External hard drives and network-attached storage are local ways to back up your files to a physical drive that lives outside your PC. Since network-attached storage devices are typically for the home networker with multiple computers to safeguard from data loss, most people looking for a basic backup option will lean toward external hard drives.
After purchasing an external drive, you'll just plug it into your computer to get started. Most conventional drives like the ultraportable 320GB Seagate FreeAgent Go will trigger your computer to open a separate drive folder, like "Removable Drive F:". Copying or dragging the files you'd like to save from their original folder into the external drive folder transfers them over.
The purpose-built 320GB Clickfree Portable Backup Drive provides an even simpler backup method. After plugging it in, the drive's native software automatically finds and backs up all of your computer's data. Not bad for about $200. If that's not enough storage space for you, there's also the four-bay Drobo for serious data nuts. It's not without its shortcomings, including its high price. For backups, it's best used for creating redundancy in case one of your other drives fail.
Desktop backup software
One of the primary advantages of using software to copy your files is being able to schedule backups of your data, although all programs will let you manually back up data as well. While most people will find online storage solutions the easiest to maintain, desktop backup software has its merits.
For example, for $50, the Acronis True Image Home 2009 images your hard drive, including your programs, documents, music, photos, and Outlook e-mail. In the event of a crash, you can boot it from the PC or from a CD.
Online backup software
Since Microsoft is responsible for your Windows PC, it makes sense that it should take some accountability for your data backups. With Vista, Microsoft does just that with its Windows Backup and Restore Center. Unfortunately, this is only available for Vista Business and Vista Ultimate users.
However, anyone with a Windows Live ID can take advantage of the 25 free gigabytes of storage handed out in Microsoft's Windows Live Skydrive, which also has a sharing aspect.
For total hard-drive backups, you're better off with an unlimited online backup service that encrypts your data. These have a software component that downloads a small client to your computer and uses that as the gatekeeper between your data and the Web. These typically take several hours to scan and upload your data at the first install. After that, they'll only back up changes to your files at intervals throughout the day or week; the programs run in the background.
Hard drive versus online backup
We've looked at hardware and software backup solutions, but which is the best method? As usual, it's not that clear-cut. Convenience, price per gigabyte, and ease of use comprise the main decision-making factors. On one hand, a hard drive carries a one-time fee, usually between $80 and $200 for 350GB of storage or greater. You own it for life. But on the other hand, you'll need to initiate backups manually as the contents of your hard drive change. Since the external hard drive is physical, if you lose your hard drive to flood, fire, or theft, you've lost your data for good. That also goes for images of your disk drive and files you've burned to CDs.
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After purchasing an external drive, you'll just plug it into your computer to get started. Most conventional drives like the ultraportable 320GB Seagate FreeAgent Go will trigger your computer to open a separate drive folder, like "Removable Drive F:". Copying or dragging the files you'd like to save from their original folder into the external drive folder transfers them over.
The purpose-built 320GB Clickfree Portable Backup Drive provides an even simpler backup method. After plugging it in, the drive's native software automatically finds and backs up all of your computer's data. Not bad for about $200. If that's not enough storage space for you, there's also the four-bay Drobo for serious data nuts. It's not without its shortcomings, including its high price. For backups, it's best used for creating redundancy in case one of your other drives fail.
Desktop backup software
One of the primary advantages of using software to copy your files is being able to schedule backups of your data, although all programs will let you manually back up data as well. While most people will find online storage solutions the easiest to maintain, desktop backup software has its merits.
For example, for $50, the Acronis True Image Home 2009 images your hard drive, including your programs, documents, music, photos, and Outlook e-mail. In the event of a crash, you can boot it from the PC or from a CD.
Online backup software
Since Microsoft is responsible for your Windows PC, it makes sense that it should take some accountability for your data backups. With Vista, Microsoft does just that with its Windows Backup and Restore Center. Unfortunately, this is only available for Vista Business and Vista Ultimate users.
However, anyone with a Windows Live ID can take advantage of the 25 free gigabytes of storage handed out in Microsoft's Windows Live Skydrive, which also has a sharing aspect.
For total hard-drive backups, you're better off with an unlimited online backup service that encrypts your data. These have a software component that downloads a small client to your computer and uses that as the gatekeeper between your data and the Web. These typically take several hours to scan and upload your data at the first install. After that, they'll only back up changes to your files at intervals throughout the day or week; the programs run in the background.
Hard drive versus online backup
We've looked at hardware and software backup solutions, but which is the best method? As usual, it's not that clear-cut. Convenience, price per gigabyte, and ease of use comprise the main decision-making factors. On one hand, a hard drive carries a one-time fee, usually between $80 and $200 for 350GB of storage or greater. You own it for life. But on the other hand, you'll need to initiate backups manually as the contents of your hard drive change. Since the external hard drive is physical, if you lose your hard drive to flood, fire, or theft, you've lost your data for good. That also goes for images of your disk drive and files you've burned to CDs.
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