Cheap Online Backup

Online backup is gaining in popularity for several reasons. There are many choices for online backup services. Some of them are more appropriate for business uses and are priced accordingly. Others are designed for consumers, with simpler features and lower pricing. When selecting an online backup provider, you should consider more than just price. Some of the cheaper offerings don't provide adequate security, the data-center and storage facility is questionable, or there are hidden limitations. There are some significant costs involved in setting up and operating a professional online backup system. If you are evaluating cheap online backup services here are some things to check:

1. Physical Facilities - Make sure the service is hosted in a professionally managed Internet data-center. You want your data to be stored in a secure data-center with backup power, environmental controls, fire suppression, and physical security. Some start-ups are offering cheap online backup by hosting the servers in a garage with DSL or Cable Broadband service. If the service provider does not disclose information about the facilities, then you may have reason to be concerned.
   
   
2. Hardware - Your data should be stored on fault tolerant disk arrays. Anyone can afford large amounts of disk space as cheap high capacity drives are readily available.
   
   
3. Terms of service - Make sure you agree with the terms and conditions of the service. I would not recommend using any online backup system that is supported by advertising. While this may reduce the cost, you are giving the provider permission to display adds on your computer. Since online backup systems require you to install software on your computer, you may be exposing yourself to forms of spy-ware.
   
   
4. Security - You don't want to send your files to a server on the Internet for everyone to access. Make sure your data is encrypted before it leaves your computer. It is also just as import that your data is stored in encrypted form.
   
   
5. Software - If you are satisfied that items 1, 2, 3 and 4 above meet your standards, then and only then, should you download and install any software. All online backup services require a software component to be installed on your computer. Almost all online backup service providers allow a free trial period. The best way to evaluate the quality and usefulness of the software and system is to run the trial software and backup some non-sensitive data for a few days. Be sure to try the restore before you buy.

Most professional online backup systems meet all of the above requirements. However, some of the cheap providers are cheap for a reason. It is especially important that you carefully investigate any cheap or free services before you trust your valuable data to them.

www.rhinoback.com offers low cost online backup while standing up to professional scrutiny. I will evaluate other low cost offerings and post the results here in the near future.

Backup and Restore In Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003

Microsoft has provided basic utilities to backup and restore data with their operating systems since DOS. The current Windows Backup Utility is a limited version of Veritas' Backup Exec (now owned by Symantec) and is included with Microsoft Windows NT,XP, 2000 and 2003. The Windows Backup utility can be found under Start / Program Files / Accessories / System Tools. It is a reliable utility that provides basic functionality, supporting most tape drives and also allowing backup to local networked disk devices. It also includes some advanced functionality for server administrators, such as the ability to backup Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange mail server.

Partly because of it's limited functionality, the Windows Backup Utility is extremely simple to use. Start the utility, and a wizard will guide you through selecting the files that you want to backup and a destination for your backup data. It automatically detects your tape devices and also gives you the choice to overwrite or append to the backup media. The Windows Backup Utility also provides a simple user interface that can be used to schedule your backups. The scheduling is actually handled by the scheduler that is built-in to the operating system.

While Windows Backup is a functional backup program, it lacks some very important functionality. Windows Backup provides almost no media management. It is totally up to you to keep track of which files are on which media. There is no catalog of files or backups that you can search to find versions of a lost file that you might want to restore. This is a serious limitation, therefore precluding the use of the Windows Backup as the software backup program for a comprehensive backup and recovery plan. The lack of media management is by design. The built-in utility is intended to provide the essentials of a basic backup and restore utility, and it is not intended to be a comprehensive solution. IT Professionals invariably opt for a more functional utility, such as the full Veritas Backup Exec product. Computer Associates' BrightStor Arcserve products are also a leading competitor. Both require substantial licensing, setup, configuration, and ongoing monitoring and support.

