The Importance of Computer Backups - Don"t Get Caught Without Them!
I was called to visit a small business in Chichester this week, the owners laptop wasn't booting because the operating system was corrupt and although he had the original setup CD he was unable to repair it.
One of the first questions I asked was "do you backup your computer and your important files?", unfortunately the answer was no.
Luckily I was able to mount the hard drive, transfer the files he needed to my laptop, run a fresh install and then move the files back.
Some of the data included accounting files, customer contact lists, design files and a lot of other important documents.
When I asked him later why he never backed up, he replied with the same kind of answers I hear a lot.
The most common reasons I hear when visiting customers include:
We often tell our customers "there are only two types of hard drive, those that have failed and those that will fail!" If you don't back up your hard drive and something happens, you might still be able to salvage some of your files.
But it's not easy, it's not cheap, and it's not guaranteed.
Contrary to popular belief it's not expensive or complicated to backup your data, I install 1TB portable hard drives (big enough for your average system), the software needed to run the backups and teach the customer how to backup for less than £90.
It's not complicated, the software can be scheduled to run in the background by itself leaving you to get on with what you need to.
Other options I regularly install include NAS (Network Attached Storage) for backing up multiple computers and off-site cloud backup over the Internet, which again are simple, flexible and often inexpensive options.
I do sometimes find it hard to believe how little value is put on making backups but I guess the sad fact is a lot of people never think about them until it's too late.
So make sure you don't let disaster strike, backup your data! p.
s - Don't use CD's or DVD's for important backups, they have a limited shelf life.
One of the first questions I asked was "do you backup your computer and your important files?", unfortunately the answer was no.
Luckily I was able to mount the hard drive, transfer the files he needed to my laptop, run a fresh install and then move the files back.
Some of the data included accounting files, customer contact lists, design files and a lot of other important documents.
When I asked him later why he never backed up, he replied with the same kind of answers I hear a lot.
The most common reasons I hear when visiting customers include:
- I never had the time to set it up.
- I didn't know how to set it up.
- I thought it would be too expensive, etc.
We often tell our customers "there are only two types of hard drive, those that have failed and those that will fail!" If you don't back up your hard drive and something happens, you might still be able to salvage some of your files.
But it's not easy, it's not cheap, and it's not guaranteed.
Contrary to popular belief it's not expensive or complicated to backup your data, I install 1TB portable hard drives (big enough for your average system), the software needed to run the backups and teach the customer how to backup for less than £90.
It's not complicated, the software can be scheduled to run in the background by itself leaving you to get on with what you need to.
Other options I regularly install include NAS (Network Attached Storage) for backing up multiple computers and off-site cloud backup over the Internet, which again are simple, flexible and often inexpensive options.
I do sometimes find it hard to believe how little value is put on making backups but I guess the sad fact is a lot of people never think about them until it's too late.
So make sure you don't let disaster strike, backup your data! p.
s - Don't use CD's or DVD's for important backups, they have a limited shelf life.