Tips for Backing Up Data and Preventing Data Loss
Data loss can affect anyone…
It is especially problematic for those who have valuable information stored on their computers, such as business documents, financial records, or personal photos and videos.
Every hard drive will mechanically fail at some point and need replaced. Sometimes there are warning signs, and sometimes there aren’t. Also, malware and viruses can damage or delete critical system files. Oftentimes the only solution is to reformat the drive and reinstall the operating system. In these cases, everything on the drive will be lost.
We often perform data recovery for our customers in Lexington, KY due to hard drive failure or virus infection, and they usually regret not having a backup system in place when their valuable data is no longer accessible. A little bit of planning now can prevent serious frustration and stress down the road in the event of hard drive failure or operating system corruption.
Here’s what we recommend to prevent data loss:
1. Back up your data
An excellent preventative measure is to buy an external hard drive. An external drive can be attached to any computer at any time simply by plugging it into a USB or firewire port.
Many external drives also have the added benefit of one-touch and/or scheduled back ups – you simply specify the folders and the software will take care of the rest. Macrium Reflect software is a good free backup software if your external hard drive doesn’t come with it’s own software, or if it’s not user friendly. A 250GB hard drive will provide ample room for the average user, and Newegg.com is a good website to shop and compare drive prices, sizes, and ratings.
If it’s a desktop computer, an alternative is installing a second internal hard-drive in your computer (which we can do). Read more