Posts Tagged ‘Lose’

What Can Cause Me to Lose Files?

Viruses / Trojans / Malware

Electrical surges

Physical damage

Natural Disasters (Fire, Flood)

Heat Damage

Hard drive failure

Accidental Deletion

How can we prevent these loses? I’ll discuss each in turn and lay out what I do to reduce the risk each of these occurences.

Viruses / Trojans / Malware

These issues can be overcome by taking two important steps. First, make sure your version of Windows is up to date. You can do that by finding the “Windows Update” entry in your start menu or opening Internet Explorer and navigating to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/. Second, you should install some form of virus software. Norton Antivirus or Trend Micro are reasonable options.

Electrical Surges

Electrical Surges can be taken care of by using a surge suppressing power strip which can be found at almost any home improvement store. Another alternative is to invest in a battery backup. I use an APC battery backup. Several times during brown outs this backup has kept my computer from shutting off and me from losing work.

Physical Damage:

Your computer should be in a secure location, preferably tucked away from foot traffic and certainly in a location where no one will trip over the wires. Most of the time either on top of or under a sturdy desk is a good option.

Natural Disasters (Fire, Flood)

Had I written this article 3 weeks ago, I might have forgotten to mention this one. Then, I was evacuated from my home during the southern California fires. I was able to simply grab my external hard drive (which was up to date because I backup every night) and leave safely. Had I not had this backup, I might have had to take the computer with me, as well as my wife’s computer because we each have work that we cannot lose. I imagine anyone experiencing a flood would feel the same way. My wife also has a lot of our personal pictures on her machine, which we could have lost had we not had a backup.

Heat Damage

Heat Damage can occur if your computer overheats while in use. This can occur if the computer gets filled with dust or if the fan in your computer fails. To prevent this from happening always make sure your computer is clean and that airflow is possible through the vents in the case. Each time you clean it, make sure your computer fan is in proper working order. It can be heard when the computer is on, or you should be able to feel the fan moving air in or out of the vents. You can also check to see if your computer power supply is overheating by checking for warm air coming out of the top rear of your computer case.

Hard Drive Failure

This section refers to a mechanical failure of the hard drive, commonly referred to as a hard drive crash. This is an internal error not immediately caused by some external source and is usually an indication that the drive is worn out. You will notice your computer acting strangely, not booting up correctly or giving you strange error messages if this is starting to happen. You may also hear a sound coming from your computer that sounds like grinding. If you suspect your hard drive is failing, you should make a backup copy of all of your important files (this will be covered in future articles) immediately.

Accidental Deletion

This refers to when you accidentally delete or overwrite a file that you need. The accidental deletion can often be fixed by going to the Recycle Bin in Windows. The Recycle Bin can usually be found on your desktop. Open it by double clicking, and then find the file you are interested in getting back, right click on that file and click “Restore File”.

A more troublesome error is when you overwrite a file which you didn’t intend to. This is most common when you have a file and are trying to duplicate it and then make alterations to the duplicate. Most of the time, people open the file, alter it and then click “Save” instead of “Save As”. This can be prevented by opening the file, then immediately clicking “Save As” and making the duplicate file. That way you never make alterations to the original file.

Taking these simple steps will help keep your important files safe.

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Online Backup – Lose The Stress, Not Your Files

Online backup has become the logical choice for people at the forefront of technology when they want the best data backup option available.
Do you ever think about what would happen if disaster strikes? In the blink of an eye all your important computerized documents, pictures and client data would be gone. It can happen. Lightning strikes, floods, theft, hard drive failure, computer viruses and more can result in a loss of information that can be difficult and expensive or even impossible to recover.
Maybe you already backup your data, documents, and photos. But where do you keep the backups? Are they at your home or business, in the same building as the computers you use? The same disaster that might destroy your computers could also destroy the backups. If a large-scale natural disaster such as a hurricanes, large flood, wild fire, etc. occurs, even storing your backups in the same city could lead to losing both.
There is a solution, it’s called online backup and it comes highly recommended by professionals from all fields, even from IT support people, the same people you would pay thousands of dollars to should you need data recovery. Even when you take great care in backing up your systems on a daily basis, there is always the factor of human error to consider. Someone forgets to do the backup, does it wrong, or stores the disks or tapes incorrectly. Online backup automates your data backup so those concerns are no longer relevant.
As more and more of us try to eliminate the need for paper files in our homes and offices, it is becoming even more important to have good backup systems for our important information. Online backup eliminates the problems that can be encountered due to human error, natural and grand scale disasters, theft and technological failures. With online backup, your information will be securely stored off-site and the systems can be easily set to automatically back up as often as you need.
Online backup is typically a very cost-effective solution for small and large businesses. They do not need to devote a portion of an employee’s workday to backing up documents. They do not need to purchase CDs and other storage medium, and no portion of the company’s physical premises is lost to storage space. Online backup also protects companies against the future cost of IT services for data recovery. For many businesses, the loss of personal client or patient data could mean the end of the business. This is one reason it is so important to make your online backup choice wisely. The use of online backup will also help healthcare providers in following the guidelines of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and the strictest of privacy practices in any industry.
On a personal level, any number of things could also happen to your personal documents and it would be devastating. More and more of us are taking digital photos and storing them on our computer. If something happens to your computer and the data cannot be recovered, there go possibly years of family photos. These and other important files should be backed up outside your home to ensure your peace of mind.
Don’t be one of those people who frets and cries over lost computer data or who spends too much money on data recovery, which may or may not work. Make the best choice now and protect the files and photos that you can’t do without. Put online backup to work for you today.

Click Here to Try Carbonite Online Backup FREE for 15 days and back up your irreplaceable files automatically and securely. No credit card required!