Backing up to the Cloud

We all know we have to backup our computers, but those backups files can get huge. Add that to your existing files and your computers disk will seem to have shrunk overnight. No matter what size hard drive you have, space is a premium. Besides, it's not exactly a good idea to store your backups on the same disk since you can't retrieve it when the disk fails.  So what are your options?

The quickest and easiest to understand option is to buy an external hard disk. You can often get a removable drive that is large enough to do the job.If your on the road, you need your backup with you just in case.  And where is it when your notebook get's stolen?And if you said "with my stolen laptop?" You win the prize.  And, they are still hard disks and at some point they will fail. You may find the external backup fails before your notebook computer does.

Online backup is actually a good idea because dedicated hardware is in the same place as your computer.  Have a fire?  flood?  theft?At the worst time, it's destroyed. And when that happens, a Cloud Backup online will always have a copy in a place for you. This is why businesses usually have one backup in the premises and one (or more) off premises. The best thing about online backup is the cloud is available with any internet connection. This gives you the convenience of having a backup available both locally (via Cloud Backup's "mounted volume" option), and is stored remotely.  So when bad things happen to your computers, you can still get your data. Cloud Backup is easy to use, inexpensive, and lets you recover lost data fast.

Network attached storage can make sense if you have several computers. They let you backup all your data and let you share selected folders or retrieve files from the shared space. Remember though, dedicated hardware adds complexity, maintenance, and alot of up front money.And if a fire, flood or theft... All that work was wasted.Besides, CloudBackup can backup your computer, or your whole office full of computers with one account.

CD's and DVD's are also an inexpensive solution.But backing up to disks every day is a easily forgotton and thankless chore. It becomes even more hard work when you have a lot of files and your backup spans several disks. The other problem with this method is, backup utilities that come with your computer usually cannot backup to a CD or DVD drive. So you'll have to fork out extra money to buy a third party backup software that will. And then you have to worry about where to keep piles of these CD/DVD's where they won't be scratched, exposed to high temperatures, or suffer the risk of fire, flood, and theft. 

No backup solution is one hundred percent and what you choose of course will depend on how you work. If your data is really important to you, use an online backup like OPENRSM CloudBackup.  That way your data is always available, secure, and you don't have to worry.  CloudBackup has you covered.

Backup Data Properly

Computer data can be very important to us, especially those of us who make a living on the computer. Over the last several years, the computer has grown on all of us, making our lives so much easier. For that very reason, it’s easy to tell that if we lost our computer data, it would completely destroy a majority of us.

Losing data can be an overwhelming thought to say the least. Computers store data, although machines have been known to fail. Even though the computer has become a lot more reliable over the years, it is virtually impossible to prevent computers from losing data.

You don’t need to take this lying down through, as you can indeed fight back. The ideal way to ensure that you never lose your precious data, is to back it up and keep backing it up. You should back up your computer data at least once a week, with once per day being the recommended way to do it.

In the past, and even some today, the floppy disc is the main method used to back up computer data. Even though they store a small amount of data, they are easy to access, easy to use, and nearly every computer has one.

Those of you who are looking to take things to the next level should look into backing up your entire hard drive. Backing up your entire hard drive is something that everyone should do, as it is indeed one of the best and most reliable ways to backup your computer.

When you create a backup of your entire hard drive, it will copy all of your information, so if something happens you’ll always have your data. Doing a full backup of your hard drive is great, although it can be very time consuming. To make matters worse, it is recommended that you create a backup at least once a week. On the other hand, if what you have on your computer is very important, you’ll find it more than worth the effort and time needed to back things up.

Another way you can back up your data, programs, and files, is to burn them directly to a data CD or DVD. This way, you can select which files or folders you want to keep. If you use CD/RW or DVD/RW disks, you can continue to add information to them when you create a backup. If you don’t use the RW (re-writable) media, then you won’t be able to go back and add more information to the disc.

Burning data directly to discs are the method of backup that most people are using these days, although backing up the entire hard drive is the preferred way of backing up your data. If you plan to use discs, you’ll need either a CD or DVD burner, which you can get for a great price these days. The discs are cheap as well, which only makes this method of backing things up that much better.

Whether it’s for your business or for personal reasons, you can’t go wrong backing up your data. You should always strive to back things up properly, as this will ensure that the data will always be there when you need it. This way, if you computer happens to crash or you lose everything on your hard drive, you’ll always have your backup files to go back to. This in itself can save you a lot of time, effort, and quite possibly even money - just for the simple fact that the files are all but a copy away to restore.

Backup Data On Your Laptop

If you were to look at past statistics regarding the information that has been lost in regards to laptop computers, you would find yourself amazed. Even though this information can be astounding, many of us still don’t take the time to back up the information on our laptops.

