Automate Backups

If you haven't tried to turn on your computer one morning only to get a blank screen or a bunch of error codes described as a "fatal" error, then you probably have never owned a computer. The death of a computer can truly be a terrifying experience for the unprepared and uninitiated. For the unfortunates whose computer has indeed put forth its last bit of data transfer, knowing there is no hope of recovery can bring almost anyone to the brink of suicide. If you happen to be in this group, why on earth haven't you thought about offsite data backup?

Let's face it - remembering to back up our computer is a real pain. For those of us who have even done the right thing by at least buying an external hard drive on which to put our backed up files, even this can become a cumbersome task that is always left till... Well... Never.

And of course, that lovely shiny external hard drive sitting across from us usually does nothing but collect dust and act as a convenient tax deduction at year end because by the time we close up shop for the day, we don't feel like selecting what files need to be backed up and waiting around to see it happen.

And it never fails. The morning after we write a yellow sticky note and put it on our computer monitor ("do backup in AM"), that is the morning that you find out your computer died in its sleep. Too late for backups!

Offsite backup is the best way to go, for so many reasons. It's automatic. It's safe. It's affordable. Even if you had done your backups diligently on your external hard drive, what happens if your office burns down? Or you have a flood? Or your two year old spills everything in her sippy cup all over your tower? Your external hard drive won't be much help.

The trick is to find a way to do your backups offsite, automatically. Some companies are set up so that all you get is literally offsite storage on their servers. This may not be much help if you couldn't find the time to back up on your own external drive; you probably won't find the time to back up your files on anyone else's either.

There are some tremendous services online where all the backups are done automatically every time you open a file, change a file, or create a file. These are very affordable, and a few even give you a free trial to prove how valuable the service is.