs of hard drive failure

So much for that drive

Photographer saves information

Lost it all, found a few

Video: Why recovery is costly

Stages of hard drive death grief

Lost his wedding video

Poll: Has your backup failed?
Have a question? Write and ask.