The What, Where, When, Why and How of Data Backups

Whether you are a business executive or a homeowner, computer data backups should be on your checklist of very important matters. Data backups are a form of fail-safe procedure to protect the files on your computer in case of any loss for any reason. This article expounds on some of the ideas behind data backup systems.

So what kind of data would warrant a backup? While businesses can clearly see the need for a data recovery plan using data backups, most homeowners do not. PC owners who have no backup hardware or backup systems stand to lose a lot – their online bookmarks of favorite sites, family pictures, possible work documents, software and programs installed, etc. So basically, all kinds of data that is important to the user should be backed up.

Next, where should you back them up? You can choose your backup hardware or media to be an external hard drive, online data storage, CDs or DVDs and magnetic tapes. You may also choose to create a backup of your files on your main hard drive, but if your computer hard drive fails, the backup data would most likely be gone too.

When should one back up data? Ideally, it should be immediately after reading this article unless, of course, you have already done so before this. Data backups should be performed regularly – if possible, everyday – to reduce the amount of data lost in case of drive failure.
Why should you backup your data? Easy, it’s because your hard drive will fail, sooner or later. It is inevitable. Data backups will ensure that you have a failsafe data recovery plan when your computer finally decides to give up on you.

Now, how should you go about backing up your data? This is also easy. If you are using an external hard drive, you can simply plug the external media into your computer with a USB cable and then copy and paste all the files, documents and pictures which you want to keep safe.

DVDs and CDs are usually not a good choice for backup media, as they can only store so much information. Business networks, especially, would need more than just ten or twenty of these in order to backup even a quarter of the files they need.

Some would prefer online storage as it is accessible anywhere. Most of them, however, require a monthly payment. Most users prefer to use automated backup systems which can be downloaded from online sites. This would be the easiest way to backup your files, but one has to keep a diligent watch over the process in order to minimize any backup failures.