In my Strategic Management class at Liberty University, the phrase “location, location, location” highlighted the importance of picking the right venue for location-driven businesses. To borrow the concept, “backup, backup, backup.” Since all computers are driven by digital data, backups are muy importante. Backing up your data folders takes a small amount of time to setup, doesn’t cost much, and is priceless when it comes to a computer crash or theft.
Now for a short real-world scenario…I recently attempted to recover an old Mac drive that decided to retire. The drive contained over seven years of recordings, compositions, and other artist projects. I attempted all my usual tricks but the mechanical failure on the drive spindle prevented me from getting any data. As I am not one to tear apart hard drives (not to mention that I did not have a drive old enough to match), I suggested that my only recourse was to use Drive Savers or some other data recovery outfit. My only experience with Drive Savers had a price tag of just under $4000 for a SCSI drive recovery. According to a sales rep, a regular IDE / SATA drive runs around $700 - $2400.
After the drive crash, I started going over some simple backup procedures to follow.
- Figure out what is most important to you. In most cases, backing up your data(documents, music, favorites, pictures) works fine.
- Find a place to backup the data.
o External hard drives run less than $100 (purchase at your favorite flavor of retailer).
o If you don’t have one, another computer on a home network (with enough space) can provide an alternative.
o Various online applications like staunchsystems.com, skydrive.live.com, and carbonite.com provide online (cloud-based) solutions for different pricing levels. Notably, Staunch Systems will do full computer backups while Skydrive and Carbonite only provide data backups. Great for laptops on the go.
- Figure out a frequency. I do one every night and archive backups for a month (i.e. I can go back to one I did three weeks ago and get a file I erased)
- Schedule the backup to run automatically BUT be sure to run a manual backup at least once a month (or more frequently depending on the importance of your data). The manual backup provides a quick test to make sure all is okay with the backup drive(s).
A bunch of programs exist for performing backups of sensitive data. Most operating systems have built-in methods for performing the backups. I’ve listed a few of the ones I use for clients.
Acronis True Image
Goodsync (used mostly for laptops, provides automatic backup of data when specific networks are connected)
Various other built-in apps
I use others but just listed my favorites.
That is a great post Jonathon... For .47/GB you can download StaunchBACKUP Express which will backup your files offsite automatically offsite with a 30 day retention. Simply install, create an account, and select the file you want backed up. It supports Continuious Data Protection which can allow you to roll back your computer to the minute if needed.
ReplyDeleteSo, it's just .47 per month? I noticed your site mentioned the $5 setup fee and the $1.50 per month. I only ask so that I know what to tell customers about pricing.
ReplyDelete