The Importance of Backing Up Your Computer Data

My wife loves her digital camera. She's got more than 10,000 digital photos in our computer. And if she lost even one, I'd be sleeping in the doghouse.

I'd be lying if I told you that most computer owners back up their data on a regular basis. The fact is that only 17 percent of us out there save files to an external hard drive. You're more likely to floss your teeth than you are to back up your computer data.

Data loss can cost you more than frustration. Current statistics show one in 10 hard drives fail each year. The cost of recovering a failed hard drive has been estimated at more than $7,500.

Thankfully, storage and software companies have recognized this and are trying to make it easier for consumers to save their data without too much hassle.

Aside from the established method of hooking a computer up to an external storage device, there are several online backup, recovery, and storage services on the Internet. Apple has its MobileMe (formerly .Mac) online backup service. PC users have more options including companies like Mozy and pcOfficePro.

Even Microsoft is getting into the data backup act with its recently revealed MyPhone service. The yet to be formally announced software apparently allows for online storage and synchronization for smartphones and other mobile devices.

Details of Microsoft's MyPhone software revealed this week claim that when attached to a laptop or PC, the synch product has a Windows Live-looking page, with a simple text menu along the left offering contacts, calendar, tasks, text messages, photos, videos, music, and documents.

The other hot trend in storage is to provide one-click or even automatic data backup in very portable sizes. Western Digital is the latest company to do so. Their "My Book World Edition" devices are about the thickness of a Stephen King novel. With 1 terabyte and 2 terabyte capacities, the plug-and-play device is being advertised as allowing for streaming content between a computer and a larger screen like a television. 

By comparison, Seagate's latest portable backup hardware, called FreeAgent takes a slightly different approach. The external storage hardware device plugs into a Seagate console that lets home-theatre fans to playback content stored on its devices in capacities peaking at 1.5 terabytes.

External storage devices don't have to be expensive. Storage maker Clickfree offers three different products starting at $159.99 that can handle any of the latest digital file extensions and can be used as a back up system with as many as 20 different PCs. The new Clickfree HD525, for example, features 500 gigabytes of capacity that can store 110,000 songs, more than 200,000 photos and 1,000,000 digital documents.

Of course, with so much to lose, backing up files from a PC to a separate storage device has taken on a huge importance. There are some 36 million networked homes in the U.S. according to research firm Parks Associates.

And rest assured that if I ever do lose those photos, I'd know that my computer's backup system would help keep me out of the doghouse.

Comments

[Technology Services El Segundo]

Losing important data can be detrimental to many different people. Imagine a person who has to give a speech, but has no notes because his computer crashed. Or a college student who spends all night writing a paper, only to lose everything just before they can hit print. Or a major company that can lose all the contact info for all their clients. Bottom line: backup files. There are companies that offer to do this for you. There's really is no reason not to since there is so much that can be lost.