"Back it up!" That was the subject of an email from a friend of mine last week. His apartment had been robbed and the scumbag took his computer and laptop, as well as his roommate's computers. Fortunately, my friend's external hard drives were not taken so he didn't lose everything, just some family photos that were on his laptop. His friend, a wedding photographer who stores his client photos on a computer, was not so lucky; he lost everything.
Think about it for a minute: What if your computer was to disappear right now, either from theft, disaster (fire, flood, etc.), or catastrophic hardware failure? Besides the obvious loss of an expensive piece of equipment, what would you lose? Financial records? Photos from your kid's birthday party that you've not bothered to print? Important documents or emails that have never been printed? Would you be able to recover from this loss?
If you have a backup plan, you could recover with minimal pain. There are 2 secrets to a good back-up plan: 1) that you never have to think about it (dummy-proof) and 2) the files are not stored where you computer is . I have used the free version of the rock-solid program SyncBack for a long time but you have to have an external server to which the program can upload the backup files if you want to store the files off-site (which is essential to a good back-up plan).
If you don't have access to a server, an online storage company may be the solution. Some offer software that you can install on your computer that will automatically back up your files and upload them to a remote server. One such online backup service is Mozy, which my friend started using after the robbery. I tried it out and it seems to work quite well. Your files are backed up and uploaded in the background requiring no effort or thought whatsoever. You can get 2GB of storage for free or upgrade to unlimited storage space for only $4.95 per month. It's simple and cheap; you can't beat that!
Just like insurance, a backup plan is something you never think about until you need it and then it's too late. The good news is you can spend a few minutes now and prevent a lot of heartache later. If you don't like Mozy or SyncBack, Lifehacker has some other good backup ideas. Whatever backup solution you chose, chose it now.
