You should already know that not having your files properly backed up can cost you a great deal of time and money if your hard drive unexpectedly crashes.
Never Underestimate the Importance of Your Backups
Although backing up your computer's files can sometimes be time consuming and there are times you are convinced that there are better things that you could be doing, you should always remember just how devastating it would be if you were to suddenly loose all of your files.
You should never assume that your computer will never crash. The sad reality is that hard drives crash all the time and the older your computer gets the more likely you are to experience a hard drive malfunction.
Backing up your data files serves two purposes. The most obvious purpose is that you will never have to worry about losing all of your files if your hard drive crashes.
The second, less obvious, advantage to backing up your computer's files is that you can delete several of the files from your computer's hard drive. The fewer files that are stored on your hard drive the less likely it will be to crash.
Excellent Methods for Data Backup
The most common way to backup important data files used to be to transfer them to a floppy disk.
Then people started to ignore floppy discs in favor of CD's and DVD's, which hold more data. The problem with CD's and DVD's is that they take up quite a bit of storage space, are easily scratched, and can be damaged by dust.
In an attempt to avoid these problems, many people have started to use an external hard drive to back up their data files. The down side to the external hard drive is that they are prone to failure and can be stolen or damaged by fires and/or floods.
Two types of backup for data files that are growing increasingly popular are offsite storage and online storage.
When you use either of these types of storage you no longer have to worry about finding a safe place to store your discs or a thief walking away with your computer.
The best thing about offsite and online storage is that you can use the Internet to access the files anytime you need to work on them and they can be accessed from any computer.
Are you currently using online storage to back up your business documents, or do you prefer traditional back up methods? Share your ideas using the comments form below:
