{mosgoogle}What’s the Solution?

The solution is to find a backup solution that is invisible to the user and does not create a “backup event” that must be scheduled from a person’s busy day. So hold this thought for the moment.

Once you have determined which files to back up regularly, you must decide where to store this data. In the early days of computing, we used to back up to floppy disks. Now, our files are huge and often too large for floppy disks. CD ROMs are popular for backup and will now hold over 750 MB of data. DVDs can also be used for backup and how many times more data than CD ROMS.

At the beginning of this article, I said that backup is inconvenient and that is why most people don’t do it. Therefore lets find solutions that are convenient. Not just convenient, but invisible like an insurance policy that just works.

If you are a lone computer user and are not on a network, the best solution is to get an external hard drive that plugs into your USB port. These data storage devices are relatively cheap for the benefit that they provide. Follow this link for examples of these products. If you are using Windows XP, then you can use the Windows Synchronize utility found in XP. To use, copy all of your data to the external drive. Then install the Windows Synchronize utility to automatically keep your files up to date when you plug the external drive into your computer. When you travel with your laptop computer, leave the USB hard drive at home. Never carry it in your computer bag. If you are backing up your desktop, take the USB hard drive with you – or at least store it at a location separate from your desktop in case of fire or other disaster.