Backups are an important topic, but something many people don"t think about until it"s too late. We have a lot of data always available in the cloud, and sites like Flickr, Youtube, and Facebook hold a lot of the pictures and videos we hold dear, but most people still have a trove of data sitting on their main computer as well, whether it be a laptop or a desktop. If your hard drive crashes, your house burned down, or a thief stole your computer, would you still have all of your important data?
March 31 is World Backup Day, a day to remind people to backup their data. However, a wise man once told me that nobody cares about backups, they only care about restores. If you don"t test a restore, then you may not actually have a good backup! Cloud storage is a good first step, but you should always ensure that there are at least two copies of your data. If your only copy is in SkyDrive, what happens if that service has a problem or someone cracks into and deletes your account?
We"ve provided some backup suggestions in the past: In 2009, we provided an overview of how to backup Windows 7; in 2011, we mentioned that automated backups were coming to Windows Phone; and in 2012, we gave a review of a backup suite called Acronis True Image 2013. Windows Home Server is also a great solution for onsite backups, but it"s always best to have at least one offsite copy of your data. For offsite backups, services like Crashplan, Mozy, and Carbonite are good automated solutions.
So how diligent are you in backing up and testing restores of your data? Let us know of any stories, good or bad.
Source: World Backup Day