To put it in simple terms, nothing in the computer industry is fool proof. Hard drives can crash, the laptop can get stolen, or it can even be dropped and rendered useless. To ensure that we are never left without our precious data, we should always create a backup of our information.

There is no mistaken the fact that over a million laptops have been stolen over the years in the United States alone. Anytime a laptop is stolen, chances are that it won’t be recovered. If the information wasn’t backed up, then the owner will be left with no laptop - but more importantly - no backed up data either.

Just like you can with desktop computers, you can also create a backup of the data on your laptop as well. You can use online services, back it up remotely, or use several other methods to ensure that you keep all of your data. Preserving your data is something you should really look into, especially if you have business material on your laptop.

The best way to go about backing up your data and files is to burn them to a data CD. Data CDs can hold up to 700 MB (Mega Bytes) of data, which means a lot of files. To back things up this way, all you need is a CD/RW burner in your laptop, which most of the newer ones come with.

The only drawback to laptops is the fact that they don’t offer near as much storage or security measures as a desktop PC. Desktop computers have a lot more power, and they can also do things (including backups) in a fraction of the time.

The laptop computer was designed for on the go use, which is the main reason why people don’t really think about backing up their data. When the thought finally does come to mind, it is normally too late to do anything about it.

As mentioned above, the easiest and quickest way to backup your laptop data is to use an online backup service. Depending on your connection to the Internet, it can take anywhere from several minutes to several hours. Although it may take you a little bit of time, you’ll have the satisfaction in knowing that your data is there if something should happen.

Whether it’s for your business or personal use, you can’t go wrong backing up your data. You should always create a backup of your data at least once a month, even more than that if you have a lot of important information that you add to your laptop on a frequent basis.

All About Data Recovery

At some point in time, everyone who owns a computer will experience the trials and tribulations of hard drive failure. The reasons behind it vary, and could include everything from a human error to damages resulting from flood or water. Viruses can play a role as well, along with many other factors. For many years, the need to recover data that has been lost or destroyed has made data recovery such a very valuable asset.

Almost all hard drives can be recovered. Normally, if the drive is making a ticking or a scratching noise, you can use certain software programs to recover the data. Sometimes, due to age or bad parts, the aperture arm in the hard drive can fail, or the platters can become damaged and lose the data that they hold. If you can’t recover the information with software, you’ll need to send the hard drive off and have it either rebuilt or have technicians recover your data.

Data recovery is always an option, from hard drives that are 2 GB in size to the largest of over 300  GB or more of data. No matter what size hard drive you have, the data can generally be recovered. Keep in mind that if you’ve had a computer crash, you’ll need to send the hard drive off to have the data recovered by technicians.

One of the key benefits of data recovery is the fact that information can also be retrieved from the recycle bin as well. Partition recovery, and even information that has been lost somewhere on the disk can be retrieved as well. Even though it may seem like your data is gone forever - the technicians that specialize in data recovery can retrieve it.

From Windows to Mac, everything can be recovered. There are different filing structures and formats, including NTFS and FAT32. These are common Windows filing structures, and hold all of the information for your hard. 

Those of you who have multiple hard drives in your computer, can rest assured that RAID configurations can also be recovered. If a single hard drive on the RAID configuration fails, the RAID setup will absorb the blow and there won’t be a loss of data. On the other hand, if the entire RAID configuration crashes, it will crash big time. Whenever this happens, you’ll need to send it off and have technicians restore both the RAID hardware and software

Anytime your hard drive happens to crash or malfunction, data recovery is there to help you get back your files. Whether they are personally files or very important files that are need for business - you can put your trust in data recovery and know that you’ll get everything the back the way it was.

Computer Diagnostics

The diagnostics that are associated with computers can help to identify any problem or failure that computers show when they are having problems. Diagnostics are used to test out the computer system, which includes both the BIOS and memory, software, and even the hardware that is attached to the computer.

The most common types of problems will occur when your computer is down to very low resources, which can either be a low amount of RAM, or a low disk space. These conditions are very common, and generally result in your computer running very slow. This can easily be fixed, all you have to do is defrag your hard drive, and get rid of some programs and files that you no longer use or need.

Almost all types of computer diagnostic software can find and fix just about any problem that you are having. It normally starts off with a BIOS examination, and goes on from there. PC diagnostics software can determine a lot from the BIOS, from the common settings to those that have a major impact on both boot up and performance.

No matter what you do, you should never modify or tamper with the BIOS settings, as it can lead to serious problems. If you do plan to modify or mess with your BIOS, you should always create a backup first, just in case something goes wrong. The BIOS settings can be very tricky, although they are responsible for a lot to do with your computer. If you have never been in the BIOS before, you really shouldn’t be modifying anything inside of it.

