Hi, my name is Richard. Welcome to the first computer column sponsored by www.bluemoonsolutions.es – I hope you had a thoroughly relaxing Christmas free from technical problems.
First, a little about me and why I feel qualified to talk to you about technical matters. Before moving to Gran Alacant in October 2006, I was a manager and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), for a large My 13 years experience in IT and my love of anything technical or ‘gadgety’ means that I have amassed a decent amount of experience in most IT area’s.
I can only write about what interests you or what you are struggling with if you tell me; so please, if you want a topic to be mentioned in the column write to me at [email protected] and I will try to cover everything that I receive over the coming months.
There are so many subjects that I could cover including; emails, attachments, scanning, digital photos, downloading music, storage issues, using your PC as a telephone, backups, how to get on the Internet and instant messaging, etc. The list is endless. This month I have decided to write a little about backups and protecting your data as this is something that we all know we should do, but don’t tend to do it for a variety of reasons.
You may have been lucky enough to receive a digital camera or MP3 player for Christmas, or perhaps you already have one? Like most of us you have probably been downloading music for your MP3 player or snapping away with your digital camera, happily downloading all of your music and pictures onto your PC.
Have you ever considered what you would do if you lost it all?
All of those memories potentially gone forever? Scary? Hold on to that thought, this is exactly the reason that you should backup your data.
“Backup’s are like a parachute … you probably will never need it, but if you do, you need it really badly!”
You can lose your computer data in a number of ways, theft, hardware failure, fire, virus or just by mistake. If you have taken a recent backup then you are probably ok, if you haven’t, then that’s it, its gone, potentially lost forever, nothing that you can do – if you still have the computer then there are companies that specialise in recovering seemingly lost data, but they are expensive and the process can be complicated.
There is no doubt that good backups are the answer!
So, what can you do about it?
Well, if you have a modern PC then you probably have a CD or DVD writer installed in it, this can be used to take a backup. If you have an older PC then you could always backup to a removable USB drive or some other form of external storage.
Another good alternative could be to use an online backup company; they allow you to backup your data over the Internet to their servers. Many of these companies charge for their services, however I have found www.box.net who offer a 1Gb (gigabyte) service for free.
| How much data can I backup? | |
| Backup Media | Approximate number of files(assuming 4Mb per file) |
| CD | 162.5 pictures or songs |
| DVD | 1152 pictures or songs |
| USB Drive (2Gb) | 512 pictures or songs |
| NAS (120Gb) | 3,0720 pictures or songs |
| Online Company (1Gb) | 256 pictures or songs |
There are, of course, many other backup methods that I have not mentioned; backing up to NAS (Network Attached Storage) or to tape or using another form of storage. The subject is huge and I only have a limited amount of space – if you would like to find out more or have any questions then don’t hesitate to email me at [email protected] or ring me on 655044970.