10 Best Ways to Backup Data

Most computer users recognize the importance of backing up key files on a regular basis — be it documents, music, irreplaceable photos and camcorder footage — but not everyone is aware of how to go about doing it, and which products are needed to pull it off. Here we look at a handful of top-rated backup solutions to help you make a suitable choice based on your needs and budget.

External Hard Drive

Ideal for laptops or desktops, an external hard drive – recommended manufacturers include Maxtor (www.maxtor.com), LaCie (www.lacie.com), Seagate (www.seagate.com), Western Digital (www.westerndigital.com) and Iomega (www.iomega.com) – simply plugs into an available USB port and lets you drag and drop important files over to the storage solution. The benefit of an external hard drive compared to other solutions is you can fit a lot of data on them: A 500GB drive, for example (about $100) can store about 440 days worth of MP3s.

Iomega External Hard Drive

Recordable CDs/DVDs/Blu-ray Discs

Cheap, reliable and portable, a CD+/-R or DVD+/-R disc can store roughly 700MB or up to 8.5GB of data, respectively (if the recordable DVD is a dual-layer disc), which can then be easily popped into any computer with an optical drive. Software to “burn” CDs and DVDs, such as Roxio (www.roxio.com) or Nero (www.nero.com), is often included for free with a new PC, and the use of rewritable media (such as CD+/-RW or DVD+/-RW discs) means you can delete and add data multiple times over multiple years. A spindle of 50 black DVDs costs about $20.

USB Flash Drives

Thumbs up for this trendy — and tiny — storage solution. As the name suggests, USB thumb drives (a.k.a. Flash drives or jump drives) are about the size of your thumb and snap right into an available Universal Serial Bus (USB) port on a Windows PC or Mac. You can copy over data to the drive — currently topping out at 32GB for around $100, but available for as little as $6 for 2GB – then simply unplug the device and pop it into your pocket. Popular USB flash drive makers include SanDisk (www.sandisk.com), Kingston (www.kingston.com) and PNY (www.pny.com).

SanDisk SD Memory Card

Online Storage

Two advantages to online storage — that is, keeping your password-protected files “in the cloud” — include protecting them from any local harm (such as theft, fire or flood) and the ability to access these files from virtually any Internet-connected computer in the world. Many pay services are available, but we like Microsoft’s Windows Live SkyDrive (skydrive.live.com), which offers 25 gigabytes (25GB) of free online storage.

Windows Live SkyDrive (Online Storage)

File Delivery Service

Ever email someone a large file, such as a high-resolution photo, and have it bounce back because it’s too large for the recipient’s inbox? Free file-sending services exist that can prevent these troubles by making it easy to transmit large amounts of data, such as YouSendIt (www.yousendit.com) and SendSpace (www.sendspace.com). These services can also be used to protect your data (10,000 Word documents compressed, or zipped, is only 200MB). Once a trusted friend receives the files, ask them to download and save them for you in case of a hard drive crash or virus.

YouSendIt (File Delivery Service)

Networked Drive

Whether it’s from Maxtor (www.maxtor.com), D-Link (www.dlink.com), Netgear (www.netgear.com), Iomega (www.iomega.com) or Apple (www.apple.com), external network hard drives are becoming popular as you can have multiple computers backup and store files to these machines, in some cases wirelessly, over a Wi-Fi network. The cost for a 2 terabyte (2TB) solution is between $400 and $500 today.

Apple Time Capsule (Network drive)

Secondary Computer

Here’s a tip: Chances are you have an older and unused desktop or laptop computer in your home, right? Well, you can use this idle hard drive space as a backup repository for your irreplaceable digital files. Simply connect an external hard drive or USB thumb drive to your main computer, copy over your important documents, photos, videos and music, and then transfer them over to your old PC for safe keeping. You’ll be glad you did if something happens to your main computer.

Portable media player

If you use a portable media player that can hold data, such as the mega-popular iPods from Apple (www.apple.com; from $49), you can also use these devices as a storage solution too. Bear in mind, though: Before you copy the contents of your hard drive over via a USB cable, you may need to manually allow your media player to hold files by clicking a box in its setup software (and allocating how much space you want for files). The only issue, of course, is if you lose the media player, as your (potentially sensitive) documents could fall into the wrong hands.

Memory Cards

If your desk drawer is like ours, you have a couple of spare memory cards lying around. These postage stamp-sized Flash cards are typically used in digital cameras to store your photos. But if you have an extra one or two you can also copy over digital documents, music and other kinds of files to keep in a safe place (such as a safety deposit box). If you don’t have any you can spare, prices start at about $6 for a 1GB SecureDigital (SD) card from the likes of Kingston (www.kingston.com), PNY (www.pny.com) and SanDisk (www.sandisk.com). Be sure your PC or printer has a media card reader to simplify this process.

Automated Solutions

If you don’t think you’d be comfortable with manually dragging and dropping digital files onto an external or online solution, you can always opt for an automated product. For example, Storage Appliance’s Clickfree Easy Backup (goclickfree.com) and Verbatim’s PhotoSaveDVD (verbatim.com/photosave) are recordable DVDs that automatically scan your computer for important files (such as documents, photos or music) and back them all onto the recordable DVD for you — without you doing anything! Prices are $10 for 3 discs. Clickfree external drives can also do the trick (and hold more files) for as low as $100.