Posted by: mattrmiller

There comes a time in every computer users life, where they will come face to face with the “Oh crap, my data is gone and my life is over” moment. I have seen the strongest, hairiest, men break down to rubble during this unhappy time; and let me tell you it’s not a pretty sight. Recent events with friends, family, and work have prompted me to write a little piece about backing up your data, in an attempt to spare you from this doom.

Before we get started, I want to cover some things you should know going into backing up your data.

1. No Data Is Permanent: It doesn’t matter what you think, or what you heard. The truth is, any data can be lost, stolen, destroyed, or corrupted. It doesn’t matter if your data is on a flash drive, it is just as easy to lose as any other form of data storage
2. It Will Cost Money: You can pay for your data in two forms: A) Before You Loose It: You can spend a little money up front to back up and keep safe the data you love, need, and rely on. B) After You Loose It: You can spend a lot of money for a data specialist to recover your data off of the drive that just went up in smoke. By the way, it is not always possible to recover any or 100% of your data.
3. Backing Up Is For Everyone: It does not matter if you are a multi-billion dollar company with petabytes of data, or a family that has several family photos you are looking to keep forever. Data backup is for everyone! Now, there are different “levels” of backing up data that will be greatly different for the two scenarios, but all in all data backup is for everyone.
4. It Will Happen To You: Maybe not now, not tomorrow, not this year, but sometime: you will lose your data if you do not back it up.

Data Loss Scenarios:

There are many ways that you can loose your data, some are preventable and some are not. I want to point out a few common data loss scenarios, and how you can better prevent loosing your data in the first place.

Hardware Failure:

This is by far the most common way of loosing data. Hardware does not live forever, and ages fairly fast. You can do very little to prevent this from happening, but backing up your data will allow you to be prepared when it does happen. One thing you can do, if you have the money, is to replace key hardware components yearly: like your hard drive, motherboard, etc.

User Error:

It is very common for users to accidentally delete, overwrite, or loose their data. In most cases this can be recovered with some effort, but it’s not flaw-proof. The easiest way to prevent this from happening, is be careful when copying, moving, or deleting files on your computer. Maybe try moving them to a temporary folder, until you are absolutely sure you no longer need them. Or do not wait until you are done typing that ten page paper, before saving the document. Computers can only do so much for you, there is a point where you need to stop and think about what it is you are actually doing. If you do not actually know what it is you are doing, ask someone who does. Be pro-active in learning the basics of your computer. Furthermore, you can not always control what it is your children or other computer users do when they are on your computer. I suggest making useof privileges in Windows, and making sure your passwords are always known to only you.

Stolen:

There are many ways your hardware and data can be stolen, and just as many ways to combat them. You may laugh, but house burglar’s will always make an effort to make off with your computer. Why? For two reasons, one they can resell the computer, and two they can use your personal information like passwords, financial information, etc, to get access to more valuable things. Keep your USB key-fobs, external hard drives, in a safe place or off site, do not leave them right next to the computer.

With iPods, PDA’s laptops, cell phones, and other mobile devices: data is becoming easier to steal. With this, you have to do what you think is best not to loose your gadgets, there are plenty of solutions out there to help you with it. Most easiest, do not walk away from your cell phone, PDA, or laptop. It only takes a second for someone to walk off with them.

Computer Manufacturers

That’s right most computer manufactures and resellers will wipe your drive clean when you send it in for service. It’s in most contracts that they will return your computer to you in the” Original Manufacture State”. This means all of your files, documents, programs, music, etc. will be gone!

Fire:

Hardware is very sensitive to heat, even storing it in your a fire-proof safe will only protect it to a certain temperature. It is very easy for a hard drive to become nothing more than a pile of metal in a fire. If there ever was a fire, you want to be more concerned about your family then your families digital records on your computer. This can easily be avoided by going to you local bank branch, and renting a safety box for as little as $20 a year. It is a good idea to have a copy of your data off-site incase anything happens to your home or office.

Assessing Your Data:

It is important to assess your data before finding the backup solution that fits your needs. For example, if you have all of your music in digital format on your computer, this is going to take a lot of backup space in order to back it all up. You may be more willing to loose your music, instead of spending the money to back it all up. This scenario is different for every situation and every computer user. You need to go through everything on your computer and ask yourself the important question:

If this was gone tomorrow…

1. Could I live without it?
2. How long would it take me to recover from loosing it?
3. Could this be dangerous in the wrong hands?

Knowing this information will help you assess what it is you actually need to backup.

Data Redundancy:

I recommend to any one, to have a complete copy of your data off-site. This means if your house or office went up in flames, you would have a copy of your data in a remote place that would be un-touched. I do not recommend the fireproof safes. Why? Because hardware is more sensitive to heat, and can be destroyed at a lower temperature. As stated above, your local bank will be glad to rent you a safety deposit box. You can have a copy of your data off-site in case anything happens. It is also important to keep this data up-to-date. Swap it out once or twice a week; make it a Saturday chore. If your main data source was ever to be destroyed, you need to be able to recover in as little time and effort as possible.

Backup Solutions

There are many hardware and software solutions out there for helping you back up your data. I will cover a few great tools that I have come across in helping people back up their data.

Software:

• Handy Backup is a simple software solution to help you backup your data. It allows you to setup backup scripts that you an run manually or automatically. The scripts allow you to customize the type of backup you do, as well as customize the file selection down to a single file or directory. It also has really helpful plugins for your email, IM clients, and registry. It is a very low cost solution for anyone.
• Genie Backup is another low cost solution for the average user. It has many similar features as Handy Backup, but offers some more advanced features as well. It is definitely worth trying the 30 day free trial to see if it fits your needs.
• Dantz Retrospect is a great solution for those more serious about backing up. It will hit you a little heavy in the wallet, but it is worth it for some of the great features. The main difference here, is Retrospect installs on a backup server and goes out to your computer(s) to backup the data. You can setup different backup sets and profiles, even backup a laptop when it hooks into the network.
• Veritas has some great backup solutions that are comparable to Dantz Retrospect. They are aimed more toward businesses and serious computer users.

Hardware:

• USB Key Fobs are a great tool for the everyday beginner users to backup their data onto someplace safe. The biggest set back, is they are easy to lose or steal. Storage capacity has increased, while prices have dropped. They make great gifts, and can be lifesavers for people who are not so computer savy.
• External Hard Drives are another great low cost solution for families, or for intermediate computer users. Most external hard drives come with backup software, so you are killing two birds with one stone. The hard drive spaces have also continued to increase, which make it a great value. A good thing about external hard drives, is they can easily be stored off-site in a safety deposit box, and can be plugged into most any computer.
• Mirroring Drives is a solution for business's and advanced computer users. The concept here is having two or more drives that act as one. When you write to one drive, it automatically writes to all drives in the array. The great thing about having mirrored drives is that if your immediate data source fails, you are able to recover without going to your backup. It is a must for any business or user that needs to recover from a data failure immediately.
• Hot Swappable Drives are another great solution for businesses and advanced users. You have a backup drive bay, that can have one or more hot swappable drives that can be easily removed off site. This provides you with a nearly limitless backup solution, because when ever you need more space you can just get another hot swappable drive.

Hopefully by now you have learned the importance of data backups, and learned a few ways to get started with protecting your data. I have only begun to scratch the service with how you can backup your data, and there are plenty of other great solutions out there. I recommend researching for yourself what is best for you. Be knowledgeable and informed before investing in any solution. You can also start small, and expand over time. Just make sure to stick to your backup solution schedule, and be prepared for any type of data disaster.

Cheers!