There are a variety of less complex and less costly solutions for home users, students, and small businesses. In addition to the numerous third-party utility programs, online backup solutions, such as Rhinoback, offer advanced features without the costs and complexity. Most online backup services automatically track which files are backed up, when, and where they are stored. The complexity of the solution is handled by the professionals at the service provider and the end users usually only have to perform an simple install of a small agent program. Rhinoback will automatically select the My Documents folder and also schedule your backups to run every night as part of the default installation options. In addition to the reduced complexity afforded by online backup services, there is little or no up-front cost associated with software purchase, tape hardware or media.

Backup Types Explained

Most backup software provides options for “Full”, “Incremental”, and “Differential” backups. There are a few other variations and terms that you should understand when deciding how to backup your data. The backup utility that is included with the Windows XP operating system uses the terms; “Normal”, “Copy”, “Incremental”, “Differential”, and “Daily”.

Full or Normal – Backup all of the files that are selected regardless of when they were last backed up or when they were last updated. This is the typical backup that requires the most media resources.

Copy – Same as Full, except that the files are not marked as backed up. This is only important when Incremental or Differential backups are in use.

Incremental – Backup only files which are new or have been updated and have not been backed up already. This option requires less media and less time because files that have already been backed up are not backed up again. Use of this option requires careful management and cataloging of your media. In the event that you lose your data, you will need to locate your most recent full backup AND all of the incremental backups that were made since you’re most recent Full backup. For example: if you backup your entire hard-drive every Saturday, and do Incremental backups Sunday thru Friday. Under this plan, if your hard-drive fails on Thursday, you will have to find the tapes that contain last Saturday’s Full backup and Incremental backups made on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday if one had been made before the failure. Once all of the media have been located, they must be restored in the correct order.

Differential – Backup only files which are new or have been updated since the last Full backup. This option is similar to the Incremental type of backup except that each Differential backup contains ALL of the files that have changed since the last Full backup, regardless of whether or not the files were backed up in a previous differential backup. Differential backups are not as fast as Incremental backups and will require may require more media than Incremental backups because if a file changes on Monday, it will be backed up again everyday until the next Full backup. Differential backups also require careful media management because in the event of a data loss, you will have to locate the most recent Full backup and the most recent Differential backup. Differential backups have a distinct advantage over Incremental backups at restore time. At most, two sets of media will be needed to recover data; the Full backup media, and the Incremental backup media.

Daily – Only backup files which are new or changed within the last day. This is very similar to Incremental backups. Daily backups should only be used in a plan that includes periodic Full backups. In the event of a data loss, the most recent Full backup and all Daily backups since the most recent Full backup will be required.

Archive – This term is used when files are moved to the backup media and then deleted from the disk storage.

Daily, Incremental and Differential backups should be used with caution. Most backup systems that were designed for consumers offer these types of backups but don’t provide the media management that is required to recover from a disaster. The more sophisticated packages that do keep track of your media in a catalog do not relieve you of the responsibility to label your tapes or media appropriately and keep your physical media organized. Data centers with IT professionals use Incremental and Differential backups to reduce the time and media requirements, but they also follow rigid processes for labeling and tracking media, including off-site rotation. Daily backups, as offered, by the NT Backup utility are not generally used by IT professionals.

Modern online backup systems make heavy use of Incremental backups. The media management issues do not apply to online backup systems because the media is all handled by the online backup service provider. With online backup systems you get all of the advantages of speed and space savings of Incremental backup without the extra effort required to restore them. Some online backup systems take Incremental backup to a new level by only backing up parts of files that have changed.

Unless you are using an online backup system or you are diligent about managing your media, you are advised to use full backups for your important data. Otherwise, you may find yourself scrambling to find the correct media when you lose your data. Full backups are slower and take more media, however, when you need to restore your files all you have to find is the most recent backup.

Test Restore

Every good backup and recovery plan involves testing. It is extremely important to perform test restores from your backup media occasionally. This is especially important with tape media because tapes wear out and tape drives get dirty over time. CDs can get scratched or mishandled which could make them impossible to read. Another problem with CD and DVD media are compatibility issues. I have burned CDs and DVDs on one drive that cannot be read on another. The compatibility problem is not as common as it was a few years ago, but you don't want to find out you have a problem when the only copy of some valuable data is on a CD that you can't read. Media problems aren't the only reason to occasionally test your restore capability. You could very well have issues with the restore functionality or security issues with the operating system.

