Online backups – What are you waiting for?

Seems like once a week now I’m consoling someone who has lost all their data.  First question out of my mouth is usually “Did you back it up?“. The answer is almost always no. No one takes the time to back up those precious memories and important files. Does it really have to be this way when there are so many options for online backup out there?

You might be asking yourself why use online backups when I have my external hard drive or burn DVD’s of my data. By doing these things you have only solved half the problem. What if you house burns down? What if your computer is stolen? What if the DVD’s go bad? What if the external hard drive goes bad? Now you could be the type that does it right. You backup everyday, and I mean everyday. You make multiple copies and put one offsite. You make sure you burn everything. The question now is: Why are you going through all of this trouble? Online backup resolves these issues. Your backups are offsite, complete, timely, and secure. And even better, once you setup the online backup, you’re done. You just go on with your life without dealing with the hassles of the daily backup process or losing your important data.

Now don’t get me wrong, not everyone qualifies for online backups. You need to have a high-speed connection, and I’m not talking about a satellite connection either. DSL and cable work perfect. Remember, it’s not the download speed that matters, but the upload speed. Dial-up and satellite connection have much lower upload than download rates and would be a very time-consuming process to upload all your files. But if you are one of the lucky ones out there with high speed then read on.

Online backup system come in a variety of shapes and colors, but all seem to offer the same basic services. Almost all offer scheduled backups, file sharing, security, and drag-and-drop backups. And here is the good news: They are really easy to setup and really easy to restore files from. The real difference comes in price and storage space. You just need to Google “online backup” and you will see numerous companies.

The online backup system I use is Go Daddy’s Online File Folder. I get 100 gigs of storage for about $30/year. It offers scheduled backups, online file sharing, it’s secure, and you get 24/7 support (which I haven’t needed to use). I chose Go Daddy because I was already a current customer, the are a reputable company, and the price and storage space was right. I store all my important files including taxes, pictures, contact list, and work files.

One thing to note: I never backup songs and movies. It consumes too much space and takes forever to upload. And if are downloading these things illegally, I definitely would not upload them.