The first and most reliable way to avoid accidental deletion or other forms of data loss is to make regular backups of your important files

User error isn’t the only way you can loose important data, photos, schoolwork or projects. You can experience a sudden power outage or power surge or even a dead hard drive. In case of hard drive failure, don’t keep your backups on the same drive you are backing up. Use another drive or burn them to a CD.

There are also free and paid online storage sites. A few offer up to 5GB of free space and include sharing. With any free storage site read the fine print. Some sites allow larger amounts of space but they limit uploads per month (1GB or less). In other words you can’t get large files uploaded all at once

• The more important the data that is stored on the computer, the greater the need is for backing up that data.
• A backup is only as useful as its associated restoration strategy.
• Storing the copy near the original is unwise, since many disasters such as fire, flood and electrical surges are likely to cause damage to the backup at the same time.
• Automated backup and scheduling should be considered, as manual backups can be affected by human error.
• Backups will fail for a wide variety of reasons. A verification or monitoring strategy is an important part of a successful backup plan.
• It is good to store backed up archives in open formats. This helps with recovery process in the future when the software used to make the backup is obsolete. It also allows different software to be used.

There are three types of backups, data backups, registry backups and system backups. Data backups are the ones most users know about but omit doing, but are sometimes the most important to the user. These are your documents, html files, spreadsheets, jpgs and so on.  The second category is registry backups. The registry holds important system information and is prone to virus attacks that can cause your PC to be unstable or even crash it. You should backup the registry from time to time. The third kind of backup is the system backup. The disk operating system (eg Windows 2000, Unix, Windows XP) is stored on your C drive, and without it the computer will not operate. Always keep the original copy of your operating system so that you can replace it if it becomes corrupted. It is essential that you carry out regular backups of your data and your registry.

Data recovery has become a big thing during the last ten years, and there are emergency data recovery experts to assist you when things go wrong. Few people realize just how much today’s world relies on data that is stores electronically as opposed to the reams and reams of paper that were stored just a few years ago.

When I look at the important data files that I have stored on my own pc, for example, I am brought down to Earth when I realize that there are more than 4000 family photographs, several videos, every letter I have written for the past several years, and at least a couple of thousand articles that I’ve written. If I were to lose that lot because of a hard drive failure, I don’t know what I’d do. Fortunately, I have had the sense to make backups, so I’m unlikely to lose very much of importance.

But there are thousands of people who will read this blog and who don’t do regular backups. These are the people who will end up having to call in emergency data recovery experts when the crunch comes, and come it will. Thunderstorms happen, there are viruses and other malware out there, you will accidentally erase some important information one day soon, and when it happens you’ll spend an uneasy few hours wondering why you didn’t do backups. Intratec are emergency data recovery experts and have branches in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town. When that disaster happens to you, give them a call.