Online backup systems are no exception and should be tested as well. Most online backup service providers protect you from being directly exposed to media problems by the way they use fault tolerant storage systems. While online backup systems are extremely reliable, you would be well advised to test the restore side of the system to make sure there are no problems with the retrieval functionality, security or encryption.

I have been involved in some very comprehensive disaster recovery tests where a team of IT professionals would bring up an entire data center at a disaster recovery center, using only backup media. This is the ultimate test. Most large corporations are required by auditors to perform such exercises periodically. The expense of maintaining and testing a comprehensive disaster recover plan can be substantial. Smaller businesses can't afford the full blown disaster recovery plan so they rely on their data backups and off site storage plans to save them in case of a catastrophe.

If you are the typical small business operator or home user, you can perform a few simple tests to ensure that your backup files will be available when needed. First of all I am assuming that backups are being done on a regular basis. Probably not a good assumption based on conversations I have had in recent months, but that is a topic for another article. It suffices to say that you must be making backups if you expect to recover anything.

To perform a simple restore test of your backup system. Follow these simple steps:

1) Rename one of your document folders. Don't delete it because the restore could fail.

2) Now see if you can find the correct tape or media that contains your most current files. This is an important step in the test because it can be difficult to locate the correct media if you don't have a good system of keep track of what files are on which media and the dates they were backed up. Online backup systems have a huge advantage here because they usually keep a nice need catalog for you of what was backed up and when, and you don't have to locate any media.

3) Use your backup system to restore the folder that you renamed in step one. Restore it back to it's original location.

4) Count the files in the folder that you renamed and in the folder that you restored. In Windows you can right click on each folder and select properties. Make sure the counts match, or make sure you can reconcile any differences.

5) Open a few of the files and make sure they are accessible. Be sure to open them with the application that normally uses them. And make sure you can browse the data, update the data or whatever you normally do. It is best to open several files of different types, pictures, mp3s, documents and some large and some small.

Most operating systems have utilities that you can use to compare files and directories. I will not go into those here because there are many options and many ways to get false alarms with those utilities. If you are computer literate, then by all means, go ahead and use the utilities to do a comprehensive comparison. I promise to write a future article that goes into the use of some of these tools.

I caution that the above is not a comprehensive test, but is it more than most people are doing now and can expose problems that could cause some severe headaches if not discovered.

As for the frequency of testing your restores. That depends on several factors; I would recommend twice a year at a minimum. If you make changes to your hardware, software, or backup program; then you should test after each round of changes.

You are backing up your files so that you can recover in the event of data loss. By the way, data loss never occurs at a convenient time. It will almost always occur when you don't have time to deal with it, when you are in a hurry to meet a deadline, or when you have something more important to do. You will want to be able restore your files quickly and get back to doing what you had planned to do with your time. Losing your data is bad enough and will put a serious cramp in your schedule, the last thing you want to find out is that your backup is no good. Do yourself a big service and find out if your backup is no good at a time when you have not lost your data.

Backup Media

The capacity of disk drives has increased dramatically over the years. And more importantly, we have found ways to use more disk capacity than ever before. Along with our increased storage requirements, comes increased backup requirements. Backup devices and media have increased in capacity and performance along with the disk drives over the years. I remember back in the late 1980s having a tape device that backed up about 120 Mb in 2 1/2 hours. If I hadn't upgraded my backup system I would need 2500 tapes and 260 days to backup my new 300GB disk drive just once.

Along with my periodic upgrades of computer equipment and disk storage capacity, I have upgraded my backup systems and techniques. One thing that has changed is that I only backup my data and documents now and not my programs and all of the other stuff that ends up on my hard disk. It doesn't make much sense to backup a lot of programs because I would probably need to reinstall those programs rather than restore them from media in the event of loss. I went through a long stretch where I was upgrading to better tape drives every few years because I needed more capacity and better speed. Every time I upgraded my tape backup technology, I ended up with boxes of obsolete tapes containing my valuable backups and archives. I would usually keep the old tape device around for about a year in case I needed to restore any of my old tapes.

