Backing Up Your Digital Life

Community Manager — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 12:34:00 GMT

"You don't understand. My life is on this computer!"

What's Your Back-up Plan?

This despair-driven exclamation is one that data recovery experts hear all the time. It is also one that most of us can relate to (with a wince) because we store a tremendous amount of data on our computers - from contacts, calendars and documents to photos, videos and music. When that data is lost or corrupted due to defective components, theft, virus intrusion, exposure to the elements or the shock of a drop, we feel lost, too.

As in many arenas, the best defense against data loss is a good offense. We need to get into the good habit of backing up our digital life. Here is a collection of data backup resources to ease your way:

A fine place to start is this post from PCWorld answering the question What's the Best Way to Back Up What I Need to Back Up? It cites these candidates for daily Windows XP backup:

My Documents
Desktop
Application Data
Favorites
Local Settings\Application Data

And these for Vista:

Documents
Pictures
Desktop
Music
Contacts
Videos
AppData
Favorites

It also goes on to state the general rule that your backup should be physically separate from your computer, since any backup that can be stolen or "destroyed along with the rest of the computer is not a secure backup."

To heed this rule, you can choose from these popular options:

External hard drives
Online backup services
USB flash drives
Some combination of the above

For guidance on choosing an external hard drive, you can tap these resources:

You can gain insight into your online data storage options via:

The latest on USB flash drives appears in:

A good computer backup plan is no longer optional. We would like to hear from you. Leave a comment here or on our Facebook or Twitter pages sharing how you back up your digital life.

by Bradley Eggers

Beyond Folders : lost work

Backing Up Your Digital Life