Backups

In its simplest form, a backup is just a copy of data (text documents, music and video files, photographs, etc.) that is kept separately from the device in which it is stored. Ideally, the backup should be kept in a secure but accessible place. his applies to computers (and laptops), tablets and smartphones.

 

Why is this an issue?

Simply because there is merit in preserving and being able to recover data that has value to the person making the backup and may be hard or impossible to replace if lost – for example a video clip of a baby’s irst steps or words or sotware purchased online and downloaded, documents of personal value, like the various drats of this tutorial. Ater all an electronic device containing such data could fail catastrophically, be lost or stolen.

 

What you should do about it

There are several choices to backup data. None is particularly complex or expensive.

 

Oline options: Recent operating systems (Windows and Apple) include facilities to backup your data automatically. Older operating systems that do not, can be complemented with commercially available backup software. The most effective solution is one that performs the backups automatically without a need for manual intervention.

Such backups can be stored in a separate hard disc, ideally physically separate from the computer, a storage device connected to a home network, to a USB memory, a DVD (re-writable or not) or CDROMs. USB memories, while convenient, are easy to misplace, mislabel or lose.

 

Backups, regardless of what is being backed up take two forms: full backup and incremental backup. In the latter case, only those files that have changed since the previous backup are stored.

 

Online options: Many Internet service providers and other companies offer backup services “in the cloud”, usually for a modest charge. This implies that to access your backed up data you must connect to the Internet.

 

Use a search engine to find details of products and services for the specific devices you wish to protect.