Fast forward a few years.. I am now using "online backup", which also goes by other names like "off-site backup", "remote backup", and "Internet backup". This is light years ahead of any tape, zip drive, CD or external hard drive backup solution that I have ever used. The great news is that I don't have to worry about buying any new devices or media that will be obsolete in a few years. My data is safer than ever before because it is stored off-site and is virtually disaster proof. My data is safe if my house burns to the ground, or if a tornado wipes out my community, or if an earthquake or hurricane destroys the entire city. God forbid that any of these disasters occur, but if it happens, my data will be available for me to restore when I find a place to lite.

Online backup systems are the newest evolution of backup technology. The advent of affordable broadband Internet has made this possible. Online backup services can be found at very reasonable costs. You probably wont use these services to backup 300Gb (and you probably don't need to), but they are ideal for your important documents, pictures and music files. You can expect online backup services to improve and offer more capacity as Internet connectivity and bandwidth increases.

Is Online Backup Safe?

If you are considering using an online backup service, then you might be concerned about the security of your data. This is a legitimate concern because you will likely be putting all of your important documents, photos and other files on a server somewhere on the internet. I cannot answer specifically for all online backup service providers, but for the most part, they are safe. Here are some things to check when considering online backup:

1. Where will your data be stored? You want to make sure that your data is stored in a professionally managed datacenter with physical security and controlled access to the facilities.
   
   
2. Will your data be encrypted and password protected? Just because a site uses SSL doesn't make your data safe. SSL only protects your data while it is in transit. You want your data to be stored in encrypted form on the server. If your data is encrypted on the server, then even if a hacker breaks into to the server, your data will not be readable to them.
   
   
3. Who can access your data? Most of the online backup service providers will have controls in place that keep the public and hackers from accessing your data. However, you don't want technicians, data center employees, administrators, network engineers and others to have access either. It is common practice for online backup service providers to have policies in place that prevent unauthorized access. Some online backup services, including www.rhinoback.com, www.offsitebackupsolutions.com, www.businessdatavault.com, and www.securesitebackups.com encrypt the data at your pc with an encryption key that only you know before it is transmitted and stored at the service provider. This provides the best possible security, because employees can't even access your data.
   
   

In general you should feel safe storing your data with online backup services. Chances are that your data is safer at their secure data centers than in your home or office. If you do decide to use an online backup service, you should take extra care to select strong passwords and encryption keys. No matter how well managed and secure the service provider is, if your password is the same as your name, then your data may be at risk.

Why Online Backup is a Good Value

Backing up data has been a top priority for IT professionals since computers were first used to store data. It is considered part of the cost of owning and operating a business computer system. As we are all aware, advances in computing technology have made computers faster and cheaper by orders of magnitude over the years. Home computers are as common as microwave ovens and televisions. A few years ago, home computers were mostly used to store letters, spreadsheets and documents. Now they store everything from photos, music and video, to email and bills. In effect these home computers are becoming just as important to us as our telephones and automobiles. Since most people use and maintain their computers without professional IT help, the concept of backing up files has slipped from being a top priority to some annoying task that we think about occasionally, but rarely do. Many consumers never think of backing up data, much less actually backup their data.

The methods and choices for backing up data haven't improved as fast as the speed and proliferation of computers. Tape backup systems are still the most common choice for large IT operations. Although expensive, they can backup large amounts of data onto portable media that can be moved to secure off-site locations. Home computer users and small businesses have traditionally used less expensive tape devices. However, programs that backup data to CD and DVDs are more popular now.

Data backup and recovery programs that use any kind of removable media all require manual effort to keep them working effectively. Most of them have some type of scheduling mechanism, but you have to change the media daily to get good reliable backups. Furthermore, the media should be moved to a secure off-site location if you want to protect your data from a more serious event, such as a fire or natural disaster. Businesses pay hundreds of dollars per month to have backup media moved to off-site storage locations.

