Backup

Great backup software

No Comments » Written on February 2nd, 2011 by
Categories: Backup, Education, Guides

Note: this is an extension of key points discussed in a previous posting titled “Your backup sucks!“
If you want more background information on different types of backups and suggested methods, then please read that posting.

Now that you have an external hard drive, it is important to avoid a big mistake that we see often: manually copying the information on it yourself. This is important because next week you’ll have that dinner party, and the week after you have to actually get some work done. Oh, and 2 days later you might have some free time to dedicate 30 minutes to your backups. Face it, we’re not always available to make sure backups occur on their own, and we shouldn’t have to be. So we need some good software that can take care of that for us. Most of today’s backup drives will already come with some form of backup software to facilitate proper backups on a schedule, however a good portion of these backup software don’t work well. So here are a few, based on your operating system, that we know have worked:

Windows XP

Handy Backup

A free version of this software is available from here. Just download and install it, start it in trial mode, and get the free license key from their website and paste it into the program. This will allow you to use it for simple backups to your hard drive. If you need additional help setting this up, then please request it through our help desk. We offer free and fee based support, depending on your needs.

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Posted in Backup, Education, Guides

Your backup sucks!

3 Comments Written on January 27th, 2011 by
Categories: Backup, Education, Guides, Tutorial

Backup 101The point of backing up your computer is to avoid losing your important information when your computer fails to function in any way (note: I said “when” and not “if”).

Living in uncertainty

The computer world is full of uncertainty. Especially when it comes to the stability and security of your data. Data is usually stored on a hard drive. Most hard drives will fail at some point – so it’s not a question of if, but when. This is one of the biggest reasons to backup your data. If that doesn’t convince you, then the next common problems will:

  • Viruses/Spyware attacks
  • Lost or stolen computer
  • Dropped computer
  • Electrical damage
  • Database corruption

Your backup method sucks
Now that you know you should backup, it’s important to address that your existing backup may actually be ineffective. We have talked to a lot of customers that assume they have a viable backup. They are wrong. Flash drives and CD backups are not good choices! A good backup plan accounts for ample storage, automation, and an occasional confirmation from you.
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Posted in Backup, Education, Guides, Tutorial