Back Up Your Files

I've seen one too many dead hard drives lately and every time someone loses some really important data. So if you haven't had this happen to you yet, I seriously urge you to *please* backup your data. And by backing up, I don't mean copying it to your flash drive/external hard drive and erasing it off your computer. Your flash drive/external hard drive are just as likely to malfunction as the drive on your computer (some may argue that they are more likely to malfunction).

How do I backup my data?

There are a few good options you can choose from.

• External hard drive backup solution - some come with backup software that makes it easy for you to pre-configure which folders/files you want to back up and it does so automatically. If you find one that has RAID functionality, I highly recommend that. RAID allows you to mirror your data on 2 drives. Trust me, the data is worth more than the drives so it's worth it for the added peace of mind. Pros: backups are relatively fast. Cons: if your house burns down, your external hard drive typically burns down with it.
• Online backup solution - there are many online backup solutions available on the market. The one I use is mozy.com and it's pretty easy to use and fairly inexpensive. With this service, your files are typically encrypted and then sent to a data center with proper equipment to keep your data safe. Pros: even if your house burns down, your data is still safe. Cons: typically slow to back up your data as you have to send info over the internet to a data center.

If you choose neither of the above, then at the very least, please make sure your computer is configured to do RAID mirroring.