Just a decade ago, prices for hard drives were still being analyzed at megabytes per dollar. Now the same figures used for those comparisons can be made for gigabytes on the dollar. There is simply too much disk capacity these days for the personal files typical computer users will ever need. Yet when their hard drive fails, they are in a state of despair. They need to recover their files or forever lose them.
So Why Do I Need To Back Up My Data?
Well, why not? Other than the cost of a new data storage (which really isn't an excuse with free cloud computing storage), there really is nothing to lose and the security of your files' preservation to gain. Whether its computer hard drive failure, file corruption, natural disaster, the computer gods seeking retribution, backing up your hard drive just makes sense.
Call me crazy, but I maintain files across three external hard drives (1.5TB, 500GB, and 160GB), one internal hard drive in an enclosure (40GB), and one internal hard drive (500GB). This gives me a grand total of 2700 gigabytes of storage. Although I do have some vaguely obtained files from the Internet that take up quite a bit of disk space, my files only occupy a very small fraction of all the storage space I have. Therefore, I keep anywhere between two to four copies of the same files across the various hard drives I have at my disposal.
Again, call me crazy and now you can call me paranoid, but I'm very fearful of losing my files. It has happened to me before on multiple occasions. Sometimes a hard drive will become corrupt without prior notice. Sometimes an external hard drive will stop responding to the computer it's connected to. Whatever the reason, your data can be accessible one day and good as gone the next.
With external hard drive prices steadily decreasing and cloud computing's popularity increasing, there really is no excuse to synchronize and back up one's data. Especially during the holiday season, alternative hard drives can be bought for fairly inexpensive prices. Here are some backing up and synchronizing solutions.
Hardware: External Hard Drives
These handy devices are like the hard drives in your computer, except you can easily unplug it from one computer and hook it up to another, instantly being able to access your files on the hard drive. Even in the age of the Internet, these devices serve as indispensable life savers and handy file transporters for files greater than a few megabytes.
One of the technology blogs I keep up with, Gizmodo, lists daily deals on technological gadgets, including external hard drives. This is the link to their dealzmodo page: http://gizmodo.com/tag/dealzmodo/
Hardware: Internal Hard Drives with Enclosure
This is for the amateur tech enthusiasts and above. A more inexpensive method of having an external hard drive is to essentially assemble one yourself. After all, those pre-built external hard drives are really nothing but an internal hard drive with a pretty case over it. You can go out and buy an internal hard drive, an enclosure, and assemble the entire thing to mimic an external hard drive to save yourself some money.
Software: File Sychornization
Sure you can just drag and drop your files from your computer's hard drive to your external hard drive, but that certainly won't impress the ladies. What you need is a software that automatically does that for you and can do it periodically and follows all the rules you tell it to.
I personally use Syncback, which I find to be far too superfluous for the average user but has been good to me nonetheless. I have the program synchronize my files across my various external hard drives and even my cloud computing storage at different intervals of time, so I never have to worry about remembering to synchronize my files because it's done for me.
If you prefer to use other programs, check out Lifehacker's top 5 recommendations here: http://lifehacker.com/398696/five-best-file-syncing-tools
Software: Cloud Computing
You've probably heard the term "cloud computing" before, but you may not know what it means. Essentially, it is doing computer tasks where most of the work is done on some other computer that's connected to the one you're using over the Internet. In this case, we'll be looking at FREE cloud computing disk storage.
I have been faithfully using and recommending others to use Dropbox for a long time. The service will give you 2 gigabytes of FREE cloud computing storage and makes it extremely easy to access, manage, and even share those files. As long as you have a device that has Internet, you can access your Dropbox files. PCs, Macs, and even mobile devices will all be able to download and read the files you've uploaded to Dropbox.
Using the term 'upload' does not even accurately describe Dropbox's most novel feature. Once you install the Dropbox program on your computer, it puts a folder in your computer's "My Documents". Anything you put in this folder is locally cached on your computer and will be instantly synchronized to your Dropbox account. Within mere moments, you will be able to access the same files you've just put in Dropbox on your computer with ANY device with Internet. This makes it easy for college students and anybody always on the go to synchronize their files and print files from various computers without worry.
Even in my first term of college, I found Dropbox to be immensely helpful. I always save my files for class in Dropbox and I have had to access those files during class on my iPod Touch on multiple occasions. When I need to print something while I am on campus without my laptop, I can be assured that I can easily print my files because they are all in my Dropbox account, which I can easily access through their website. I just log into any computer, log into Dropbox, download my file, and print. No need to remind myself to dump my files onto a flash drive, carry the flash drive with me, find the USB port on the computer, and so forth.
Just to reiterate in order get the point across, Dropbox offers 2 gigabytes of free storage to anybody who signs up, and even more space if you refer people. For every person you refer, you get 250 megabytes of additional free storage for both you and the person you invited. So in return for reading this article, I ask you to help me (and yourself) get more FREE storage space by signing up for Dropbox with my referral link:
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTQ1NTU5NDk
And don't think Dropbox can only be used to back up and synchronize your files. Lifehacker has a guide on many other uses for Dropbox, from secure password management, portable applications, and remotely controlling your computer: http://lifehacker.com/5358983/use-dropbox-for-more-than-just-file-syncing
Bottom Line:
- Back your files up to save yourself the hassle and worry of missing or corrupt files
- Synchronize your files across various hard drives with free and easy to use programs
- Use free cloud computing storage to readily access your files from anywhere
So this holiday season, do yourself a favor and go get a nice, inexpensive external hard drive and set up a back up routine. You and your hair that won't be pulled out will thank me later.
I merely touched upon the basics of file redundancy and synchronization, if any tech enthusiasts would like to chime in, go ahead and do so in the comments. For the full story and others like it, check out my blog:http://gotlactose.wordpress.com/
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