Are Data Backups Really That Important?

Our computers have become a necessary part of our lives. We use them for doing work, corresponding with friends and family and even for entertainment. Over time, most computer users create many file that are important documents which could cost both time and money if lost. Data backups are the best way to ensure you don\'t lose any of those files.

Many people think of backups as something large companies or computer geeks do. Or they might plan on doing it when the get the chance. Every one of those people has either already lost data due to some kind of problem with their system or they will one day. Every piece of computer equipment has a lifespan and is going to fail one day or another.

When that failure occurs, one of two things will happen. If you have a backup, you\'ll restore it back onto your repaired computer or a replacement. If you don\'t, you\'ll be pulling your hair out over the lost files, music, digital photos and all the other stuff you store on your machine.

There are, unfortunately, an infinite variety of ways to lose data. Besides hardware failure, computers can be destroyed in fires or floods. Hard drives can be damaged by power surges caused by lightning strikes or data lost by a child randomly hitting the keyboard. Viruses can infect systems and erase hard drives.

Often the only way you\'ll get your data back is by having a backup copy. And even if a data recovery service can get it back for you, it can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars for them to do so.

What Do You Need To Backup?

In most cases you don\'t need to backup every single thing on your computer. It can take a lot of storage space, and take a long time to complete the backup. The critical files to backup are all the things you have created, such as word processing documents, digital photos and spreadsheets, and any software you can\'t reinstall from the original CD or DVD.

But backups need not.

The easiest way to do backups is to use the backup software that comes with the operating system. Windows has a free, usable backup program while similar ones are available for Mac, Linux and others. The software is easy to use and backing up is a simple matter of selecting which folders to backup. It even has a scheduler so backups can be automated to occur at convenient times.

For a modest sum backup software can be purchased that will only backup files changed since a certain date, or since the last backup. Alternatively, new files could be copied daily to a backup folder where they can be backed-up by your backup program. To ease the task of identifying which, use the Search option to list files \'newer than X\'. Once the list is complete, copy them into the backup folder and run the program for just that folder.

Some types of data are a little more difficult to backup. Email is a good example. Some email programs don\'t actually store the messages on your computer - they\'re stored on the server instead. In these cases, you can usually export the messages into a file on your computer that can then be backed up.

Backups can be done to any kind of removable media - writeable CD\'s/DVD\'s, removable hard drives or even the newer \'keychain\' devices that plug into a USB port. Even floppy disks can still be used in many cases. Documents often take a small amount of space. Just set aside 7 disks and rotate them from week to week.

Daily backups are one more thing to do in a busy schedule. But the day you lose that file you need and can\'t restore, you\'re going to be a whole lot busier.