A couple of points about backing up your data.

1. Counting on humans to perform tedious tasks is not reliable

2. If you only have 1 backup you are not protected

3. If your data backup resides at the same location as your data source you are not protected

There are many situations where you might need to restore data from your backup. If you accidentally delete a file or make a change you wish to undo you should be able to retrieve a previous version from your backup. If the last time you updated your backup was a month ago – you may be out of luck. External backup hard drives (or even worse – tapes) can fail and you might not know it until you attempt to retreive data from it. If you suffer a physical disaster in the location that your computer is – the fire or water that ruins your computer might also ruin your backup.

There is certainly a valid use for having local backup. However, you should combine a practice of maintaining local backup PLUS Internet Backup.

A good Internet Backup will be able to backup continuously (or multiple times) throughout the day so your backup will always be current. Higher end Internet Backup services will enable you to save multiple versions of files that get updated. If your spreadsheet became corrupted 2 days ago and you just found out – your backup from last night will not help where a backup from 3 days ago could save you. If your backup is stored offsite (as an Internet Backup is) you will be protected from fire, water damage, theft and other physical disasters.

Carbonite.  It’s not a question of IF you will have a hard drive failure – rather – it’s a question of WHEN you will have a drive failure.  You NEED this Protection. 14 Day Free Trial!   $55/per year for UNLIMITED storage – Documents, Photos, Music, whatever.  AMCC recommends Carbonite for stand-alone computers.

Allen Miller
Allen Miller Computer Consulting
513-321-5120
888-852-2158