Monday, May 3, 2010

Indentifying And Backing Up Your Data - Part 2

Last Months Article dealt with how to locate your data and identify how much space you are consuming on your hard disk. This month I will concentrate on the backup devices available to you.
Backup Devices
Back in the early days of computers backing up was simple and in general people rigidly stuck to backing up their valuable data to good old floppy disks. With the progression in technology many people have developed a false sense of security in computers and in particular hard drives. The truth is unless you backup your information you will be stung at some point when your computer fails. In today’s world of technology gizmos there is really no excuse for not backing up your data. Almost every electronic gizmo on the market now has the ability to store data. These include Ipods, mp3 players, usb memory keys, camera memory, handheld video players and even your phone. In addition you have the traditional cd/dvd drives on your computer and lastly, but most importantly, external hard drives.
Which Backup Device?
Your backup device is critical and thus I do not recommend any portable device as your primary backup. Storing information on usb keys and other portable devices is fine for transporting data but is not a good strategy as a backup solution. The problem with this strategy is that it is very likely at some point the device will be stolen lost or damaged. Murphy ’s Law applies here and you can be guaranteed it will go missing when you most need it. Thus I recommend that you invest in an external hard drive to backup your data.
External Hard Drives
Apart from the actual capacity of the drive the main differences between external hard drives is how you connect your computer to the devices. My preference, if your budget permits, is to purchase a (N)etwork (A)ttached (S)torage device ,commonly referred to as NAS drives. A Nas drive connects to your broadband modem and thus is available to all computers in your home and is independent of any single machine.
NAS technology offer the following additional advantages over directly connected hard drives
1. Available at all times even if your computer is off.
2. automatic backup of your computer to the device (some models)
3. Can be used by multiple computers at the same time.
4. Can be accessed from a remote location.(some models)
5. Ability to expand the storage without replacing or opening the drive.(some models)
6. Early warning of disk failure or other technical problems (some models)

Next months article will expand further on this topic