Depending on the diagnostics program that you are using, there will be several different features available. Right now, two of the most popular are Norton Systemworks and PC Doctor. Both of these programs offer full diagnostics software, good for fixing just about any software related computer program you can imagine.  

Once you run the program, you’ll be able to select the diagnostic test that you are planning to run. Some offer you a full system scan, which will scan your entire computer and then display any problems that you having. After displaying any problems, the software will normally give you an option to go ahead and fix it. As long as the problem is nothing serious, the diagnostic software can generally fix it.

The more complicated problems, such as hardware failures or hard drive crashes, are a totally different story. They will require a technician who is very experienced, that can rebuild the hardware. Diagnostic software can report hardware problems to you, although most of the time it is unable to fix it.

There are other computer diagnostic software that you run after starting the computer or rebooting, that will check everything from BIOS. These types are great, although the types such as Norton and PC Doctor are by far superior. They offer far more features, including defragment, cache cleaner, and the option to delete your temporary Internet files. These features are great to have, especially if you aren’t the technical type.

For more reasons than one, computer diagnostic software is the ideal way to find and prevent problems with your computer. Norton Systemworks offers you Ghost as well, which is the perfect way to back up your data. You can back up certain files, or just go ahead and back up your entire hard drive. Systemworks and Ghost are very easy to use, even if you are completely new to computers. For everything they offer you - computer diagnostic programs are the ideal way to prevent problems before they happen.

Online Backup - Top 5 Backup Solutions

Finding the best backup solution can be rather difficult but very important. We are all storing more and more information on our computers and now it is even possible to get all your regular mail online instead of receiving it by post. This includes tax papers and other important documents. Still, backup is only thought of when things actually go wrong instead of securing your data on a regular basis. A few people take a backup of their files once in a while when they get around to it, which simply isn't enough anymore, but most never think of it.

The purpose of this article is to get you, the pc user, thinking of how you would like windows backup running and by covering your needs, find the application that fits your requirements.

Identifying your backup requirements
Below is a list of requirements I have used myself. You can use this list to get started and hopefully end up with a windows backup solution which will make sure you never loose a file again.

Online backup: it is all about security and one of the requirements is offsite backup, meaning your files will be stored on a server far away from the originals. This also saves your data in case of theft and nature disasters, like flooding or house fire.

• Scheduled backup: once the backup has been configured, I never want to think about it again. The backup must be scheduled to fit my requirements, which could be once per day.
• Notifications: I don't want to think about my backup and therefore I need a daily status of the backup situation. Could be successful, unsuccessful, not run, out of space and so on.
• Unlimited space: I will need a lot of space, almost unlimited, if this is to run for many years.
• Data availability: It is critical that I can recover and access my data at all times. I don't want to be stuck waiting for other people to manually give me access to retrieve my files.
• Security: Since this is everything from pictures of my children to tax papers, the backup solution must be secure. All data transmitted by the internet must be encrypted and a antivirus program must be running on the targeted location.
• Guarantee: My backup provider must guarantee my data safety. The solution must be running on proven hardware.

This is some of my own requirements but there could be many more than or even not as strict as mine. If you take a quick look at the requirements list, it easy to already now out rule some solutions. I need backup as a service, not by using a secondary hard drive. I am willing to pay for this service, as long as the price is fair. I would say around $5 a month.

Success
I found, that with my rather strict requirements, I could actually get a free backup solution for personal use and my company only has to pay $9.95 a month for a complete enterprise backup.

When you are thinking about your price, the only question you should ask yourself is: How much is my data worth?

A Guide to Online Backup - Introduction

Why change my existing backup solution?

Your current windows backup software may very well be running with problems and you may even have bought an external hard drive or even have a server running at home to keep your backup secure. Online backup solution are by many considered an expensive solution if you only need to take a small backup now and then, while others think online backup is too risky and therefore buy their own home backup solution with mirrored hard drives and what not. I would like to demystify all these statements.

Why use Online Backup?

Online backup is much more than just windows backup software, but provides you with a highly reliable backup solution, which can run in the background like we not it from antivirus software, that is guaranteed to keep your data stored on a reliable medium and additionally provides you with remote access to all your backup files like is was a online storage for files. If needed you can access all your files or create a new backup while sitting in the train on your way to work or bring your laptop with you on your vacation and immediately store your photos on a reliable backup until you get home. Imagine your laptop being stole or broke on your way home and all your family photos were lost. Internet backup services will solve all these issues for you. One last thing to mention is the storage capacity. While your normal windows backup software relies on your medium to have enough free space to store all your backups, online backup is unlimited. Some online backup services even provide free usage for private users as long as the data doesn't exceed 2 GB. If you need more than 2 GB, you pay a monthly fee, which usually is around $5 and then you have unlimited space.

