Vito Cassisi – Tech Blog Delving into technology

Awesome ways to backup your data

Yes, I just used 'awesome' and 'backup' in the same sentence. And lived.

Data backup is one of the most critical aspects to computing. There's always a risk of losing data when using our PCs, whether this is due to a hardware, software or user fault. It's for this reason that backup routines must be performed regularly to ensure irreplaceable data can be restored in the case of unfortunate events. But what's the best way to do this? I've collected five of my favourite methods to help spread the word about the importance of data redundancy.

Dropbox
http://www.dropbox.com/
Dropbox is a fusion of data synchronisation and backup. The great thing about this product is that you can share data between computers via dedicated online storage. All you need to do is install the client software to each of your computers, of which a custom folder is created i.e. your 'Dropbox'. Any files you place in this 'box' can be accessed via your online account, or through any PC directly via the aforementioned client software.

This software is a blessing when working on large documents where you're constantly switching between computers. Not only can you work off a single copy in the cloud, but you have essentially created an off-site backup - which is very important in case of tragedies such as natural disasters, or large scale local mishaps.

PaperBack
http://www.ollydbg.de/Paperbak/index.html
PaperBack is really neat. It combines the reliability of paper with the wonders of compression and high DPI printing. PaperBack will take any file and turn it into a bunch of strategically placed dots on a piece of everyday copy paper. To read the data back, you just scan it back in! According to the developers website, up to 3MB of data can be stored on a page. This might not sound like much, but for vital files such as assignments, this is a great addition to your backup arsenal!

Skydrive
http://skydrive.live.com/
Skydrive is similar to Dropbox in that you store data in the cloud (online). The main difference is that there's no client software as it's all web based. The great thing about Skydrive is its large 25GB of free storage, compared to 2GB on Dropbox. It's another great off-site solution for your photos and vital assignments - and a lifesaver if you have a habit of leaving your flash drive at home!

External HDD and RAID1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
An external Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is a simple on-site backup solution for protecting data against HDD failure. Due to the delicate nature of HDDs, it's not unheard of for internal drives to fail suddenly. Regularly copying data to an external drive is a quick and easy way to ensure you have a safeguard in place for your critical data. However, being an on-site solution means you're not protected against fires, floods, and any other nasty phenomena which may damage the device.

RAID1 (or Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a storage set up where you insert a second internal HDD into your PC solely for backup purposes. A RAID1 configuration will automatically mirror any data you store on your main HDD to the second one. In the case of either HDD dying, you still have your data intact on the second HDD. Of course, if both die, you're out of luck.

Ubuntu One
https://one.ubuntu.com/
This is one for the open source folk among us. Ubuntu One is the Linux community's alternative to Dropbox. You get 2GB of free storage space, which can be accessed online. You can also backup your contacts which is quite handy. At this point in time, the synchronisation facilities are limited to the Linux platform.

There's many websites which offer online storage for free, or a small fee. And there's several other ways to backup your data, such as flash drives and optical media. Choose your favourite methods and use them regularly - it'll save many headaches when bad things happen! :)