Why Backing Up Your Data is Important

There are a lot of people who do not insure their PC data by backing it up. This month I want to focus on methods you can use as well as programs and services you can use to accomplish this simple yet lifesaving task. The first thing you need to do is figure out what data you actually want to back up. Most people the contents of My Documents, their outlook data, their address book, their favorites, computer settings, email attachments, and their financial data. Make sure you put ALL your data in the My Documents folder first since this will make it easier to back up just the one folder rather then searching your entire hard drive for your files. If you want to keep your entire hard drive backed up once a month on a recordable CD, try Norton Ghost 2009 from Symantec. (www.symantec.com) it comes bundled with the Norton 360 Version 3.0 product. This program will allow you to back up just your entire hard drive to an image file you can burn to several DVDs or flash drive. You will need about 5 for a typical 25 GB of data. More if you use a 20 or even 100 GB drive. DVD Double Layer backups are here so now you can save money buy buying 5 DVD-RW disks rather then 100 CD-RWs.!

For those who only want to keep your data intact, there are a couple a free solutions you can use if you use Windows XP or Vista (Business Edition). On your start menu under accessories/system tools there is a program called files and settings wizard. This will back up your profile and all the files under it to either a space on your hard drive or a floppy disk (if you still own one of those, otherwise use a thumb drive). Do not use this method for everyday backups because if you hard drive crashes you will lose this data. These files require many floppies so unless you can back up the data to a network drive only use it if you are going to turn around and burn on a CD the contents of this back up file. Another free method is for MS Office 2003/2007 users. This program uploads your settings for your email to your Windows Live account. It only last for 3 months a time so remember to upload your data often to renew the subscription. You will be waned when it is about to expire.

Now for those who don't mind investing some money here are some products and services you can use to keep you data safe and secure

1. Han-Soft Automatic backup (www.han-soft.com) This program will automatically backup your requested data to a network drive or CD disk on a scheduled time. It works great and is easy to use. Just make sure you have the CD-RW disk in your drive when the backup is schedule to begin. $28.95

2. Norton Ghost 2009- (www.symantec.com) as I mentioned above use this to back up the entire hard drive. If the pc crashed you can reload this image file to get your exact copy of your computer before it crashed. It eliminates the need to reinstall windows and all your programs. The newest version now allows scheduled backups as well as not having to reboot the computer to complete the backup process $79.95

3. Pulkin Computer Services- (www.pulkin.com) Wayne Pulkin will give you the opportunity to back up your data offsite. Using a program similar to Iomega he will set aside space on his secure encrypted server to back up as much or as little data you want. New to this service is the ability to have the option of backing up to his offsite server OR to your DVD, CD or tape backup locally!

Please use any one of these methods to back up your data. It would be a shame to see everything you worked for go up in smoke and you were flying without a net.