Avoid That Sinking Feeling You Get When All Is Lost - Back Up Your Data
Data backups.
It's a concept that everyone has heard of but not nearly enough of us actually put into practice.
Let's pretend that you are working on a project involving many files that will eventually come together in a presentation of some kind.
You've spent the better part of a month working on it because this presentation could land you a client that is going to pay you a lot of money.
You've reached the point where all of the separate files are complete and all you need to do is fine tune it and compile it into its final format.
The next time you boot up your computer, you get a blue or black screen and nothing happens.
Or your machine boots up but the directory you had your presentation files stored in is missing 40% of them.
What do you do? Well boys and girls, if you've been doing regular backups, you get slightly irritated and go to the backup location and grab the files that you need and press on.
If you haven't done regular backups, that is a whole other story.
You work yourself into whole new dimension of panic, hysteria and rage, the likes of which you rarely experience; and then you call someone like me who's been there, done that and learned from their experience.
Oh yeah, there's no guarantee that I will be able to recover those files for you, and -- I charge.
Most of you probably don't have a server in your home or home office that you can save files to which is backed up on tape or DVD.
It is very likely though that you have a CD or DVD burner.
If you do not have one, they are an inexpensive option that can yield enormous benefits should you find yourself in this position.
Standard DVDs can store about 4.
5 GB of data as opposed to about 700 MB of data for a CD.
Dual layer DVDs can store about 8.
5 GB of data.
Do yourself a favor and save yourself time, energy and peace of mind by regularly backing up your data.
'Regularly' can mean different things to different people.
If you use your machine heavily for work and are constantly creating and modifying files, you may want to consider backing everything up a few times a week.
If you use your machine for surfing the web and sharing pictures with family and friends, you probably don't need to back up your system that frequently.
There are several online backup services that backup your data on their servers and within a few clicks you can backup and/or restore your data with minimal effort.
This is an excellent option but you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket.
Online backups are great, but, servers crash and companies have been known to go out of business.
If you use one of these services, you should also backup your data to a CD or DVD, label it with the date that you made the CD and then store it in a safe place.
It won't do you any good if you don't remember where you put it!
It's a concept that everyone has heard of but not nearly enough of us actually put into practice.
Let's pretend that you are working on a project involving many files that will eventually come together in a presentation of some kind.
You've spent the better part of a month working on it because this presentation could land you a client that is going to pay you a lot of money.
You've reached the point where all of the separate files are complete and all you need to do is fine tune it and compile it into its final format.
The next time you boot up your computer, you get a blue or black screen and nothing happens.
Or your machine boots up but the directory you had your presentation files stored in is missing 40% of them.
What do you do? Well boys and girls, if you've been doing regular backups, you get slightly irritated and go to the backup location and grab the files that you need and press on.
If you haven't done regular backups, that is a whole other story.
You work yourself into whole new dimension of panic, hysteria and rage, the likes of which you rarely experience; and then you call someone like me who's been there, done that and learned from their experience.
Oh yeah, there's no guarantee that I will be able to recover those files for you, and -- I charge.
Most of you probably don't have a server in your home or home office that you can save files to which is backed up on tape or DVD.
It is very likely though that you have a CD or DVD burner.
If you do not have one, they are an inexpensive option that can yield enormous benefits should you find yourself in this position.
Standard DVDs can store about 4.
5 GB of data as opposed to about 700 MB of data for a CD.
Dual layer DVDs can store about 8.
5 GB of data.
Do yourself a favor and save yourself time, energy and peace of mind by regularly backing up your data.
'Regularly' can mean different things to different people.
If you use your machine heavily for work and are constantly creating and modifying files, you may want to consider backing everything up a few times a week.
If you use your machine for surfing the web and sharing pictures with family and friends, you probably don't need to back up your system that frequently.
There are several online backup services that backup your data on their servers and within a few clicks you can backup and/or restore your data with minimal effort.
This is an excellent option but you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket.
Online backups are great, but, servers crash and companies have been known to go out of business.
If you use one of these services, you should also backup your data to a CD or DVD, label it with the date that you made the CD and then store it in a safe place.
It won't do you any good if you don't remember where you put it!