Hard drives crash. Sad, but true. A recent study by Carnegie Melon of over 100,000 drives showed annual failure rates of 4-13%. So chances are good that your financial records, your Christmas pictures, and your naughty limerick collection will all go poof at some point. You need a plan before it happens. I am a bit paranoid about data loss, perhaps because of all the unrecoverable data I see at work. So I use two methods to keep my data safe.
The first and probably most important method is simply making a copy of my data. This could mean burning to CD or DVD, copying to another computer, copying to a USB memory stick. For this type of simple copy backup system I recommend SyncBack. They offer free downloads of previous versions (the paid version handles versioning of files as well). It handles keeping directories synchronized, creating backup sets and ftp. The most important thing is to place the data on a different physical drive. If you make a copy from one folder or partition to another and the drive has a physical failure the data will still be lost. Or you could do what I do and use an automated off-site backup system.
My backup of choice is Carbonite. For $50 a year they offer unlimited (all physical drives on one pc) online backup. You simply install a small application which runs in the background and keeps track of your files. As they change they get copied to Carbonite. If you delete a file, it gets corrupted, or your whole computer dies you can recover the file from their remote servers. One advantage is that the data is kept off site so even in the event of a major disaster, like a house fire, my data should be safe. Currently I have 79659 files backed up and counting. These files run the gambit from mp3s (lots) to pictures (lots and lots) to old school papers and our Microsoft Money files. The files are encrypted before being transmitted so they should be safe (cross fingers, you never really know).
After installing the program I told it which folders I wanted backed up. I also selected some specific files (It doesn’t backup .exe files by default and I have a few I need copied) and added some non-standard folders as well. The initial upload (80gb or so) took about 2 weeks to complete over our DSL connection. We left the computer on and when it was idle the program just chugged along until the files were copied. Now it just keeps track of changes and seamlessly backs up the files. To restore a file I simply browse to my Carbonite “drive” like I would any other under My Computer and select the file(s) I want restored. It downloads them and returns them to their proper place. If I needed to recover large amounts of data I could order copies on CD or DVD rather than downloading the entire 80gb from their servers.
Carbonite isn’t the only option in this arena. Perhaps the most popular is Mozy. I’ve been using the free trial which allows up to 2 gb of storage for several weeks now. But it never gets backed up unless I tell it to. I simply get a “Its been too long since you’ve backed up warning”. I’d rather get a “We just backed up your files” message, but I don’t. Instead I have to manually tell it to backup which isn’t that hard but sort of defeats the purpose. I’ve not had a single problem with Carbonite so they are my choice. Perhaps you’ll have better luck. They do offer month-to-month pricing which may be a better option for some.
My second line of defense is disk imaging. This is definitely a little more technical, but it is also free. Basically I use a program to make an exact copy of my hard drive and then save that copy. If my hard drive were to fail completely (or I simply wanted to restore my computer to an earlier state) I could use the image I made to recover it exactly as it was including operating system, applications and documents. Lifehacker.com offers an extremely good tutorial that I recommend you check out if you decide to go this route. They also recommend another tool DriveImage XML, that I tried, but had too many errors to feel comfortable with. In theory it would allow you to image a running PC in the background. A great idea, but it didn’t work for me. Again you may have better luck.
So what are you waiting for? Get your data backed up. Preferably off site and automatic so you don’t have to worry about it. You may not lose sleep over it, but I do. If you use any of the Carbonite links in this post to sign up you’ll get a free month and I’ll get extra time added to my account as well. They offer a 15 day free trial so there isn’t any risk. If you decide you want to pay for the full year you can upgrade your account so you won’t have to upload all those files again.
Because of your (similar) suggestion a few months back on backing up potentially lost files, I began a flickr account. Thanks!
Jennifer, I’m glad you joined up with Flickr. For the money they are a great backup of sorts. They get everything off site and have a lot invested in keeping your pictures safe with duplicate copies residing on redundant systems. Plus, unlike a traditional backup system it lets you share and view your pictures easily. Now they’ve even added some basic photo editing online by teaming with Picnik.