Back It Up

I cannot express enough, how important back-ups are. Did you know that your hard drive could be voted "most likely to break down?" Because, as a computer techician once pointed out to me, the hard drive is the most vital thing on your computer that has moving parts. If your CD/DVD rom breaks, you can simply replace it. But, what do you do when your hard drive dies?

You can replace it as well, but what about all the info that was stored on it? That is difficult, if not impossible to recover. So it is very important to back up all your vital information. I use a small USB drive, you can pick them up in your local Wal-Mart electronics department. If it weren't for mine, I would be totally lost right now. My laptop died recently, and I had to drag out my old desktop. If not for what I had stored on my USB drive I probably wouldn't be able to post here today.

And remember, even if it is under some warranty they can't guarantee your information. And even new things break. So please remember to back it up.

Thank You for your Time
Barry

Hi Barry,

You're right, it's a good idea to back things up on a fixed schedule. I back my stuff up once a month on an external drive. I also put the most important stuff on CDs.

If possible, additional backups should be kept off-site in case of flood or fire.

I've heard a lot of sob stories about data loss over the years. Backups are well worth the time, effort, and expense.

~Newbie Shield~

With the price of usb sticks now there really is no excuse not to back up your work.

I use the web to backup most of my information.

I have a gmail account that gives me 7 GB of space. I have all of my digital pictures on shutterfly.com. There are many free options for storing your vital documents and information.

Obviously CD and flash drive storage is a good way to keep your info secure, but with my methods, I can access all my information anywhaere, at any time all I need is an internet connection.

I do make CD backups of my pictures but you never know what can happen to a CD.

Anything that is absolutely irreplaceable should be backed up in more than one way.

Not only do I carry a portable external 250GB hard drive, I also have another 100 GB to back up the back up! Never hurts to have that many backups. Also, have you considered doing an occasional backup of your website if you have one? This is also important in case you want to do an offline edit of your site, or if you decide to change your account and move to another server. I do this at least once a month and suggest the same to others.

Hey! I've been thinking about backing up for a few weeks now. My problem....complete newbie AND technically challenged. Anyone suggest the cheapest and most brain dead way to save my information? And, know where I can find the instructions on how to do it?
Any help appreciated.

@rosa41

Go down to best buy or where ever you go to buy electronics & get an USB external hard drive. Most come with software that basically automates backups.
I use a Western Digital My Book. Competitively priced, reliable & easy to setup. I recommend it.

Oh me oh my, I wiped out a friends WordPress blog on accident....
Thankfully I get a weekly database backup emailed to me for safekeeping.
Problem is, I forgot how to restore it since it only happens once in a Blue Moon.
Well, it was a blue moon last night and I couldn't sleep because restore didn't work.
Finally realized I needed to use CPanel's PHPmyadmin to restore the SQL database.
All is well, I can get some sleep now knowing 5 years of his work wasn't lost.
Blue Moon turned to gold again.

BACK UP! (and practice restoring once in a while)