Backup Data

Keeping regular and complete backups of your data is very important. As capacity increases our data becomes more and more vital to us.

You need to guard data against:

Don't forget

Here are some pointers on what to do and what not to do

Principles

If it is important then back it up!
- Not just computers - Phone contact data, iPods, PDA's
Make regular backups (back up data weekly, daily even - as often as you think is important)
Never keep your backup materials in the same place as your original data (Fire, Theft and Flood) Always remove your data to a separate and secure place for storage
Test your backup solution - if you can't restore data then the backup is useless
If your data is important then invest time and money in an effective solution. Consider how much time will be consumed re-creating the data to budget time appropriately for backing data up.
Encrypt your backup data if possible - if the data is stolen consider what important personal data might be mis-used (Credit cards, Passwords, Confidential data)
On-line services such as Skype, Gmail or Hotmail can lose your data and contact details! If you value this data think about copying it)

Backup to CD ROM (700Mb) or DVD ROM (4-8Gb) (good for 'snapshots' of data)
Backup to external storage such as USB Thumb drive (2-8Gb) or external hard disk (100-200Gb)
Backup to an Internet storage solutions (1Gb-infinity!) Can be costly as you pay monthly and costs rise as the capacity increases. See BT Digital Vault
Backup to tape drives. High capacity digital tape drives exist and this is a good solution but expensive. More suited for businesses or larger offices (like a National Office or YWAM Centre that centralises storage for documents in he office) that can afford it and also can run the backup process over night. Tape drives can be slow.

Consider a combination of two options above for maximum security (and don't put two different types of external storage in the same place!)