Everyone knows they should have a good backup of any important files that are on their computer in case the Hard Drive crashes or the computer is otherwise destroyed by something like a fire, flood, or hurricane. The problem is many people don’t even know where to start to try and create a backup of the files and folders that are important. Here are some tips and suggestions to help you with your computer backup.
The easiest and most reliable way to backup your data is using an online backup service that runs automatically in the background and stores your files off site. An online backup that stores your files off site is important because if your home is destroyed by a natural disaster or fire your data is still safe. If you use a laptop and it’s stolen then your files can be recovered from the online backup. The service I recommend for Online Backup is Backblaze and you can learn more about them by clicking on the banner ad to the left.
If you don’t want to use Backblaze Online Backup then you’ll have to manually perform your backups.
The first thing you’ll need is a good external hard drive. I like this both this Seagate Portable HD and this Western Digital HD as they are small and doesn’t require a separate AC Adapter to use. It connects to your computer via a USB port and is powered from the computer. The most affordable model is the 250 GB size and you can buy a larger model if needed.
Next you need a software program to backup you data and preferably one that creates a System Image. You could bypass this step and just drag and drop or copy your files manually but this gets tedious after a while, isn’t automated, and won’t create an image of your system. A Free and Simple To Use Program for Home Computer backup is: Genie Timeline Home Free Version
If your computer came with Windows Pre-installed on it then you should consider a Backup Image or Disaster Recovery program because if your hard drive does stop working the recovery option that the manufacturer installed on it won’t work either. This means to get your computer working again you’d need both a new hard drive as well as new Windows software and this can be expensive.
Another major advantage to having good Backup Images is if your computer becomes infected with a virus that requires reinstalling the operating system to clean you can reinstall an image from a time when your computer wasn’t infected. The advantage to this is reinstalling the image is faster and will put your computer back to a specific point in time with all your documents and programs included.
The products I recommend for creating Backup Images are EASEUS Todo Backup (free), Macrium Reflect (Free Edition) and Acronis True Image. Be sure to create a Bootable Rescue or Disaster Recovery Disk for whichever program you install.
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I hope that you incorporate at least one, if not both, of these backup methods into your computing habits as it will save you a lot of time, grief, and money when something goes wrong with your PC. Feel free to contact me if I can be of any additional help.
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