When these situations come up, the effort you made on knowing how to backup files and just doing this regularly will be worth it.

The 6 most convenient ways backing up your computer files are:

1. Email

Backing up files via email involves attaching every single file you are working on to an email message. This method is a very simple one, and as email comes for free, it costs very little, if any at all. On the downside, attaching files to email individually can be a very tedious task, and may even cause you to miss backing up a file or two. Email storage is also limited so you won’t be able to back everything up. Plus, you need to be prepared for the possibility that when your email service is down, you won’t have access to those backup files too.

2. Using backup utilities that come with Operating Systems like Vista

Backup systems offered with an OS like Vista are reliable and comes at no cost at all. But if you are creating backup files with the intention of protecting your data in case of a hard drive failure or a computer crash, it really doesn’t make much sense to store the backup file in the same computer.

3. Using third party solutions or software backup utilities

One good thing about this option is that these backup utilities are usually very affordable. Unfortunately, many things work against it. First, some software can eat up a lot of your resources and bog down your computer. Others can be really buggy and may not run properly or backup automatically. If the software itself can’t be trusted to work properly and can even crash, it’s not really a very reliable solution, is it?

4. CDs and DVDs

Keeping backups of your computer files in CDs and DVDs is a very common practice. What makes this method popular is the ease of the process. On the other hand, backing up files through CDs can be very time consuming, and costly in the long run because even a small amount of data may require an entire CD. Optical disks are also prone to scratches that can damage the file contents, or they can be easily snatched or misplaced. Should any of these happen, how would you retrieve your backups?

5. External hard drives

Using external hard drives is one of the better solutions on how to backup files on your computer. The pros: external hard drives are affordable, and are now available in the 1 terabyte level so huge files are a breeze. You don’t need to worry about the hard drive getting scratched, and with only one device to think about, keeping it secure is easy too.

Backing files up using external drives does have its disadvantages, though. Just like your computer hard drive, it can crash too! And because hard drives are kept “on site” (again just like your computer), it can be destroyed too in case of a calamity like a fire. Lastly, these drives don’t do automatic backup so you should always remember to do so manually.

6. Online Backup

There are many advantages to using online backup services. They are affordable and easy to use. They backup files automatically everyday; no need to remember doing the backup yourself. The best thing about online storage and backup is that the files are kept “off site” – far from the dreaded crashes, viruses, and disasters. My choice of online backup service is Carbonite. At less than $5/month, it’s cheap insurance to protect my files from all the possible causes of data loss.

However, online backup has its flaws too. For one, restoring files is not as convenient as it should be. File retrieval can take up to days for large volume of files or restoring the entire contents of your computer. You should also remember that you are depending on a third party for your important files and data. If the company goes out of business or just stops its service for some reason, where would that leave your files?

So which is the best computer backup solution?

Now that you have a good idea of how to backup files on you computer, you be the judge on which the best safeguarding alternatives are. Personally, I find the last two options, external hard drive and online backup, of which I use Carbonite Backup, the unbeatable combination when it comes to ensuring the complete preservation and security of your files. This way, you can always have a physical backup with you for a quick file retrieval process, and you have an online backup too in case of computer disasters at your end.

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’.

For those of you who don’t backup your files to begin with, shame on you! Just kidding. Actually, there are some statistics that say 90% of home users don’t backup their data so you’re not alone. It is interesting that while most of us have anti-virus software, very few of us backup our computers. This is too bad because just as our computers are susceptible to viruses when we are not careful, 30% to 40% of computers eventually crash.

So what does it mean to backup data online and why should you be doing it?

Simply put, to backup data online means to make duplicates of your computer files and store them in a secure and remote server via the Internet. This is to make sure that in case of data loss, you will always have a copy of your work files, music library, photos, and other digital stuff that you’ve accumulated over the years.

Disasters can happen so fast — virus attacks, computer failure, and natural calamities like fire, earthquake, or floods. And any one of these calamities can erase your files in the blink of an eye. Trust me, this is no exaggeration. Ask any one around you who has experienced losing important data, and he will tell you just how difficult it is to recover from data loss without any sort of backup. I personally know of some small business owners who could close shop the next day should anything happen to their files without sufficient backup; or parents who would wax sentimental should they lose their kids’ growing-up pictures and tons of family videos. You get the picture.

