Having recently had a number of requests about recovering data from damaged or corrupt PCs.
Just this week there was a request from a computer user to see if the photographs on her netbook could be recovered. The device had shown a white screen, followed by a red screen, then smoke coming from the device itself. This sounds like there is a mother board issue, does this mean that the drive has been compromised? Possibly. The big concern here was the sentimentality of a number of photographs on the computer. Its always easier to look back after the fact and say “Should have backed up my data”, too late the damage is done.
Your data is the most important thing on your computer. Be it family photos, important tax documents, pieces of art, your band’s music, sensitive research papers, or anything else, losing it is simply not an option. Unfortunately, computers fail, and often. Having a backup plan set before anything goes wrong is one of the most important tasks you will undertake as a responsible computer user. Who should backup data? Firstly business users, the small business user is probably the most negligent in this area, as experience has shown this is often down to either the perceived cost of the equipment, the hassle factor, or the time that it takes. However if the data was lost how much time, hassle would this take to recover, and at what cost. The second category is the home user, what happens when all these valuable pictures get lost, or all the downloaded music of video files, the family memories, gone forever.
1 What to backup
This involves identifying your files that would be most missed if something happened, this could either be for practical reasons or sentimental reason.
2 Where to Backup
There are numerous ways where to back up data to, ranging from USB flash drives, CDs or DVDs, external drives, or the Cloud. You could consider your own personal cloud for storage with capacities up to 8TB, these are often the most controllable, quick and efficient ways to store your data, accessible whenever you want them. Manufacturers include Western Digital and Buffalo.
3 When to backup
Devices such as the Western Digital MyBook and MyCloud range come with a management program that can be installed onto the computer which will allow the device to continually be backed up when connected to the storage device, making backup scheduling a thing of the past. If you don’t have a facility like this then a weekly backup is a good idea, or when something important has been added to your computer.
Backing up data is important, contact now to discuss your requirements. enquiries@ahbsolutions.co.uk
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