Our computers contain our important files, pictures, documents and various bits of information that we certainly need in long run. We cannot in any case lose the important data, but we do not always have control on it. What of your computer gets dead or damages and loses its data? It is always essential to back up your computer! Here are some ways to back up your computer if you didn’t already know:
USING EXTERNAL DRIVE
On Windows 10 and 8, use File History. On Windows 7, use Windows Backup. On Macs, use Time Machine. Occasionally you may connect the drive to your computer and use the backup tool, or leave it plugged in whenever your home and it’ll back up automatically.
CLOUD BACKUP
Incorporating online backups into your backup routine can help make sure your backups are redundant, and will allow you to access your backed up files from anywhere you have an internet connection. Which means you need have the same computer to view your backup. There are a lot of backup services; few of the popular ones are BackBlaze, Carbonite and SOS Online Backup. To get started you simply need to create an account, download the software, run it once to enter your account information, and (optionally) set any preferences that you might want. And that is it! the backup will take place on its own.
ONLINE SERVICES
Instead of storing files on your computer’s hard drive, you can store them on a service like Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or a similar cloud storage service. You can view them from anywhere, you just need internet and the services. Storing data this way is easy, fast, and in many cases, free, and since it’s online, it protects you against all types of data loss.
For the other stuff stored on your mobile, such as contacts, notes and more, use the options available on the device. With Android, your stuff is automatically backed up to Google. For iPhones, iCloud is perfectly good, and 5GB should be enough free space.
EXTERNAL DEVICES
Files can be backed up and stored in a pendrive, CD, floppy drives (if your system is old) etc. All you need to do is gather all the data and copy paste it in an individual folder; creating a zipped folder would be the best (if possible make it password protected). Transfer all the files in the external devices and store it- it is that simple! You may want to do this once every 6 months to update the data.
THINGS TO REMEMBER:
- Always keep strong passwords for you data. The data you wish to save surely must be important and you certainly don’t wish to leave it unprotected.
- Keep atleast 2 copies if your data, just to be extra sure. You can maybe do this for only the ‘very important’ folders.
- It is good to maintain a constant and automated backup schedule.