Hard Drive and Data Back Up – Why and How
Note – Proformance PC offers remote and travel computer repair services. We have a wide stretch service area spreading through the Midwest around Union Grove, WI including, but not limited to: Burlington, Elkhorn, Waterford, Sturtevant, Racine, Kenosha, Kansasville, Raymond, and all surrounding counties.
The hard drive crash nightmare – You don’t know what happened, but your computer isn’t running properly and EVERYTHING that meant ANYTHING to you on your computer is GONE. Your family photos, your term paper, that big report due to your boss first thing tomorrow morning, your Grandma’s best recipe.. It’s all gone! The panic begins.
Causes of Data Loss: Hardware Failures (hard drive crash, etc.), Viruses and software bugs, natural disasters, and human errors.
In this technology dependent day and age, we tend to take for granted how easily everything stored on our technology platforms can be lost. If lost, it can take a lot of time, effort and tears to recover it. Even worse yet, there is no guarantee of recovery. If your computer or laptop was stolen, damaged or misplaced – would you lose important documents, photos, files and music forever? Or would you have it covered?
To avoid losing everything – there are some simple steps you can take to protect your stored data.
The most important and most obvious protection: BACK UP YOUR DATA. Backing up your data is an important piece of the data protection puzzle. Having several copies of your data ensures that if ONE copy of that data is lost or destroyed, it is not the “end of the world” so to speak. However, it is crucial that you have your data properly backed up. Like the main hard drive, backups can also falter. Proformance PC can help you be sure you have the ultimate back up protection if and when that crash happens. Some back up methods include the following:
External Hard Drives
External hard drives are one of the simplest ways to back up your files. It is important to get an external hard drive adequate for your specific needs. Do some research or talk to your Proformance PC expert to learn the best solution for you. Please note however that the external hard drive is not 100% fail proof. These tools carry the same risks as your computer: theft, damage, fire, etc. You should keep your external hard drive in a safe, secure place AWAY from your computer for added protection such as a fire proof safe or a locked drawer or box at a completely different location.
With external hard drives you can either back up your files manually or automatically. If there are only specific items that you need backed up, you can copy them directly to your external hard drive. If you have a large amount of items to back up and continue to use/update these folders, files, and documents often – you may want to opt for automatic back up to the external hard drive. It can be easy to forget to update the external when doing quick updates, whereas automatic backups can ensure you keep up to date with the most recent version of your folders and documents.
Online File Back Ups
You may keep your files backed up regularly on your external hard drive, but still lose all your data. Not Good. It’s a good idea to have multiple back up methods. You can back up your documents, files, folders, etc online in“cloud storage”. When you store any data in a cloud, it is saved to servers online vs. an actual hard drive. This provides a security from risks like theft and accidental or intentional damage.
Once again you can choose to manually back up certain data within a cloud based storage or you can set auto back up methods.
Trust Proformance PC to secure your files and data. Give us a call today and we can remote in or travel to you to make sure your system is secure – Or stop into our local computer shop in Union Grove and we can help!
