From Eveningsnews.com
Computer Failure: Protect Your Data Before It's Too Late
By
May 22, 2006, 21:42
(NewsUSA) - Computer failure is nearly inevitable, what with memory loss, hard drive crashes, theft and viruses. Once it happens, there is nothing to do but start over or pay someone hundreds or even thousands of dollars to salvage what's left.
Think of the precious data that can potentially be lost in an instant: work or financial documents, photo albums, music libraries and videos. Be prepared before disaster strikes; back up your data regularly using one of these options:
* CDs or DVDs: An easy and inexpensive, albeit time-consuming, method to back up files is burning them onto multiple CDs or DVDs. Most computers made in the year 2000 or later come with a CD or DVD drive (or both), so saving files to a disc is as simple as moving files between folders on your desktop.
* External hard drive: Computer and electronics retailers offer a variety of external hard drives to suit every memory need -; from tiny, keychain-sized storage for transferring files between computers via a USB port, to hard drives that sit on your desk and connect to your computer to manage regular, automatic backups. A 160-gigabyte external hard drive (enough for 600,000 photos or 3,000 hours of music) starts at about $120.
* Online: Another option is using your Internet connection to store data. The advantage of this is that if something were to physically happen to your computer (like a fire or flood), your files would be stored safely away in another location and accessible from another computer. Prices start at about $10 per month for 5 gigabytes of storage.
* Between computers: For households with access to more than one computer, consider a solution to back up files to multiple locations - to an extra computer in your house or a relative's across town. For $6.95 per month, you can connect any two computers and back up as much as their hard drives will allow using www.LogMeInBackup.com. Files can be encrypted and backups set to occur automatically at any regular interval.
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