Computers: Data Backup Solution: Why you need a backup plan in place

Data Backup Solution: Why you need a backup plan in place – Part 2

Written by Joe Duchesne

In repparttar

first part of this article series, I talked about repparttar 149092

three main threats to repparttar 149093

data on your computer. I talked about repparttar 149094

need for a data backup solution that protects your data properly. In this article, I'll outline repparttar 149095

most common data backup solution options available to you.

A simple data backup solution

A simple way to backup your data is to save everything to CD. By burning your vital information to a CD-ROM, you can have another copy of your data if something goes wrong with your computer. Burning your data to a CD-ROM will provide rudimentary data backup protection. There are some problems with this approach however.

Burning your files regularly to CD requires human intervention and effort. It isn't automatic. You have to take time out of your schedule to do it. People get busy, things happen and before you know it, you haven't done a data backup in over a month then BAM! Your data is lost.

The second major threat to using CD's as your data backup solution is that there are limitations to CD media. The first is that they won't survive a fire. If your place or office burns down and you've stored your CD's on site, your data is gone too. The second problem with CD media is that repparttar 149096 media itself degrades over time. A recent study found that even CD's that were advertised to last for 100 years were loosing data after just two or three years.

Burning your data to CD is certainly much better than doing nothing but it has limitations.

Saving Data to a Web Server

With repparttar 149097 advent of inexpensive online data storage options, it is now possible to archive your most crucial data online. This option potentially protects you from theft and it is an off site option so it protects you from fire. The only way theft could risk your data is if your computers are not password protected by default and you choose to save all your passwords automatically in your applications. If this is repparttar 149098 case, someone who gains physical access to your computers could certainly gain access to your data. This issue aside, saving your files to a web server is certainly an option.

Data Backup Solution: Why you need a backup plan in place – Part 1

Written by Joe Duchesne

Is a data backup solution part of your computer plans? Do you have a way to protect yourself if something goes wrong with your computer or data? Computers are a useful part of our lives but we don't always protect ourselves from their loss be it fire, theft or hardware failure.

We often don't consider how fragile our computer data really is. Do you keep sensitive information on your computer that you would be upset if you lost it? Not sure? Consider this. If I told you that I was going to format your hard drive right now and you will lose all of repparttar information on your computer, would you be ready? Or would you need to get a few files first... If you are in repparttar 149043 second group, chances are you don't have a proper data backup solution in place to help you handle disasters.

What happens if your computers are stolen?

I recently had a business colleague of mine who's office was robbed and who had all of his computers stolen. He naturally felt helpless and victimized over repparttar 149044 situation. What was especially frustrating was that he thought he had taken repparttar 149045 proper measures to secure his office. He had a good security system in place, had secured his premises and yet they were still able to cut his phone lines, disable his alarm and have their way in his office. Don't think a computer theft can happen to you? You know what? It can happen to anyone and you don't have to own a business.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>