Now that I’ve emphasized to you the importance of having backup files, many of you might say that you do have backups – in CDs, DVDs, tapes, or external hard drives, and these should be enough, right? Wrong. Yes, there are other ways on how to backup your computer files. But most of these are “on-site” solutions, and would only serve you well if the data loss is caused by computer malfunction.

When you backup data online, your backup is stored “off-site” and is therefore safe from natural disasters and theft. Besides, CDs are prone to scratches and damages, and an external hard drive, although generally reliable, can crash too, because it is still a hard drive.

What data should you backup online?

Basically, you should do online backup for all data that you consider valuable. You be the judge of what you think are your valuable files. For instance, most computer users store their self-made files on the “My Documents” folder. This would include word documents, spreadsheets, pictures, videos, music files and more. If you’re one of those who “organizes” your files this way, identifying what data to backup online shouldn’t take long.

To make sure that you are backing up the all the data that you need, make a list of all the applications that you use everyday. Then go through “All Programs” in your Start Menu, and just check if these programs are defaulted to save in the My Documents folder. If not, change the default settings to have the data files saved there (My Documents), or include the default location of these files to the list of drives or folders that you would have your online storage service backup regularly.

Sounds too complicated? I have an easier and better option for you: use Carbonite Backup and stop stressing about which files to backup or not. With Carbonite, you have secure, unlimited storage space plus the convenience of a tool that will automatically backup data online. It’s a no-fuss, no-frills yet really effective solution to your online backup needs!

Here’s a bit of good news, though. Hard drive failures rarely “just happen”. Telltale signs of hard drive failure are actually exhibited before the drive eventually quits on you. While the symptoms themselves are manageable, ignoring them is something you wouldn’t want to do.

Early warning symptoms of an impending hard drive failure include:

1. Your computer often freezes without probable cause. This is usually accompanied by an unresponsive mouse and an undetected keyboard. The only thing that can get it going again is a restart that doesn’t go through the proper shutdown process.

2. Your files mysteriously disappear. While a lost file or two may have been caused by an accidental deletion on your part, the chances of this happening too often cannot be passed off as errors all the time.

3. The computer locks up during booting. The occasional hanging during the boot process shouldn’t worry you too much but when it happens like every other startup, these could be red flags for a serious problem.

4. Accessing, opening, or saving files are taking awfully slow. It’s like your computer’s memory has suddenly shrinked into nothingness such that even small document files are too much for its capacity.

Again, let me emphasize that any of the above symptoms occurring a few times are not necessarily signs of hard drive problems. A repeated pattern of these however, is too dangerous to disregard. Besides, why wait until it’s too late? Start your data backup now!

So now how do you know when the inevitable has already happened?

The actual hard drive failure is mechanical in nature so you could probably hear metallic noises coming from your computer. That would be the read/write head thrashing about within the drive but not functioning the way it should. The most definite sign of a crashed drive is when your computer refuses to boot and all you get is an error screen advising of a critical system malfunction, aptly called the blue screen of death. If you have not bothered to backup files by then, it does spell doom and gloom for you.

Perhaps you have not experienced any of the above situations and are still feeling confident about your data at this point. So then let me talk about what it would take for you to recover from data loss without a computer backup file. That’s if it can be done at all.

When this happens, all is not actually lost because in some cases, the data can still be retrieved by data recovery software or companies. Be prepared though because this service is going to cost you a pretty penny. The cost could rise to about $300 to $400 dollars and even then there’s no assurance that all your data can be recovered. Tough luck.

I use Carbonite Backup as my online backup service. It provides unlimited storage space and automatic backup, and considering that the subscription fee costs only $54.95 per year, why waste time before backing up your files? That’s just around one sixth of how much data recovery costs! You can also opt to use CDs or external hard drives to do data backup, and these devices don’t cost much either.

I have accumulated a lot of data over the years, and continue to do so. That’s why I try to protect my computer files as securely as possible by using an external hard drive as my onsite backup and Carbonite as my remote backup service.

Don’t wait until you observe signs of hard drive failure in your computer. Make the effort to back up your files ASAP! File backup methods don’t really cost all that much and yet you have the assurance of being spared from the stress, hassle, and opportunity loss that comes with losing data.

