Categories: Tech Tip Tuesday
If you have been meaning to back up the data on your PC but haven't gotten around to it, now's the time. Here are a few ways you can back up your data. No method is perfect, so the pros and cons of each technique are listed.
For the ultimate in safety, choose two methods and use them concurrently. For example, use an off-site cloud storage service concurrently with on-site network attached storage (NAS). That way, if either fails, you still have a backup.
Cloud storage services are all the rage now and for good reasons. The best of them offer end-to-end encryption of your data to keep it safe, along with some free storage space and reasonable fees for additional space. They are accessible by both computers and mobile devices wherever you are.
Big players in the cloud storage field include:
There are plenty of other cloud storage services—MegaBackup, Nextcloud, Box, Spideroak One, and iDrive, to name a few. Stay away from services that are new. You wouldn't want to sign on one day and learn that the startup you use to store your data has gone out of business.
Pros
Cons
External and portable hard drives connect to one computer at a time. They are usually wired devices, although some have wireless capabilities. Many external and portable drives now come with USB 3.0 capabilities, but your computer must also have USB 3.0 to take advantage of this feature.
Pros
Cons
Once the gold standard in data backup, burning data to CDs, DVDs, or Blu-ray discs is now a much less popular, albeit still reliable, a method of data backup.
Pros
Cons
USB flash drives are like tiny solid state drives that you can carry in your pocket. While they were once expensive and available only in small capacities, their prices have dropped and size increased.
Pros
Cons
A NAS (network attached storage) is a server that’s dedicated to saving data. It can operate either wired or wirelessly—depending on the drive and your computer— and once configured, it can display as simply another drive on your computer.
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Cons
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