4 Easy Laptop Backup Solutions
Admit it, doing laptop backup is not high on your priority list. Considering the widespread use of the laptop nowadays and the fact that 1 of every 14 laptops is stolen, you should definitely give it more serious thought – and soon.
A laptop could easily be the modern working man’s best friend. Those who own one, and most of us do, are rarely caught without it. One of the great things about having a laptop especially for those who are not tied to a 9 to 5 desk job is that you can practically bring your work with you. Need a change of environment? Just grab your laptop and go wherever, whenever.
The mobility that a laptop offers is one of the reasons why it is such a hit with most computer users. Big name manufacturers are constantly outdoing each other in coming up with better laptop models that have more advanced features. And while the laptop is built to withstand the daily rigors of being lugged around, it could also quit on you when you least expect it. That is why I could never overemphasize the importance of performing laptop backup.
Now how do you know when there might be a problem with your laptop?
When you hear strange noises coming from your laptop, this should be a warning for you. Such sounds could indicate a serious problem within the system as many laptop users have experienced. Other signs of laptop trouble are when it fails to boot altogether or when it cannot access the hard drive. All these symptoms could lead to (if it’s not one yet) a hard drive failure. Unfortunately for you, this means that your laptop might be out of commission for sometime — hopefully not permanently. More importantly, the more serious effect of a laptop hard drive failure is data loss.
One very important thing that you should remember about using laptops: it’s more difficult to recover lost data from a laptop than from a desktop computer. Because it is designed to be a very compact and light device, the parts used are specialized and are embedded into the tightly sealed laptop. Even the mere diagnostic process is complicated and this should tell you a lot about the data recovery procedure as well.
You may also ask: How do I deal with laptop failure?
If you are no expert on the workings of a laptop, don’t even attempt to do your own assessment of the problem. Anything other than trying to reboot it a couple more times is a no-no. Even getting the laptop open is complicated enough if you don’t have the right tools for the job. Or if you do get it open, then what? You may only serve to hasten its demise by exposing the system inside to dust, which laptops are very sensitive to.
Unlike desktop computers where you can practically take one apart and put back together without doing much harm and even correctly assessing the problem, laptop parts and systems are best left to the experts. Tinkering with the small components can do more harm than good, so just leave them be. You can instead make yourself useful now and do laptop backup, rather than wait for the time when all you can do is sit tight and hope for the some good news.
Your best chance of getting it to work again and possibly recovering your precious files is to get it to an authorized service center immediately. The technician can then open it up, find out what the damage is, and inform you of the findings and the possible options you can take.
Saying goodbye to your trusty laptop can be hard. But if you have protected your files and done laptop backup beforehand, then you would not have to lose your files as well. That can be even harder to recover from.
Here are four easy laptop backup solutions you can try out:
1. Burn data to CDs – An easy process to do but for large files, you would need a lot of CDs and a lot of time. Plus, CDs can be prone to damage which could make the files unreadable.
2. Use portable USB drives – USB disks are small and lightweight yet can store a good amount of data. They are convenient to carry around but just as easy to lose or misplace.
3. Use external hard drives – This is one of the better options I’m using and which I encourage you to use too. External hard drives are compact but can pack in up to a terabyte of data! On the downside, external hard drives can still crash, and in case of fire or other disasters, you could lose them too.
4. Use online backup – The other one of the two laptop backup solutions I use. Carbonite Backup is affordable and easy to use. The only drawback I find with this backup solution is that restoring large volume of data can take long.
For a fail-safe laptop backup, use both external hard drives and online backup service. For you online backup and storage needs, I suggest you give Carbonite a try. For less than $5/month, you get unlimited storage, automatic backup, and a secure transfer and storage process. If you still lose the data in your laptop after reading this article, I’d hate to say ‘I told you so’.
