Welcome to this third instalment in our ongoing series on storage and backups. Today I want to address backup strategies for an average home user. I’ll give you my recommendations as to how I think you should set yourself up. Next time I’ll do the same for professional users.
Introduction
Ok, so right off the bat, if you’re not doing any backups, you’re running the risk of losing everything on your computer. The simple fact is, that at some point, components of your computer will break. And, especially if you’re running a non-solid state hard drive, the chances are that it will be your hard drive that goes first. Imagine a little metal case that has several (approximately CD sized) magnetic disks spinning over 5000 times a minute, and you can begin to understand why there is potential for electronic or material failure to happen in these components. Unfortunately, this is the part of your computer that holds all the data!

That is of course forgetting the risk of theft, burglary or carelessness; we’ve all been daft at some point, right? Maybe left your bag by the chair in a coffee shop when leaving, or accidentally knocked it off a desk?

Many of us these days have our entire lives stored digitally on our computer, and are oblivious to the fact that the loss of the computer, or the data on it, could create a huge problem for us. Often, people will think “ah, not to worry, I don’t keep any financial information on my computer” or “there’s nothing in my email that I can’t afford to lose, or can’t get back somehow”. What they tend to forget, until they’re faced with it, is the loss of memories […]