Bay of Isles Computers
63B Dempster Street
Esperance WA 6450
Ph: 08 9071 5542
Fax: 08 9071 5549
boic@boic.net.au
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Home Computer Backup TipsA power spike, a system failure, a destructive virus, a lost laptop or a thief - any of these can see the loss of all those wedding photos, or the music files that you paid so much for from i-tunes. Tax records, personal data, anything you value can be lost in an instant.The computer or laptop itself is easy to replace, but your precious files are almost impossible. While ultimately you can try to recover your files through data recovery or something of the like, this is a very time-consuming and expensive process and one that you cannot perform yourself unless you are an experienced computer technician. How often do you want to back up your files? That's simple. As soon as you have data that you do not want to lose, it is time to back it up. So that means whenever you download your photos from your camera, or create any sort of valuable file. What backup options are available for the home user? Backing up for most households really just means making a copy of the data you don't want to lose and putting it somewhere other than on your computer. The following are commonly used options. Follow the links for a discussion of the pros and cons of each method.
For small amounts of backup, a flash drives can hold typically anything up to 2 Gb depending on their size. The data is always manipulable and when the flash stick is plugged into the USB port, the computer reads the drive just like any other drive on it. Copying files to flash sticks is extremely easy and quick. Easily the fastest way to do home backups. Flash drives are usually very small and easily misplaced as a consequence. However their inexpensive price allows the home user to buy more than one for backup purposes. If the amount of data needing to be backed up is more than about 2 Gb, then an external plug in hard drive is another option. These drives can be as large as you want, typically around 200 - 250 Gb, more than the size of many computer hard drives. They thus allow for a huge amount of backup data to be stored. They plug in via USB ports and make copying and backing up files a breeze. The external hard drives usually have a carry case that makes them easy to remove from the premises for secure storage. They are not as easily lost as the smaller flash drives, being about the size of a video tape and easily affordable. Floppy disk backup is becoming obsolete It used to be that when you wanted to backup your files, you simply popped a floppy disk into your computer, saved your files then popped the disk out. However, floppy disks are becoming less and less common and will very likely be obsolete in a few years, if not sooner. It is not uncommon to walk into a computer store these days and not see a single computer that contains a floppy disk drive. While it is still possible to use floppies for backup these days, remember that they only hold 1.4 Mb of data and that is likely to be inadequate for most households these days. If you are just getting into the backup game it might be wiser to choose another option. CDs & DVDs CD-Rs and CD-RWs can have up to 700 Mb of storage space, hundreds of times that of a floppy disk. DVD-R and DVD-RW can have up to 4700 Mb, equal to thousands of floppy disks. All CDs and DVDs provide basically the same backup service. However the data is not as easily manipulated as a floppy disk. CD-R and DVD-R allow you to write data to the disk only once and it must be finalized before it can be read on any computer. The finalizing process means that no more data or changes can be made to the material. CD-RW and DVD-RW are reusable, however you still cannot manipulate individual files on the disks. If you wish to update the backed up data you have to recreate the entire contents of the disk. Both CDs and DVDs are risky for long term storage. A single mishandling can ruin the whole disk making the data irretrievable. The quality of the disks also varies, with some brands lasting longer than others before the surface begins to deteriorate resulting in a loss of data. Another drawback of CDs and DVDs is that some media drives in some computers will not read some brands of disk. Also a disk created in one PC may sometimes be illegible in any other computer. Are these risks you are willing to take with your precious data? Tape Backup Tape backup drives were really great options for hardcore computer users back in the early 90's. The ability to store several gigabytes of data on a tape cartridge was something envied by every computer geek alive. Fortunately, 1992 has passed and it is now 2006, and in this current year computer users have several other options to consider besides old tape backup drives. Tape backup drives are not only expensive, but incredibly slow. The tapes for the drives are also hard to locate and very expensive when compared to other media. Zip and Jaz Drives Zip disks hold between 100 and 750 Mb of data. Jaz disks hold 1 or 2 Gb of data. Both types of disk allow the individual files to be manipulated just like the old floppy disks. The Zip or Jaz drive can be either installed to the computer like a floppy drive or the external type can be plugged into a USB2 port. The disks however are easily damaged by exposure to the electromagnetic fields emitted by a variety of devices in the home. The technicians in our workshop also report that they see many failures of the external drives after about one year. There is occasionally difficulty in reading the material using a drive other than the one that formatted the disk and wrote the original data. Network storage If your computer is on a network at home, data can be easily copied from one computer to another. If this is an option in your home, having two computers with the data you don't want to lose is a much safer option should one computer fail. However a storm and power surge may destroy more than one computer on the network. A fire or flood or viruses can also cause equal damage to more than one computer. Online storage One of the growing tools with the growth of the internet is that of online backup. Online backup allows you to store your files online in reserve apart from your computer in case the worst happens. Then, you will be able to download your files just as you saved them and restore your computer to normalcy with all of your files returned. This is a very powerful backup method, and also has the bonus feature of allowing you to access your files from any computer in the world by downloading them onto whichever system you are currently using. With new features being added to online backup systems all the time, and with storage amounts and uploading ease increasing as well, online backup can be a powerful solution for all of your backup needs. When you backup your files on the internet, you are storing them on an online server which is separate from your computer. It works essentially as an internet drive which you can always reach through the internet. All you need to do is go to the internet address where your online drive is found, log in with your username and password and you can access all of the files that you have backed up through the internet. However, in order to use this system, you must have access to the internet when you need it. It also requires you to register with the company and install software that they provide. You have to pay a monthly rental fee for the space on the server and then you have to hope that the service company will not go broke and go out of business taking all your data with it. Conclusion Back up options can be confusing to the home user. You will choose the option that is most convenient for you no doubt. However to be really certain of the security of your precious data, an external hard drive is the best option. Don't leave it plugged into the machine, just plug it in when you want to back up, copy and then put the hard drive somewhere safe and climatically stable. For small amounts of backup, a flash drive is a great option, but put it somewhere safe also. And don't do it next week, do it today. |
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63B Dempster St Esperance WA 6450 Ph: 08 9071 5542 Fax: 08 9071 5549
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