In the last few years online backup systems have gained in popularity. Online backup has become an extremely effective option for backing up important computer files and data for home and small business users. High speed Cable and DSL Internet connections are now common in homes, and small offices allowing relatively large amounts of data to move quickly and reliably. Online backup service providers are offering secure storage systems to store your data at reasonable costs. Online backup systems provide two huge advantages over other backup solutions:

1. Online backups can run automatically without any intervention at all; no media needs to be changed. The fact that online backups require no action by the computer owner or user, often makes the difference between backing up data and not backing up data. If you have to remember to change the media, chances are the media will not get changed as often as it should and the backups will not get done.
   


2. Online backup data is stored in a secure off-site location without any additional effort. Moving data off-site is something that home computer users rarely do. Most tape and CD backups end up being stored in the same room with the computer, and very often in the desk that the computer is on or under.
   

The actual cost of using online backup systems vary. Most of them provide services to businesses and charge a fee that supports the technology to backup business servers and databases. A few are designed to provide services to home users. Rhinoback is one of the best values because it provides the same professional storage systems and redundancy that are found in the more expensive business services at a low cost for consumers. Most of the online backup services that are designed for home use provide a better value than any solution that involves copying data to removable media for the two reasons listed above. There are several other advantages that home and small businesses realize by using online backup systems; such as the automatic cataloging of all backed-up files and the ease of finding and restoring the files.

The biggest value of using online backups is the fact that your data will actually be backed up and available when you need it. This fact alone makes online backup a better deal than other solutions, even free solutons. A backup solution is worthless if your files are not backed up and available for you to restore.

How long should a hard drive last?

There are many factors which can affect the life of a hard drive. Some drives are designed to last longer than others. And some drives are designed for special uses, such as in automobiles where vibration can be a problem. Modern hard drives have multiple platters that spin at high rates of speed and have read/write heads on both sides of each platter that travel a few nanometers (billionths of a meter) from the surface. In addition to the increasing speeds, the data on the disk is packed closer together to increase capacity. The technology behind modern disk storage devices is truly amazing, the tolerances are so close that the drives automatically adjust themselves every few minutes to compensate for temperature changes that will cause the platters and assemblies to expand and contract which affect the distance the head must travel to find the bit of data requested. These advances in technology have given us much greater capacities and performance, while reliability has generally improved as well. Hard drives are not simple technology and lot can go wrong. And will go wrong.

Drives are designed and manufactured with differing design objectives. Price is major factor in the design of drives for consumer goods, such as personal computers. If you buy a cheap computer, then you can't expect it to have the most expensive hard drive that was designed for longer life. However, in my opinion, you shouldn't be overly concerned about the quality of the HD inside the computer you are buying, they are all quite good. But just keep in mind that whatever the brand and model, the drive will eventually wear out and you can't reliably predict when it will fail.

The computer itself, has a lot to do with the life of the hard drive inside. Major brand servers for example concentrate a fair amount of engineering towards airflow and cooling. The operating temperature of a hard drive can have dramatic effects on the life of the drive. An overheating drive can easily fail within days or weeks of first use, while a well cooled drive can last for years. Desktop and workstation computers have certain requirement for quietness. People generally don't like loud computers, which causes the designers to have to make some trade-offs between airflow and noise. Laptop computers are especially problematic because there is not much room in the case for air and fans. Laptops have proliferated over the last few years and are outselling desktop computers. This puts more of our data a risk because the drives in laptop computers are generally not cooled as well and they are also more subject to vibration and shock as the are mobile.

IT professionals are well aware that all disk drives will fail and therefore they store all critical data on fault tolerant disk arrays. These arrays can withstand one or more failures of individual drives without the loss of any data. Even with the use of arrays, the professionals always backup critical data and store a backup copy off-site in a secure location. In fact, all IT auditing practices require that data is backed up and stored securely off-site.

Hard drives do a wonderful job of storing your data and making it available for use quickly and reliably. However, they cannot guarantee that your data will not be lost. The only way to make sure your data will not be lost is to backup your data on a regular basis. Best practices will have you store a copy of your backup data off-site, preferably in a secure location that will not be affected by any disaster that may destroy your home or office.

