The importance of Backing Up

It is a well known fact that computers are susceptible to hard disk failure, data corruption or virus attacks.  Backing up information is a practical and necessary precaution to protect your data from being lost forever.

Backing up doesn’t have to be costly and there are several realistic methods for backing up your data.  The best method all depends on your scenario i.e.

• the importance of your data
• the amount of data to be backed up
• funds available for a backup solution

Many computer users now have hundreds of music files and thousands of digital photographs which may have cost a lot of money  or are priceless in importance.  Losing these files would cause a lot of frustration and heart-ache, so its important to plan your backup option and maintain it, to ensure the restore process in the event of a failure, is quick and successful.

• categorise your data e.g. documents, movies, music, photographs, internet favourites/bookmarks, application specific files.
• check the overall size of your data, does this include files stored on your actual desktop or files on the root of your c: drive or other drives?
• what are the speeds of your computer outputs, are you limited to USB1, do you have USB2, USB3?  What about Firewire, SCSI?
• check the speed of your internet connection and whether you are limited to the amount of bandwidth you can use a month.

The following backup methods are currently available to you, they all have their pros and cons, dependant on your backup requirements and budget:

DVD Backup

Backup to DVD is practical for all home users but the process is slow and unreliable.  There are now scratch proof DVD media available but the size of backups will be limited from 4.7gb to 8.5gb depending on the DVD type.  Try to avoid backing up to DVD if you can.

Flash Memory

Memory sticks, flash drives, thumb drives are a suitable solution for data backup when the amount of size of the backup is small.  These drives are easy to plug into a PC and Mac through a USB port.  They offer unlimited rewrite capabailities and can be found in capacity options from 64mb to 32gb.  The expected lifespan of a flash memory option is circa 10 years.

Consider if your overall backup size is small.  These are useful for quick transfer of files or temporary backup solution.  Not recommended for permanent backup solution.  Flash memory are also susceptible to loss and theft so you must consider encryption.

Hard Drives

Cost of hard drives are now much lower than in the past.  The speed and size options range and you can now purchase 3TB SATA drives.  Whether its internal or external SATA 2.5″, 3.5″ drives, they offer a great backup option.  Backing up and retrieving data is fast and reliable, depending on the speed and form factor of the hard drive.  You can purchase hard drive docking stations if you need quick access to files via another computer.  Consider a good, reliable and trustworthy brand with good support/warranty option.

Tape / Magnetic Storage Backup

If you can afford a Tape Backup solution, you can adopt this to backup your data, like many businesses do.  DLT and LTO tape systems are very expensive and the tapes are also costly to maintain depending on your tape rotation policy.

Tape drives are reliable and its easy to store.  However, one drawback to bear in mind, is that the write speed of these drives is slow.  Depending on what software you can afford, restore processes can take time to complete!

Backup to the Cloud

Online storage is one of the newest methods of storing your files and now you can backup to online resources too!  Online storage solutions enable you to upload your data to a reliable server located in a secure environment with a service level agreement attached to it.  Another advantage of storing files online is that you can access them from any computer with an internet connection.

In the event of a disaster like a flood, fire or even theft, your files online would still be retrievable and you could access them or redownload to a replacement computer or hard drive.

Online storage or cloud options can be costly and the size of your backup will determine the cost.  Its also worth considering your internet bandwidth and speed restrictions from your ISP!

If you need advice on how to backup (or restore) your data please contact us for a free no obligation consultation.

Windows XP Support Ending in 2014

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) and Microsoft Office 2003 will be reaching end of support in April 2014. We want to help you avoid the risk of running an unsupported version of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office, and to assist with your IT planning for 2012.

Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 will no longer be supported from April 8, 2014 onwards. After this date, Microsoft will not provide any public support for these products, including security patches, non-security hotfixes or incident support.

Running Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 in your environment after their end of support date may expose your PC, local area network or business to security threats.

If you are thinking of upgrading to the latest version of Windows or Microsoft Office we can help you.  Feel free to contact us to discuss your situation and requirements.

You receive a phone call and they say “We’ve detected a Virus on your PC”

I’ve received many emails from people over the last 2 weeks saying they’ve received a phone call from someone claiming they’ve detected a Virus in your Windows computer.

If you receive one of these phone calls, terminate the call, as its a well known scam which can involve selling you software you don’t need or even having your computer taken over for malicious purposes.  If you’re a victim of this phone call scam and have inadvertently entered a series of keystrokes as instructed by the scammer, your PC could be compromised.

We can check your PC for malicious files or viruses so feel free to contact us if you need help!

Its the New Year and your Computer needs a Detox too!

It’s the new year and you may be thinking of joining the gym or detoxing yourself from all the excess food and drink you consumed over Christmas.

Your PC or Laptop could probably benefit from a detox as well and I don’t mean provide it with a regular glass of blueberry & cranberry juice!

Why not think about detoxing your computer this January by looking at performing the following actions:

1. Backup your digital memories, sounds and videos.
2. Consider your internet security, check your firewall or router.
3. Remove unused applications and files.
4. Defragment your hard drive – regularly!
5. Clean your registry.
6. Declutter your desktop.
7. Consider options for upgrading to boost performance?

If you’re unsure how to perform these actions, give me a call to discuss as I am happy to perform these for you, our computer health checks are cheap and provide excellent value.