A systematic computer backup plan can help you to save a lot of time and money, because data loss can happen at any time. If you don’t backup computers frequently, your business records and information could be deleted or corrupted without any warning.

You can lose critical business data due to a variety of reasons, including lightening, floods, power surges, virus attacks, and hard drive failures. A child could delete irreplaceable files while playing with your computer.

Data loss is bound to happen sooner or later and you need to be prepared for it. Create computer backup files of all your critical data at regular intervals and keep them at different locations. Frequent computer backups can help you to recover the important files quickly, if there is a sudden data loss.

Make a list of all the important files that you cannot afford to lose. Your list may include licensed software, bank records, financial data, e-mail addresses, calendar, digital photos, music, etc.

Backup copies of important files can be made to various types of external storage. The advantages and disadvantages of different types of external storage are mentioned here:

1. External drive: You can back up your data on a portable external drive, which can be easily removed in an emergency. Most of these drives come with software that will allow you to automate the computer data backup process. However, these drives are vulnerable to the same risks that can affect your computer.

2. CD-RW / DVD-RW: You will need to have a CD-RW or DVD-RW drive installed on your computer to make backup copies on CDs or DVDs, which are quite cheap. You can get rewritable ones, which can be used over again. A CD has a storage capacity of 700 MB and a DVD has a capacity of 4.7 GB.

However, it takes time to burn a CD or DVD and if you don’t do it frequently, your backup disks may be out of date if you lose data. These disks can also be accidentally overwritten.

3. USB flash drive: You can use these drives to backup critical files, though these tiny, portable drives that can be carried on key chains, they don’t have as much storage space as CDs or DVDs. You can get them in different capacities, ranging from 256 MB to 64 GB. You can modify or delete data stored on a USB flash drive as often as you want. However, these drives are easily lost due to their small size.

4. Instant recovery software: Instant recovery software can take multiple snapshots of your hard disk every few seconds. You can restore files or your entire system within seconds, if there is data loss caused by any type of software problem or virus. However, this software may not work if your hard disk fails and it is not a replacement for separate backups of critical data.

5. Online computer backup and storage: If you have Internet access, you can backup your computer online. You can store large amounts of data at a distant location and access it from anywhere in the world via the Internet.

Online storage and backup services usually install computer backup software on your computer that encrypts the data that you want to save and sends it to the storage facility via the Internet.

Initially, the online backup service will upload files that you want to backup and after that, it will only update the files whenever you make some changes in them.

Some service providers like Mozy offer free computer backup up to a certain limit, which may be 2 GB in some cases. If you need additional computer backup storage beyond that, you may have to pay a monthly amount for each computer.

However, you will need a fast Internet connection to backup your computer online, and it may still take a long time to upload all your files. Many people have concerns about unauthorized access to their files and worry about losing all their data if the service provider goes out of service.

If you need home computer backup for a few critical files, you can send them to a free e-mail service like Gmail. 

You need to have a computer backup system in place that automatically creates multiple backups, at different locations, at frequent intervals. Data loss is bound to happen, so you need to be prepared for it at all times.

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