This question is asked very frequently and talked about often, but most people never get around to the task. I’ve heard people say, “I’m afraid to mess something up!”, “I thought the computer automatically backed up my data!”, “I don’t know how to back up my data!”, “I don’t have any important data!”, “I can’t afford to back up my data!”, and many other opinions and questions on this topic. A backup is a copy of your important data on a device or medium that is not located on your computer.
Backing up data has taken on several forms over the past several decades. Backup technologies include but are not limited to floppy disks, tape drives, zip disks, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, hard disks (both internal and external), USB flash drives, network attached storage (NAS), and servers.
Today the most common backup solutions include external hard drives, USB flash drives, and servers. Did you know popular cloud back up solutions are just servers that your computer has been granted access?
So, what backup solution should you be using? This depends largely on the amount of data you are using and if you are comfortable with your data residing out on the cloud. Another thing to consider is if you are trying to make images of your working system for restoration purposes.
Primarily, if you are concerned with storms such as hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes, etc. then you should consider services such as Microsoft’s OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, or Carbonite. If you are more interested in imaging solutions then using software such as Acronis Backup, Active Data Studio, etc. with an external hard drive would be more appropriate. Storing data on USB flash drives is a good consideration typically for smaller amounts of data.
If you are wondering which solution is the most reliable the answer would be to use a cloud solution. The companies that offer cloud backup solutions have a lot of servers and they have them more abundantly and redundantly. Are you interested in a backup solution? Contact Lucas Marketing and Tech Services to discuss your backup needs.