Back up your computer data.
Do it now, I'll wait.
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Done?
Good. I am learning this lesson the hard way. My laptop began having trouble some months ago. It wouldn't shut down properly. But hey, it still connected to the Internet and I could still get some work done.
Then it stopped connecting to any network except my in-home wireless network. Well, that was problematic but as long as it was able to get online at home, everyone in my family had a computer to use and all was right with the world. It wouldn't let me access the wireless software properties to fix anything and I knew one day I'd have to call Tech Support to get it fixed, but for some reason, I thought we'd just uninstall and reinstall the wi-fi software, and I'd be good to go.
So I continued not backing anything up.
This past week, my laptop stopped connecting to the Internet. And I still couldn't access my wireless software. And it still wouldn't shut down properly. So I finally made the call to Tech Support. But did I back anything up before that call?
Nope.
92 minutes later, after completely wiping my hard drive and reinstalling the operating system, my laptop runs like the day I pulled it out of the box.
Unfortunately, that's what my hard drive looks like, too. So not only is all my data gone, but now I've got several hours of re-configuration and customizing to get it back to where I like it.
So the moral here is back up your computer, kids. At least once a week.
You can purchase several commercial products to do this: Norton's Ghost is one of the better ones. Or you can go to Mozy and backup your stuff to an online server, if it's not too private.
Go to school on your Uncle Mark and start backing up your data.
Again, do it today.
3 comments:
Good comments, and an excellent referral!
You may have just supplied this Friday's "Web Site of the Week" pick.
Thanks, whoever you are!
Another great online backup solution is Carbonite. Carbonite backs up all your documents, photos, music and more for less than fifty dollars a year. Files are double encrypted before they leave your computer so you never have to worry about security. Carbonite backs up your files automatically so you never have to think about it. Or if you'd prefer, you can schedule when you want (or don't want) Carbonite to perform a backup. And it integrates with Windows, so there's nothing new to learn. You really couldn't ask for an easier way to back up your files.
They offer a free trial on their website www.carbonite.com - you don't even need to use a credit card to get started. Yes, I work for the company, so I'm a little partial, but I really think that Carbonite is worth looking into. It's saved a lot of people from losing files that they would have never been able to get back.
Hey, Alison ... good to hear from you. I checked with the Backup Review website that "Anonymous" left for us and yes! Carbonite was listed.
In fact, it was rated #1 in their June rankings. Well done!
Thanks for the tip!
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