During the past three weeks, four of my friends and acquaintances experienced a computer crash and kissed goodbye to some of their data, pictures or important documents.
I feel for them; I have experienced data loss myself a few years ago and lost three years worth of pictures. Many of these pictures were irreplaceable.
Here are some of your options to generate safe backups
(1) External Backup drive
Some people I know use an external drive. Many of these drives are ready to use and come loaded with pre-installed backup software. Customization is usually easy, and you determine which files are backed up at which intervals.
(2) Online Backup
Carbonite is one option for you. The subscription is $54.99/year, or $129.99 for three years. I use Carbonite; what I like about the program is that it keeps all your files forever. So, if you find that you mistakenly deleted an important file from your hard drive, it’s available in your backup.
Mozy is another online backup tool. Mozy offers two subscriptions: 50GB for $5.99/month or 125GB for $9.99/month. There is a 2GB free trial offer.
(3) Online File Sharing
Dropbox can be used as a backup or online file sharing tool. 2GB of storage is free with your account, for more storage there is a monthly fee. I use Dropbox to instantly share pictures, videos and files.
These are only some of the tools available. Do you, dear reader, use a backup tool? Please do not wait until it’s too late and you lose valuable information.