ISP Special Data BackUp Offer

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If you're looking for online backup checkout companies like Mozy, Backblaze or Crashplan, all of whom are cheaper than the UK equivalents.

If you have a friend willing to store an external hard drive for you (and you can return the favour) CrashPlan is a great option - backups go to your friend's house, so they're unlikely to be nicked at the same time as your computer , it's all automatic so you don't have to remember to backup, and if you do need to restore everything you can just drive to your friend's to get the hard drive.

I wouldn't typically recommend DVD backup because of the time involved. Yes it doesn't take that long to do the backup, but you need to do it quite often to be sure you don't lose anything, particularly as DVDs aren't a reliable medium (even the best quality ones can suffer from random failure after a year or two).

tyger.eyez

Don’t forget harddrives (internal and external), memory sticks and DVDs are all subject to theft and fire. Even kensington security locks (special lockable cables to secure pcs, laptops etc.) and lockable desks aren't secure from the most determined thief and most security enclosures are still vulnerable to fire. DVDs are easily scratched and even worse, DVD data deteriorates over time so they should not be used for any valuable data. And harddrives (even new ones) fail at a rate of somewhere between 5 and 13 percent in any one year and memory sticks are even less reliable. In my opinion professional online backup is the best secure measure unless you’re prepared to use several forms of backup, e.g. onsite and offsite backup – which means having your data stored in more than one location which can make backing up very time consuming.
For many people the amount of free storage space offered by some companies is unlikely to be enough to backup all your files, though for some it might be enough to backup the most important ones (for me I have nearly 100Gb of photos alone so it’s no where near enough!!!). Online backup shouldn't slow down your machine too much because after the initial upload (which itself could take a while depending) they only upload files that have been added or altered since the last backup. Also you should be able to schedule it to suit, so you could set it to update at a time when you’re not using your machine so it won’t affect you in any way other than having to leave your computer on. I know Mozy have won lots of awards and offer unlimited backup for $4.95 a month (with 3 months free if you sign up for 2 years or 1 month for 1 year). Similarly Carbonite’s philosophy is that computer users should not have to think about backup and everything is done automatically without you having to give backup a second thought which is perfect for people who don’t want to be bothered with the hassle of backing up or those who don’t remember or never get round to it or those who simply can’t be bothered.
At the end of the day if you have files that you’d be totally gutted if you lost then my suggestion is to make sure you do something about it, don’t just put it off for another day because as an IT professional I have seen many a harddrive keel over and die and many a DVD fail so don’t wait…backup, backup, backup!!!