Do you back up? How often? What do you back up to? Do you back up everything on your computer or just certain files? What a pain!
A necessary pain, though.
If your computer crashes taking all of its contents with it, you will be crushed. All of those photos, videos, work documents or what have you, could be gone in an instant. Too bad there isn’t some sort of digital insurance that will cushion you if this happens.
Oh wait, there is!!!! BACK UP. Backing up is metaphorical digital insurance that will save you if the unthinkable happens. Then, if your computer crashes you don’t have to break one bead of sweat.
Now that we’ve established backing up is a necessity, let’s talk about the backing up process. You can streamline the whole thing, so that it’s not something that you have to worry about on a regular basis. This is where CrashPlan comes in.
CrashPlan is the service I use to back up all of the computers in my home and business, and it is fantastic! I did the initial set up and haven’t had to think about backing up since.
Check out these amazing features…
Options. They are offer different plans including a free one. On their website is a plan comparison chart, so it makes it easy to figure out what you need.
Affordable. I chose the most expensive personal plan, and it’s only $10 per month! I found that to be definitely worth it; I back up my business computer, my old laptop, my husband’s laptop and my external hard drive.
Multiple Destinations. With CrashPlan you can back up to their secure online site, to someone else’s computer, to an external hard drive or to all of them! This really streamlines the process of backing up both online and locally.
Automatic. You can choose how often this service automatically backs up your devices, so there is no thinking on your part once it’s set up. PLUS, if one of your devices hasn’t been backed up (let’s say your internet connection goes down), you’ll get an email from them saying so.
Secure. CrashPlan has a security model that is multi-layered. This includes transmission security, account security, password security encryption security and secure messaging. Wow! Check out their website for a very detailed explanation of all the encrypting and securing they do. It’s impressive.
Mobile. Of course there’s an app! Love it. Let’s say I’m out somewhere, and I need a document that’s on my computer. Well since I’m a backing up queen with CrashPlan, I can access this document from my online back up as if I was browsing through my computer files.
That’s not all! There are more fantastic features that make this software a must in my book. Check out CrashPlan.com for more details and become a backing up queen like me!
What did we ever do before our current technology? In my life, I have two pieces of technology that, as far as possessions go, are my lifelines: my green-apple colored laptop and my Canon Rebel XS digital camera. I love photography, especially when my children are the subjects. I bought my first Canon digital camera about 8 years ago, and since then, have taken thousands of pictures over the years. So, you can imagine my horror when my “Green Machine”, my beloved BFF, crashed on me, and I was unable to pinpoint with any great deal of certainty, when the last time was that I had backed it up. To add insult to injury, my husband, my own personal live in tech support, was away on a business trip and unable to answer my cries for help. I had no choice but to wait it out, all the while vowing to the computer gods out there that, if my files can be retrieved, I promise I will never disrespect them again by failing to back up.
Anyone who has ever experienced a similar situation I am sure can relate with a knot in their stomach. After many hours of rebooting, restoring, retrieving, (and reciting a few obscenities), I remembered how wonderful and patient my husband is. I…ok, HE, was able to retrieve all of my formerly lost material. As a result of his efforts, I then spent DAYS organizing my computer in a way that, should this nightmare occur in the future, I would be ready to face it, head on. I was amazed at the amount of useless “stuff” I actually had on there taking up space, and in how many different places that stuff was located. This organizing process was almost as grueling as the thought of having lost everything, but well worth the days and brain cells lost. My computer is now fully operational and organized – all pictures in the picture folder, separated by year and date, all documents are in “my documents”, and further separated into appropriate sub folders. What’s even better is I now have THREE back ups: one on an external drive and two copies each of my photos burned to DVD – one for me to keep and one to keep at my parents’ house, just in case. In the event my Green Machine fails me again, restoring it back to it’s former state will be a snap. My green machine is now set to back up automatically, daily!
This was a tough lesson to learn and really could have been way more tragic then the end result. If you are among one of the diligent backer-upers out there, I bow down to you! But if you are much like the rest of us tech abusers, I URGE you to back up your files TODAY, especially those which are irreplaceable. Sure, with some inconvenience, you can replace all those lost email contacts, but lost memories are something you can never get back. Is that a chance you are willing to take? Don’t delay, back up TODAY!
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