A computer breakdown has to happen to you once before you appreciate the need for a regular computer file backup strategy. If it's your family computer that gets fried, it's bad enough...if it's your company computer, it could literally mean losing your business altogether.
In the past, backing up your computer data meant purchasing tape machines that mirrored your hard drive or making CD-ROMs of critical data on a regular basis. "Zip drives" were also a popular backup tool. There are two problems with this manual method of backing up. First, the "media" could go bad (meaning that tapes, zip cartridges or CDs get corrupted), and second, tapes, Zips or CDs are usually stored on site which doesn't help in the event of fire, flood or other local calamity.
Today, the Internet offers automated backup solutions that silently run in the background to backup your data and store it safely offsite.
Here are a few tips and tricks to using a Web-based backup strategy.
What it is
Vendors offer a monthly fee package based upon the amount of storage needed. The files to be backed up must be on a computer with a broadband (always on) Internet connection. Users are also required to download vendor-specified software that manages files and schedules for backup based upon personal choice.
Users can choose merely to backup their "My Documents" folder or pick and choose among various folders and files to regularly backup. Scheduling choices can be everyday at a certain time, only weekdays, every other day or just once a week. Since it costs the same no matter how often you backup, it makes sense to err on the side of more rather than less often. The choice of amount of storage is affected by automatic file compression that usually reduces the file sizes by 30-40%.
Research
It's always important to do your research. I recommend starting with www.BackupCritic.com, a site that offers product and service reviews and a lot of useful resources for those seeking data backup options. They also post trend data and Frequently-Asked-Questions to guide the novice through the decision making process. It's important to shop around because the difference in monthly fees is surprisingly wide. For instance, it's obvious that some vendors are only looking for the larger users.
Privacy and security
The next stop when evaluating any Web-based data backup service is their privacy policy. Let's face it...you are giving a lot of valuable data to a perfect stranger who can do just about anything to it if there are no contractual limitations. This goes for sharing your name, email address and credit card info. Another thing to look for is whether your data is encrypted to secure it from unauthorized access. Better services offer 128-key encryption and all should have login and password protection.
Free 30 day test.
I strongly recommend opting for a free 30 day test of any vendor's backup service before committing to a long term or even a monthly contract. I tried the backup service offered by America Online, but dropped it after having to limit my file capacity to 1 gigabyte and having to endure hours-long backup routines. The better vendors take a long time at first to backup the bulk of your files, but thereafter the software merely scans for any changes and only takes a few minutes to backup selected files. Finally, be sure to test the file retrieval functionality. It would be a shame to find out months after backing up your files that you can't reconstruct them.
If you'd like to stay current on local technology initiatives attend a monthly meeting of the Redwood Technology Consortium. Meetings are scheduled for the second Thursday from 5:30-7:00pm at the Humboldt County Office of Education, 901 Myrtle Avenue in Eureka. The public is welcome and attendance is free.
Crawford is president of Justice Served, a court management and technology consulting firm working with courts and justice agencies worldwide. Locally, he serves on the boards of directors for Humboldt #1 Fire Protection District, the Eureka Chamber of Commerce, and the Humboldt Business Council, and is an active member of the Redwood Technology Consortium .