As I’m sitting here writing this article, there’s a major hurricane bearing down on the south-eastern coast of the United States. Earlier this same week, a 5.9 magnitude took place in Virginia, shaking the ground from Georgia to New England. The earthquake wasn’t devastating, and my heart goes out to all those who have been impacted by the coastal storm. The truth is that while these are the events making headlines, there are many disasters that have a chance of occurring at any time. If a lightning strike caused a fire at your office, what would you lose? What if a pipe bursts while you’re away vacationing, what losses would you suffer there?
Some people, especially those who are not comfortable with computers, thumb their noses at the idea of storing pictures, important documents, and other such things digitally. They prefer to retain their physical copy and feel it’s easier to protect it from harm that way. Others enjoy how easy it is to retain digital copies of things, but have no action plan in place in the event of a disaster. For those of you who fit into the first category, you should proceed reading with an open mind. Those who fit into the second, keep reading and you’ll learn how easy it can be to prevent the loss of your information.
If you’ve sworn off the notion of putting things on your computer instead of in your shoebox then let me try to change your mind. First of all, you can do both! You can purchase a device called a scanner, which are often bundled together with a printer and sold as a “multi-function printer”. This will let you scan in your important photographs, documents, articles and so on. You can then store these on your computer while retaining the “hard copy” in your proverbial shoebox. Further, now that you have a copy on your computer, you can find a safer place to keep that box. Take a look around your area for environmentally controlled storage, though it may be costly. If you purchased one of those multi-function printers, you can also print out copies of whatever you back up. This is perfect for when family or friends may wish to see that baby picture of you or a loved one. Now that you have your information on your computer, it’s time to learn how to protect that as well.
You don’t need to have a fire or flood to lose data on your computer. A computer virus can often times make information unreadable, while hardware failure is nearly as common as a computer virus. The truth is that your computer will fail at some point, the only question is how long until it does. The easiest way to protect your information is to use a service that does it for you. Carbonite (www.carbonite.com) is one such service, though there are others if you take a search around. I prefer Carbonite because of how easy it is to use and how affordable it is. All you have to do is install their program and be connected to the Internet. Carbonite will automatically back up your computer to their servers and in the event of a disaster or failure, you can have it all restored. If you don’t want to pay the annual fee to keep your data safe then you can look at services like DropBox or you can simply put your pictures on a service such as Facebook.
Another way you can protect your information is by purchasing a storage device. This can either be an external hard drive, USB flash drive, or a memory card. You can also put information on DVD writable discs if you so choose. To be safe, you may wish to pick two devices to use, such as an external hard drive and a USB flash drive. Put the same information on both and send one to a relative for safe keeping. You can also combine this with the above suggestion, keeping a copy online and a copy on a storage device, since storage media also has a chance of failing.
Regardless of what backup method you choose, you should always retain the information you’re backing up. If you put a file on a USB flash drive and send it away, then delete the file from your computer, you’re still running a risk of losing that file forever. If you work for a company that doesn’t practice data protection, then you may wish to suggest some of the cheaper alternatives and perhaps enact them on your own if policy allows that. Keep in mind that depending on what you do for work, keeping a copy of something you’re working on may be illegal or against company policy. With that said, you could always back up what you’re working on and delete it the moment you are finished.
The last thing to mention is encryption, and this ties in with what I mentioned above. Encryption is a way of locking information so that only someone with the key can see it. Be wary of storing things online without encryption, especially documents that contain personal information. If you chose to store things on a storage device that you plan to keep with you, check to see if the device supports encryption. If that device is lost and found by another individual, they may be given enough information to cause you harm, financially or otherwise.
Good luck, and be safe out there!
Some people, especially those who are not comfortable with computers, thumb their noses at the idea of storing pictures, important documents, and other such things digitally. They prefer to retain their physical copy and feel it’s easier to protect it from harm that way. Others enjoy how easy it is to retain digital copies of things, but have no action plan in place in the event of a disaster. For those of you who fit into the first category, you should proceed reading with an open mind. Those who fit into the second, keep reading and you’ll learn how easy it can be to prevent the loss of your information.
If you’ve sworn off the notion of putting things on your computer instead of in your shoebox then let me try to change your mind. First of all, you can do both! You can purchase a device called a scanner, which are often bundled together with a printer and sold as a “multi-function printer”. This will let you scan in your important photographs, documents, articles and so on. You can then store these on your computer while retaining the “hard copy” in your proverbial shoebox. Further, now that you have a copy on your computer, you can find a safer place to keep that box. Take a look around your area for environmentally controlled storage, though it may be costly. If you purchased one of those multi-function printers, you can also print out copies of whatever you back up. This is perfect for when family or friends may wish to see that baby picture of you or a loved one. Now that you have your information on your computer, it’s time to learn how to protect that as well.
You don’t need to have a fire or flood to lose data on your computer. A computer virus can often times make information unreadable, while hardware failure is nearly as common as a computer virus. The truth is that your computer will fail at some point, the only question is how long until it does. The easiest way to protect your information is to use a service that does it for you. Carbonite (www.carbonite.com) is one such service, though there are others if you take a search around. I prefer Carbonite because of how easy it is to use and how affordable it is. All you have to do is install their program and be connected to the Internet. Carbonite will automatically back up your computer to their servers and in the event of a disaster or failure, you can have it all restored. If you don’t want to pay the annual fee to keep your data safe then you can look at services like DropBox or you can simply put your pictures on a service such as Facebook.
Another way you can protect your information is by purchasing a storage device. This can either be an external hard drive, USB flash drive, or a memory card. You can also put information on DVD writable discs if you so choose. To be safe, you may wish to pick two devices to use, such as an external hard drive and a USB flash drive. Put the same information on both and send one to a relative for safe keeping. You can also combine this with the above suggestion, keeping a copy online and a copy on a storage device, since storage media also has a chance of failing.
Regardless of what backup method you choose, you should always retain the information you’re backing up. If you put a file on a USB flash drive and send it away, then delete the file from your computer, you’re still running a risk of losing that file forever. If you work for a company that doesn’t practice data protection, then you may wish to suggest some of the cheaper alternatives and perhaps enact them on your own if policy allows that. Keep in mind that depending on what you do for work, keeping a copy of something you’re working on may be illegal or against company policy. With that said, you could always back up what you’re working on and delete it the moment you are finished.
The last thing to mention is encryption, and this ties in with what I mentioned above. Encryption is a way of locking information so that only someone with the key can see it. Be wary of storing things online without encryption, especially documents that contain personal information. If you chose to store things on a storage device that you plan to keep with you, check to see if the device supports encryption. If that device is lost and found by another individual, they may be given enough information to cause you harm, financially or otherwise.
Good luck, and be safe out there!
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