Worried about how to backup your files? Follow these ways

Worried about how to backup your files? Follow these ways

Only a few years were enough for computer users to realize that it was necessary to save their files on an external medium. According to Kroll On track, a company specializing in data recovery, more than half of them makes a daily copy of their most important documents. Scalded, probably, by bad experiments: computer failure damaged hard disk, theft or fire, mishandling or virus.

Still it is necessary to choose the medium on which files can be archived. Optical disc, USB stick, and external hard drive, online service: some of these solutions are more economical, while some are more resistant and reliable than others. Reliability must be the first criterion: what is the point of saving files on a medium that your computer will not be able to read when you need to recover them? In spite of the marketing discourse of the manufacturers, the lifetime of each medium remains limited. Follow the guide to choose the best way to back up your family photos, video montages, purchased music online, your mail and all your personal documents.

Optical Disk

Let us say at the outset, the CD and the DVD, acclaimed a few years ago for backups, are endangered supports. More and more laptops are being sold without an optical drive. And the disc itself, sensitive to moisture, light and dust, can easily damage. As for its capacity, it is unable to compete with that of more practical supports, like the USB keys or the external disks. Finally, the drive remains a fragile mechanism and the operation of burning the disc sometimes results in irreparable errors. Professionals who still use them must duplicate their contents every three years on new media.

The USB Key:

Tiny and easy to carry, the USB key keeps photos, music and documents of all kinds permanently with you. Its capacity is constantly increasing (up to 512 GB) and you can find any format, from the most fun to the most serious. The problem is that it is easy to mislead and that its cheap components limit its life expectancy, which decreases as it is used. Not to mention its fragility, especially when ejected wildly from a computer, resulting in a rapid deterioration. In short, if the USB key remains irreplaceable for file sharing or temporary storage, it is deprecated for archiving data. Same for SD or micro-SD memory cards.

The External Hard Drive:

Nearly 60% of users use it to back up their data. It must be said that the price of hard drives keeps falling as their capacity increases. In addition, they are widely recommended by the system tools that automate backups (Windows Backup Utility, Time Machine on Mac).A practical and economical solution if you only use the external drive as an archive medium and not as an additional unit to increase the storage capacity of the computer. Care must also be taken to avoid unplugging it during a backup, keeping enough free space and using it on time to make it last longer. According to specialists, breakdowns occur most often during the first three months .After this period, the files are safe for at least five years.

Online Storage:

Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, Hubic, iCloud: Nowadays, online storage services offer an attractive alternative to physical media: once the backup is configured, file transfer is done by simply connecting to the Internet We realize it. The data can then be retrieved from another device at another location. Most of these services are free for a limited capacity, usually between 5 and 10 GB, which is insufficient for real backups. But this formula allows to test the service and to keep a copy of some files in a safe place. To enjoy this, you need a good connection to the Internet, which is sometimes unpredictable. And if the data is protected on the server by an identifier and a password, they are not necessarily immune, as recently showed the business of piracy of the photos of stars. Moreover, most operators decline all responsibility in the event of data loss.