Jenna's Laptop

A few days ago my friend Jenna in Wisconsin called me and said she had a message on her HP laptop computer that said, "No operating system found". I had her check the obvious stuff, no diskette or CD was loaded... It sounds like a hard disk failure to me. I had her ship me the computer. It arrived yesterday via FedEx overnight (she was desperate) and I immediately checked to see if the HD had any life at all. No luck with the HD in the computer. Next I took the HD out of the laptop and hooked it up to a system that I have setup to test HDs and fix problems. I wanted to see if the problem was in the HD itself or possibly in the HP Laptop hardware or firmware. I have several software tools that I use to test drives and recover data. One of my favorites is SpinRite from Gibson Research Corporation. The first sign of big trouble came when the BIOS in my test computer did not even recognize that a drive exists.

I was able to verify that the drive does spin up and there are no grinding noises or such. Which leads me to believe that the problem is in onboard electronics on the drive. Modern drives have a printed circuit board containing the drive electronics which is mounted to the outside of the drive casing. I inspected the visible side of the board and didn't see any sign of burning or other obvious signs of short circuit or component failure.

One trick I have used in the past with limited success is to swap out the electronics from the HD with the electronics from a working HD that is the exact same model. The drive is an IBM Travelstar 40Gb. Which I happen to have another identical model on hand that is in working order. The good news about swapping these circuits is that you do not have to open the drive casing and expose the platters and heads to microscopic dust particles which will certainly destroy the heads and platters. You need special tools to remove these circuit boards, in this case a torx T5 fit the screws. I removed the circuit boards from both drives and swapped them.

Even with the swapped circuit boards, neither drive was recognized. I swapped the boards back and the known working drive worked again. Either the failed drive has multiple problems, or more likely, certain data is recorded in non-volatile memory on the circuit board that contains data specific to the head-disk assembly. I haven't had much luck with this technique recently. I do read in internet forum's where people claim to have success in doing this. I have also read other posting where someone is claiming more radical processes involving swapping the platters that would be almost impossible to succeed. I am coming to the conclusion that swapping electronics on modern drives is not a workable solution. I know that the professional HD recovery operations have special equipment that they can use to accomplish data recovery when the electronics have failed. If any of you have success with swapping electronics, please respond to this post and let me know what drives this has worked with.

I have also read numerous postings where people have recovered data by freezing the HD. The drive comes back to life temporarily. I have personally had some success at freezing drives, but I am not sure what the circumstances are where this helps. In the case of Jenna's drive, overnight in the freezer had no effect.

I called Jenna and broke the news to her. I can easily fix her computer at a reasonable cost by replacing the HD with a new drive with double the capacity and 28% faster access. However, I had no way to recover her data. I advised her that HD recovery services are available, but the results are not guaranteed and she should expect to pay a few hundred dollars. I spent a few minute talking to her about what was on the drive. She has stored about 4 years worth of documents, how-to's, records and things that she uses every day to do her job. Fortunately none of the lost files were critical to the business she works for because the accounting data that she works with is actually on a server at her home office. Even though the business is not at risk, the loss of these files will cause Jenna a lot of time and effort over the next several months.

I get involved in these situations about once a month. Someone has lost their data for various reasons. Sometimes it can be recovered sometimes it can't. I am now on a crusade to get everyone I know to backup their data daily using an automated tool. My personal favorite is Rhinoback, it is inexpensive, safe and secure. For a few dollars a month, you will save a ton of time and money when you lose your data. It is only a question of "when" your data will be lost. It is certain to happen to all of us a few times. Please make sure you have good current backups when it does.

