For each one of us, there are those things that we know that we should do, but for one reason or another, we just don’t always get around to doing them. (For example, I know that I should floss my teeth every day. I’m aware of the benefits of flossing. But somehow, much to my dentist’s chagrin, my flossing tends to be somewhat random.) Today’s technology tip is more of a gentle reminder than a tip, as I am sure that it falls into this category of information you already know. Here’s your reminder: Backup the files on your computer! Any data that you cannot afford to lose needs to be backed up on a regular basis.
Is all of the important data on your computer currently saved elsewhere? If your hard drive crashes as you are reading this email, how much data will you lose?
I recently had a very real reminder of the importance of this practice. On July 4th, I was updating some information on the Different Voice website. With the touch of a few errant keystrokes, I inadvertently deleted the entire blog on our website. Yes, over 150 archived emails disappeared before my eyes. As you can imagine, I was a bit panicked and Tim was less than pleased. We experienced a few heart-stopping moments while we determined that 1) yes, the information I had accidentally deleted was retrievable, and 2) yes, our webhost keeps a backup of our website. This experience was a less than gentle reminder for me to backup my computer files!
There are several options available for backing up your computer, and I am not enough of a technology guru to recommend one over the other. That would be a question that you can ask Tim! But regardless of which method you choose – saving data on CD’s or a flash drive, using an external hard drive, or using an online backup service – backup your data regularly. Yes, you know it is important to create a backup of the information on your computer. The difficult part is taking the time to do it. However, it will be time well-spent.
~Sally Hoelscher