How often do you back up?

busenbust

justmore wrote: »

I never back up LOL

perhaps until the big event occurs... :whistle:

JamesK10

Depends what it is, work, jobhunting stuff and saved game files, I've backed them up every 2-3 months but radio shows I've recorded, they can sit around for a year before I burn them to disc and make space for the new year.

Imaging is great, but best only when you've newly reinstalled and have all wanted programs back on there again.

debbietr

My laptop heads crashed and decided at the last minute to have it analyzed by Fields. I was about to try some DIY recovery tools, when I read that the problem might be aggravated with unprofessional tinkering. I ended up having my data recovered. Take my advice, sometimes you need the experts.

spikedouglas

I was about to try some DIY recovery tools, when I read that the problem might be aggravated with unprofessional tinkering. I ended up having my data recovered. Take my advice, sometimes you need the experts.
________

Quite possibly. If it's not a rude question, how much did they charge you for data recovery and will you be using a robust backup system in the future?

spud17

Data Recovery
I was about to try some DIY recovery tools, when I read that the problem might be aggravated with unprofessional tinkering. I ended up having my data recovered. Take my advice, sometimes you need the experts.
________

Quite possibly. If it's not a rude question, how much did they charge you for data recovery and will you be using a robust backup system in the future?

For more info on Fields see,

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2520295

mikesw84

Well people tend not to realize how important it is to back up the Data in the computer, specially if you are a student or you use to work at home. Once you lost Data (unprotected Data) it can be very difficult and expensive trying to recover it.

Right now there are a lot of very good deals for online backup services for all types of budgets for example the last one I heard was ZenOK Online Backup offering 150GB online storage for 34 USD a year. we have also Mozy and Carbonite that are almost at the same price. So people can save a lot of money preventing this type of loss at a very reasonable price

craigpauli

every day at work, boss has ZenOK Online Backup 2011 installed in all PCs the software backs files in Real Time :j

danielwhitehouse

I do not backup! I used to have a Windows PC that used to get viruses and crash all the time. I moved to Mac and my life changed.. No viruses, no need for backup. Although the Apple time machine is REALLY cool

closed

This thread seems to attract spammers.

BaritoneUK

Online backup should only be the final tier in a backup solution. If your hard drive goes then just think how long it would take to get your data back downloading from the servers of the likes of Mozy or Carbonite.

I haven't used Mozy yet, but it does seem to be more comprehensive than Carbonite. Both however have the drawback of only storing the last 30 days worth of versions. I can understand why they do that with high data charges- they want to keep the prices down for end users. Personally it's a huge drawback, but there are ways round this. For non-techie users, I'd definitely recommend Carbonite as it is so easy and just works. My mum, for example, uses it, and she forgets that it's there. Mozy has an advantage in that it also backs up to an external drive which is definitely a good thing. Both are unlimited backups which is great.Check this article out- http://lifehacker.com/5564957/set-up...ic-backup-plan

For people with more than one computer a sync and online backup solution can be helpful. I know lots of people recommend Dropbox. It's a fantastic product, and I use it (the free version). I love the web interface and just the whole experience. It also works on Windows/Linux/Mac which is great. However, I prefer using Syncplicity. It doesn't just sync one folder (which Dropbox does, although you can hack it to sync your documents folder) and again "just works". I have it installed on 3 computers and it syncs all of them. The great thing is that you don't have to have all your computers on. It backs up your files to it's servers and then when you switch on your other computer it downloads changed or new files to that computer.

As well as online backup I'd recommend backing up to an external hard drive. I use SyncBack and I get it to backup my files daily, weekly, monthly and bi-monthly.

For PC users you can also use file versioning software. I know Windows has Shadow copy, but I don't find it that useful. Although it has an awful user interface, File Hamster is a fantastic app. It keeps versions of all the files you want (for example you can get it to keep copies of all your versions of your documents folder). If you get Mozy or Carbonite to backup your file version folder then you'll never lose a file or a version of a file. The user interface for File Hamster isn't great, but if you want to keep old versions of your files then it's a must.

Again for PC users it might be a good idea to backup your registry. You can set up a scheduled task to do this on a daily or weekly basis. Erunt can help here. It's a bit of an old programme with not a great UI, but it works. Check this article- http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/ba...y-using-erunt/

Although not a backup solution as such, and not usually a solution for laptops (unless high end business ones), having two hard drives mirrored in RAID 1 is definitely a good thing to have. One of my dad's hard drives failed, but because it had RAID 1 we just put in a new hard drive and all the data was copied onto the new drive. This, unfortunately, is probably only for techies, unless you asked for it when you got your new pc.

Finally if you really want to have a comprehensive backup solution, I'd recommend getting drive imaging software. Acronis is the market leader here, but I'd also recommend O&O DriveImage- in fact this is the one I went for because it seems as good and is cheaper. The great thing about imaging software is that you can get all your data back onto your hard drive including programme files.

Hope that helps.