Online backup of the data on your hard drive with companies like Mozy, Carbonite, and Livedrive is an excellent way to secure your most important files and data - but, you have to take the extra time to check to make sure what you think is saved, actually is saved.
It is very simple to get set up and inexpensive (especially when you consider the cost of losing your data).
The way it works is, a copy of your non-program files is saved in encrypte form on a server far away.
That means that it will be safe in case natural disaster strikes or if you accidentally bump your latte and spill it on your keyboard.
There are a number of ways that we find to mess up our data: Some of the more popular are: 1.
Theft 2.
Natural Disasters - fire, flood 3.
Spills on your laptop's keyboard 4.
Accidental deletions Now, our question de jour: When I was first thinking about signing up for an online backup service to save a copy of the data on my computer was - How can you know your data is actually backed up? How can you know that your data is safe and the service is not just taking your money? The answer is, test the system by restoring a few files and verifying that the amount of data backup that's been done corresponds with the amount contained in 3 folders on computer: 1.
documents and emails 2.
pictures 3.
music Try to restore a file - that is easy to do.
Just go to the online backup company's client software and click on the "restore" tab.
Just pick a file to restore to validate it's working ok.
You can check those files by: 1.
start menu 2.
my computer 3.
c: drive 4.
check the contents of each folder by right clicking and looking under "Properties" Once you have proven to your self the system is working, sit back and relax and leave the driving to the online backup company.