It’s hard for me to imagine that there are still individuals or small business owners who are not making backup copies of their computer files these days but if you are one of them, there’s really no time to waste. The survival of your business, or your good standing in your job could very well depend on the continued existence of all the data sitting on your computer right now. And don’t tell me losing your family pictures, kids’ videos, or even your music library which you’ve built up over the years won’t hurt as much.

So the obvious question is: How To Backup Computer Files?

There are many backup solutions that you can consider and they are classified under two general categories: onsite and online backup.

Onsite Backup Solutions

An onsite backup solution is one where you copy your files into storage devices that you can physically safekeep yourself and easily access whenever the need arises. The most commonly used onsite backup storage devices include an additional internal hard drive, external hard drives, tapes, and optical disks like CDs and DVDs.

Using onsite backup tools have many advantages. For one, backing up computer files is a simple process that anyone can do: a few clicks and you’re done. Restoring your data need not be a major production either. It’s really like the backup process, only done the other way around. You also get the peace of mind knowing that your backups are physically close at hand.

On the flip side, onsite backup is not a completely flawless solution. CDs and DVDs, for example, can easily be scratched, rendering the data unreadable. As for spare internal hard drives or external hard drives, these are still hard drives and, just like your computer’s internal hard drive, can eventually crash.

When you rely solely on onsite backup solutions, you’re forgetting the other causes of data loss: theft, fire, and other natural disasters. Although studies show that natural calamities only cause about 1% of total data loss, who knows that you won’t ever be a part of that measly 1%?

Lastly, onsite backup requires you to physically do the backup yourself and make a regular habit of it. If you do it on a daily basis, it could be rather time-consuming if you have a lot of files stored on your computer. If you decide to do it weekly instead, you also run the risk of running into disasters within the week and lose the latest data.

Online Computer Backup: Offsite Solutions

Online computer backup is the process of storing your computer files and data in a remote location via the Internet. Remote backup solutions are offered by online storage service companies that allow you to transfer your files to their servers and keep them there until such time that you would need them.

Online backup solutions practically cover all possible disasters that can befall your computer and all the data in it. Although these services come at a nominal fee, they’re worth every penny (and it is literally just pennies a day). The service I use and recommend is Carbonite backup. For less than $5/month you get unlimited storage and your computer backups are fully secured and are done automatically for you. I honestly couldn’t imagine not using a service like this as it provides total peace of mind.

Like any solution to a problem, online backup is not perfect. One of the risks, even if extremely low, is that the company you backup with could go out of business and you’d lose everything. It’s important then to go with a company that has been around for a while and is likely to be around in the future. The company I use, Carbonite, has been around since 2005 and has only gotten bigger and better over the years. I feel completely confident backing up my computer files with them. You should feel the same with the company you backup with.

There is also that very small chance that your data could get compromised. After all, any files and data that you store remotely are at risk since they are out of your control. However, the risk is extremely low if you go with a service like Carbonite as they use 448-bit BlowFish encryption which makes it virtually impossible for anyone to be able to read your data even if it is stolen. It is the same type of encryption and security that banks and financial institutions use to conduct transactions online.

Another drawback to online backup solutions is that file restores are not as fast as on-site backup solutions (i.e. using an external hard drive). With an external hard drive you can literally drop and drag the files you need to your computer and they’ll be restored immediately. With online backup, you are at the mercy of your Internet connection. If you have a lot of files to download and restore, the process can take several hours and as long as a few days or more!

Onsite or Online Computer Backup – What Do You Recommend?

As you can see, there are pros and cons to both of these solutions so answering the question, how to backup computer files, comes down to your needs, budget, and comfort level. I personally use both onsite and online computer backup to get the best of both worlds. I use a 500GB external hard drive and Carbonite backup. I backup my computer files and data once a week to the external hard drive and Carbonite backs up my data for me everyday without me even having to think about it.

The external hard drive gives me the convenience of a quick file restoration if needed, while my online backup provides total peace of mind. By using a service like Carbonite, I know my files and data are being backed up everyday so if a disaster were to strike (i.e. my house burns down) I would be totally protected. Practically my whole life is on my computer so I couldn’t imagine losing everything in the blink of an eye. By doing both onsite and online computer backup I don’t have to worry about that!