How To Properly Back Up Your Data

Computers are great things, but if you are not backing up your data regularly, computers can be a pain. Losing important data can be an overwhelming situation, and in worse case scenarios, you can lose your job.  The reason you need to back up your data is because harrdrives fail all the time.  Even though the computer has become a lot more reliable over the years, it is virtually impossible to prevent computers from losing data.

The ideal way to ensure that you keep your data safe is by making backups on a regular basis. In general, you should back up your computer data at least once a week, with once per day being the recommended for those of you who work from your computer and are always creating new files.

When you create a backup of your entire hard drive, it will copy all of your information, so if something happens you’ll always have your data.  Doing a full backup of your hard drive is great, although it can be very time consuming.  To make matters worse, it is recommended that you create  a backup at least once a week.  On the other hand, if what you have on your computer is very important, you’ll find it more than worth the effort and time needed to back things up.

Another way you can back up your data, programs, and files, is to burn them directly to a data CD or DVD.  This way, you can select which files or folders you want to keep.  If you use CD/RW or DVD/RW disks, you can continue to add information to them when you create a backup.  If you don’t use the RW (re-writable) media, then you won’t be able to go back and add more information to the disc.

Burning data directly to discs are the method of backup that most people are using these days, although backing up the entire hard drive is the preferred way of backing up your data.  If you plan to use discs, you’ll need either a CD or DVD burner, which you can get for a great price these days.  The discs are cheap as well, which only makes this method of backing things up that much better.

Another way, which is gaining a lot of popularity is using online backup companies like the carbonite backup services, for example, to store your information online at a remote server. This is a great way to ensure that even if your house burns down, your data will be kept safe at an offsite location.

Backing up your data makes sense, and it is something that everyone should be doing all the time. Remember, if you back up your data, you will be able to avoid disaster when your harddisk crashes.