Online Backup Requirements

Requirements for running online backup are very few. You computer has to be running on Microsoft windows for using any windows backup software and you need to have an internet connection for using the internet backup services. Many of the online backup sites require you to do a test of your internet connection speed and if it is not sufficient, they will tell you not to use their services. In my experience, there is not such thing as a too slow internet connection. It all depends on what you want to back up. If you only have a couple of thousand word documents, you can do it with a very slow connection, though the initial backup will take quite some time. If you intend to back up your whole hard drive with all programs, images and word documents, you probably need a 512 kilobit connection or better.

Wrapping up

Using internet backup services provides you with better accessibility, unlimited space and very low costs compared to a power consuming backup server. This small article is the first in a series of articles about the subject and advantages, or disadvantages, by using an online backup solution.

Windows Backup Software - Where to Start

When starting to take backup of your data by using windows backup software, it is very important to know your needs and what to backup. If you are taking backup of everything, you could add unnecessary cost to yourself or if you are taking backup of the wrong files, you could end up with a data disaster. This small article will help you set up a backup solution that fits your needs.

How much is your data worth?
What would your family say if all your digital photos suddenly disappeared or all your private budget files accidentally were deleted? What about your own small company loosing all invoices and customer registrations? What about you loosing all your outlook contacts?

These are all questions you have to ask yourself before determining what much your data is worth and why to have to ensure a backup copy is always secure

Important files
Here is a list of the most common files to add to your backup set. These examples may not cover all your requirements but they are important to most people.

• The folder(s) containing all your office documents
• The folder(s) containing all your digital photos
• The folder(s) containing all your projects
• Your internet bank security key
• E-mail messages
• E-mail contacts and calendar from outlook or similar
• Website bookmarks - maybe not critical but easily added
• Software or music purchased from the internet

Besides these files, you must also be sure to add any work related program data to the windows backup software configuration.

Determine your needs
Once you have selected all these files and folders, you should have a better overview of your backup needs. When thinking of your backup needs, you must decide how often you expect this backup to run, how big your backup will be and so on.

Choose your Windows backup software solution
Windows Backup Software can either be an offline solution or an online solution. Offline backup solutions will maybe be adequate if you are only backing up a few files and that these files do not changes very often. Examples of this could be your security key for your internet bank and maybe this year's budget. If this is the case, you can just add an event in your calendar to remind you to copy the files to a USB stick every 6 months.

If you are using windows backup software for taking a full backup of all the examples mentioned above, you are better off selecting an internet backup service. These online backup solutions are easily configured, very cheap (free if the backup size is below 2 GB) and a very secure way of storing your data.

This option also gives you the possibility of accessing your data from everywhere as long as you have an internet connection.

Online backup solutions are by far the best option available to the normal user looking for windows backup software.

Using Free Data Backup Program Trials

There are a couple of ways to find the best free data backup program for you.  The first is to limit yourself to finding free data backup programs.  There are a lot of them and many are safe and easy to use.  However, they don’t have many of the advantages of a paid back up service, which is why they are free to begin with.  In order to get the service, many people use free trial periods of paid backup software.

For Only A Couple Of Computers

Free data backup programs are only recommended for personal use or for very small businesses that have up to three computers.  They aren’t equipped to handle the great volume of data storage needed for businesses or organizations.  If you are running a non-profit, then let the makers of a paid data backup service know.  Oftentimes, you can get a discounted rate for that or you can at least get some tax credit.

Determining Computer Time

Many free data backup programs offer a thirty day trail run.  However, that doesn’t mean you can use the program as often as you like for a month.  Computer programs judge days differently than people do.  We are used to a day being twenty-four hours.  For a computer program, a "day" is the time you log on and log off of the program.  You may sign up for a free data backup program thirty day trial to discover that it only works for two weeks.

Disadvantages

For the most part, hopping from one thirty trial to another winds up not being a bargain.  You have to pay close attention to where the data is actually being stored.  Is it being stored on your computer for you to make storage discs or is the data being stored on a website?  If it's being stored on a website, then you're out of luck when the trial is up.  Yo will have to take all of your data with you when you go for another free data backup program trail offer.

Advantages

The advantages are in free data backup programs that move your files to discs or store the data on your computer.  This way, you get to use technical support.  You can also see how well their customer service works without having to pay for it.  In this way you don’t have to marry any particular program.  But often, it's much easier to just pay for such a program rather than having to learn another program every two weeks.