Online Backup Systems: Keep Your Files Safe and Accessible

By: Serena Carcasole

Unfortunately, most of us have lost files on our hard drives due to crashes. If you are one of the lucky ones, your time is probably coming. The most surprising things about crashes is they usually happen without warning. You would expect that your computer gives you some kind of nice warning light or indication, but what usually happens is nothing at all, other than perhaps a nagging feeling that, “gosh, I should really back up my files.” 

If you have that nagging feeling, or if you haven’t set yourself up with an online backup system yet, there are some easy ways to get started.

How to Backup Your Files Online

These days, there are secure online backup systems that keep copies of all your important files for you. These are easy to use and worth investing in. You’ll have to pay a small yearly fee for good storage, but you can usually try them out for free. It’s definitely worth it, considering the convenience of having an online backup system that you can access any time and that you won’t lose.

Two of the most popular online backup systems include mozy and carbonite. Both of these sites make it easy to backup anything that is valuable to you, such as documents, photos, music, and anything else that you intend to keep forever. Both of these sites are also established and secure, as well as supported for both PCs and Macs.

It’s not hard to backup your files online. The online systems are usually automated and easy to use. If you want offline solution, an external hard drive or NAS (Network Attached Storage) are storage devices that can save your documents, whether it’s business or personal items. These days, the operating system on computers, such as Windows 7, also offer backup systems.

Why Do Hard Drives Crash?

According to Michael Van Ert, Owner of The Computer Guy, “Stuff happens. Hard drives crash and die as a direct result of being used.” He goes on to say that, “I act on the assumption, proven true too many times, that my hard drive will die in about 5 minutes from now. In fact, my main system went ‘south’ a month ago. If I hadn’t been backing up every week I would have been up that legendary creek.”

Just like any device, computers can and do fail. Parts wear out. Wear and tear occurs. With heavy use or light use, hard drives stop working, often for what appear to be no reason at all. Even with closer inspection, it is often hard to know whether a computer might fail. Crashes are simply a part of life. 

Signs of Failure

Computers sometimes will give you warning signs that something is wrong, and while these can go on for months or years, but it is never too soon to back things up. If your computer freezes often, gets slower over time, makes unusual sounds, or has booting problems, a crash might be coming.

Typically, what happens after a crash is you’ll go to turn it on and it won’t start, you’ll hear clicking noises, or get a black screen. Hard drives can be recovered sometimes, but it’s a costly experience with no guarantees.

So remember, “back it up” and save your files before it’s too late. One day you will thank yourself.

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***AUTHOR BIO***

Serena Carcasole is a certified Internet Marketing Specialist, business consultant and the President of Virtual Business Solutions ON DEMAND, a premier virtual assistance firm helping entrepreneurs around the world to succeed and grow their businesses. In addition to administrative services, Virtual Business Solutions ON DEMAND provides a host of specialized technical and marketing outsourcing options to meet business owners’ unique needs. Some of the most popular services include Internet marketing through social networks, blogging, and article marketing; website and graphic design; search engine optimization support.

As a full-service outsourcing provider, VBSOnDemand provides full project management support for even the most complicated projects. VBSOnDemand donates 1% of profits to the Canadian Cancer Society. For more information:

***AUTHORS NOTE***  

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