I have countless horror stories that I could share of people who have lost data when their computer "lost its mind". Some of these stories are my own...Hard Drive crashes, viruses, new computer-old technology, etc. The causes are endless. The cure is to back up your important data early and often. I'll discuss two important questions when backing up data: How should my data be backed up and where should I store it?
Question #1: How should my data be backed up? You can back up your data to the computer you're using (I don't recommend this method), to external device such as an external Hard Drive or USB Drive, or to a CD. Windows XP has a backup data utility that is part of the Opertating System and works well for saving your settings including Desktop themes, Internet Explorer Favorites, etc.
Question #2: Where should I store it? You should store your data on a portable device that you keep in a SEPARATE location from your computer. The reason that I don't recommend backing up your data to the computer that you're using is that if something happens to that computer you're toast. Always back up your data to a device that you can take with you and store/use at a different location.
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I don't really know to what I am responding. Is this a personal blog where people interested in computers read and respond on a regular basis?
ReplyDeleteI need to buy a new flash drive with more than 256 mb on it.
Betty Gibbons
Most flash drives come with a minimum of 1GB. The cost has come down dramatically over the past few years and you can purchase a 2GB USB drive for less than $15 in many cases.
ReplyDeleteI just purchased an external hard drive in addition to a couple of flash drives. I had a huge catastrophe happen and don't want to lose my info anymore. I learned the hard way that backup is necessary. I was in the process of backing up my data at the time, and had the external hard drive and flash drives to do so. But I hadn't yet done it when the fire happened. My recommendation is to do it often and regularly. Also, keeping the flash drive in a safety deposit box is what I am going to do as well as keep the external hard drive in a location different from my computer if at all possible. I recommend having the Geek Squad or some other entity do it if you can't do it yourself. That is how I'm getting started and then I will keep it up myself.
ReplyDeleteI recently backed up all my data using a USB drive after reading the blog and have avoided any issues.
ReplyDeleteI prefer to use a USB drive to backup all my data and pictures, because it can hold alot of data and it's portable.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your article i'm going to start backing up all my data.
ReplyDeleteFirst, i have to start getting familiar with the USB, and how it works.