Protecting and backing up your data is some thing that every one needs to do on a day to day basis but lets face it, most of us think its to hard, we leave it to the last minute and before you know it your PC has crashed and you have nothing left!

This happens to every one, every day and it comes down to two simple things... 1x hard drive and a few minutes of your time.

Loosing personal data and information can be caused by a number of things, the most common are:

1.) Virus's or malware
2.) Not carrying out general maintenance on your PC
3.) Incorrectly deleting system files causing programs to crash
4.) Old or dodgy hardware
5.) Physical damage to your PC (Water damage, impact damage)

This is just a few!

How often should I back up my data?

Backing up your data should be done as often as possible, the more you do it the more up to date your back up meaning if your computer falls over and stops working you generally wont have to start typing your uni thesis all over again. Our recommendation is at least once to twice a week!

What should I back up?

Copying every single file from your PC is not necessary as there are many files that your system use to run your computer, we recommend keeping it simple and saving all your important info like bank records, music, photos, tax returns and any other documents under "My Documents" in your PC or "Documents" in your Mac!

How long does it take?

Depending on how much data you have will depend on the time it takes to transfer all your files across to your hard drive. This procedure can take any were from 5 minutes to a couple of hours.

What hardware should i purchase to back up my PC?

This is were things can get a little confusing, but luckily we talk English and not tekno-bable so we'll make it easy!

There are hundreds of hard drive manufactures out there selling very similar products, but don't be fooled as some brands are better then others.
Steer clear of hard drives that seem to cheap, that's because they generally are, durability and life time are almost non-existing!

Brands we recommend are:

1.) Western Digital
2.) Seagate
3.) Hitachi
4.) Samsung

The three main types of hard drives:

1.) 2.5" Hard drives
These are small, light weight and ultra portable. Don't let their size fool you!

2.) 3.5" Hard drives
This type of hard drive needs to be plugged into mains power and is not some thing you generally leave in your laptop bag due to the size of it.

3.) Wifi / Network capable hard drives
This style of hard drive is some thing fairly new to the consumer market and is a must have for people running multiple computers at home.

What other alternatives are there to backing up my computer?

There are many cloud based services out there that also make life very easy? But what’s a cloud based service?

Cloud based services are an online back up solution allowing people to back up and transfer their data to a "big computer in the sky"
This is a great hassle free way of doing things however the down side is most free services only give you a small amount of space on their server and obtaining more can some times cost as much as purchasing a hard drive.

Here are a couple of companies that offer cloud solutions - www.dropbox.com / www.rackspace.com /

Conclusion

No matter which way you go, backing up your data is a must! Don't let it get to you nor stress out! Once you've purchased your new hard drive its as simple as plugging it in and away you go.