Backing-up Your Home Computer is More Important Than Ever

Almost everyone I know, under the age of 60, has a computer in their home. As you know computers get cheaper and better as the months and years go on. One thing that has crept up on us are the differences in the way we use our computers. I pay every bill from my computer, every picture I take ends up stored on the computer, and now every bit of music that I own is stored on the computer. It's not just me; Photos, music, letters, bills, tax information,... is what you will find on most people's home computers. There is good news and bad news here. First the good news; your data, photos, etc., are now much easier to find and retrieve and it takes a lot less space to store. The bad news is; that those data and photos are much more vulnerable to being lost forever. Several years ago, it would have taken a fairly significant disaster to destroy your family photos and music collection, such as a major fire or flood. Now, all it takes is a simple mechanical or electrical failure in your computer's hard disk device. By the way; your hard drive is the most likely hardware component to fail in your computer ( not including non-critical components, like mouses.)

There is actually more good news in the fact that we are storing our treasured pictures and music on the computer; now it is easier than ever to make a duplicate copy and store it somewhere else. There are lots of ways to copy data from your computer to backup media. There are quite a few commercial programs you can purchase to backup your computer to CD's, DVD's or tapes. However, I find that most people are not doing anything that offers much protection. If you backup your important files on a regular basis, then you are doing a better job than most people. The most effective way to backup your files is to use a product that does it for you automatically everyday. You have to remember to change the media (tape or CD) everyday. If you can do this; then you are back to even with where you were 10 years ago when it would take a significant disaster to destroy your data.

If you want to take your data protection to the next level and protect against a major disaster, then all you have to do is move your backup media to a location away from your computer on a frequent schedule. IT professionals have been doing this since the first computers were invented. You are advised to keep your backup media in a different building that is not near where your computer is located. This is a much more difficult task than it may sound like at first. Some people have good intentions, but just can't seem to move that media consistently and they find themselves not doing it for weeks at a time. Most medium and large businesses use an offsite vaulting service to move their media on a daily basis, costing hundreds of dollars per month. While I don't think this is practical or justified for home users, there is great value in moving some of your backups offsite.

Internet based online backup systems are available that automatically copy your files everyday, and you don't have to change your media, and your media is stored offsite automatically. Now that most of us have DSL or Broadband Cable, we can easily get professional data protection for our home computers. With all of the benefits and conveniences, you might think these services would be pricey. Some are. But some are reasonable and are designed for home users and small business. Most of these services are very safe to use because the data is encrypted and stored in very secure environments. Rhinoback is free for up to 100Mb of storage, and only $14.95 per month for a whopping 8Gb of online storage. There are many other online backup services available, most of them are geared toward business users, but some, like Rhinoback are perfect for home use.

How do you backup your data?

A few years ago I traveled from Atlanta to California with a VP of Sales named David. David is the classic type-A personality; he trys to make use of every minute of the day. On the way back from California, I was watching him entering information into his PC from pages of notes he had taken from meetings during our visit to several high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. I inquired about this process of going to meetings, taking names, numbers, and notes. He had been doing this for about 2 years and had accumulated a wealth of data. My background is more technical than David's and my next question was about how often he backed up that laptop computer. He looked at me with a blank stare and didn't say anything. The silence was killing me; I then asked the next logical question, which was what would happen if all of that data was lost. David had a noticeably painful look on his face. The situation immediately became crystal clear to me; he had no backup and had never thought much about it. Apparently it was suddenly crystal clear to David as well.

For the past several months, I have been asking almost everyone I get into a conversation with about how they backup their computer files. I have found that very few people are actually backing their files up on a regular basis. And even fewer are storing their backups in a location different from their computer's location. If you are not a computer professional, don't feel bad, computer people are not much better than the average person when it comes to effectively backing up their data. I get a call from someone about once a month who has lost data and has no backup, mostly from people who should know better.

I will be posting to this blog to help educate people about the risks they are taking by not properly backing up their computer files. I will also provide information about the various solutions that are available to backup and recover files. In the interest of full disclosure; I am the owner of a backup and recovery service name Rhinoback, www.rhinoback.com. It is natural for me to show some bias toward that service because it was built based on my experience and understanding of the need. However, I am well aware that Rhinoback is not the solution for everyone. My primary interest is in raising the awareness of the need to properly backup your computer files. Your choice of backup solutions is completely up to you. Follow this blog and you will find valuable information that applies to you regardless of the solution you use.