Backups Are Life Savers

The most ignored task among Personal Computer Users as individual and Small Business is taking regular backup of data. On the business side there are customer information, legal documents, accounting information, tax and payroll documents etc. which are critical to the business. For individual user family photos, copies of passports, bank account statements etc. are stored on hard disk drivers of Personal Computers. The Hard Disk Drives is made up of many mechanical parts. As with any mechanical device they tend to fail due to wear and tear by usage. The best way to ensure reliable data backup is to have a multipronged approach.

The easiest way to implement a backup solution is to have external hard disk drives. They are available cheaply and have big storage capacities. Generally they have backup software included which can be used to do regular backups. Since external hard disk drives are made up of mechanical parts, they too can fail. Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technology is used to mitigate this single point of failure. Instead of using just one disk, multiple small disks are used to make multiple copies of data backup. A separate RAID controller is required to implement this solution.
Computers can be linked together by using home networks and small business networks. These network computers can be backed up on separate drive. Although external backup drives is a good solution but not enough in case the drives is lost, stolen or even damaged because of power surge, flood or earth quake.

There are comprehensive online data backup solutions available. These online solutions let one setup online data backup accounts and backup important data. The users are charged monthly fees based on the amount of data being stored. Online backup storage can be used as part of comprehensive data backup solution one implements.
One can always copy important data files onto a CD or DVD. This can be implemented very cheaply but more often than not files get updated and users generally fail to make an updated copy. Also, the CD or DVD has relatively small capacity. Hence, such media can only be used to copy important files. Another important data storage device is a flash drive. The flash drive is also limited in capacity and hence only important data can be put on such devices. They tend to be portable and hence can be easily lost or stolen. A good thing about flash drive is that it does not have any movable parts. Hence they can reliably store data.

The most important part about data backup is to check that the data which is backed up is correct. It is generally a good practice to check each and every file which is backed up so that when time comes to retrieve, it does its job.