What steps do you or should take to Backup your Computer and Personal Data?

“Being a well-known architect, creating design is my passion and my work. In this competitive world, it’s not easy to sustain in the market if you don’t have your unique stuff. I always save my designs and work on the regular basis so that I don’t lose them at any point. Once I was little tired and told my honey to give me a glass of coffee on my desk. Accidently when she handed over the coffee mug to me, it's fallen down on my machine and my machine stopped working immediately and my things were smashed. Bang!! My frustration was disallowing me to believe that I have lost a treasure like data just in a moment. Oh, I could have taken a Backup of my data!”

In this increasingly digital world, various types of data files i.e. financial records, family pics, multi-media, personal and business contacts chock full of irreplaceable data. Dangerous yet undeniable hard-drive can fail at any point of time. And if it isn't equipment failure that does it in, fire, floods, theft and even user error all pose serious, viable threats to your data as well. Subsequently, backing up your computer is crucial.

Decide what you need to Backup

From your computer hard drive, decide what you want to Backup. By eliminating unnecessary data from backup efforts, you can save storage space. Answer yourself what you can afford to lose.

Understand your data environment

Once you are sure, what want to Backup, you’ll need to determine where it is located; which type of data it is and how long it needs to be backed up.

Craft the processes and procedures you'll need to ensure backups are completed properly

This includes the responsibility to ensure that data backup is completed properly and data is not corrupted or damaged while backing up.

Ensure that backup copies are valid and can be successfully restored

This requires that you rank the importance of your data and establish better ways that the most important data is backed up first and restored first. Be sure that you have enough time to back up all your data which is vital to your business. Check regularly your backup and ensure that it’s not corrupted or damaged and can be restored whenever required.

Regularly revisit your backup/restore risks, procedures, and technologies

This is to make sure they are adequate as business needs and conditions evolve.

Dispose of backup media carefully

Make sure that data which you have deleted are destroyed completely so that their contents cannot be read by any illicit.

Finally! The best home backup plan options - A complete backup strategy

Shadow Copy

This will provide you time to time snapshot of your files that can be reverted back to you  which have  been accidentally removed or deleted. On Windows, this means turning on the Volume Shadow Copy Service. On Mac OS X it involves setting up Time Machine.This automatically creates the backup of your files. If any kind of accident or deletion takes place, this helps to restore the files and documents.

External Drive

This method serves as a heart of your technology of your backup strategy. It’s quick, storage is plenteous (in most of the cases), and it’s relatively inexpensive. CDs and DVDs are the simplest and cheapest way for a user to backup (however CDs/DVDs are almost obsolete technology for backup media). Flash drives also known as USB (Universal Serial Bus) is an option for backing up data. This is a tiny device and can be easily carried in a pocket. It can hold a large sized data depending on the storage capacity of the drive. It is pricier than optical media; running anywhere from $20 to $120 (depends upon the storage volume of the device).

Cloud Backup

A growing number of consumers and small businesses are opting to back up their data online – and for good reason. First-rate online backup services, including ZipCloud, SugarSync and SafeSync, offer distinct advantages over conventional on-site backup methods such as backing up to external hard drives. For instance, most have convenient schedules, allowing you to schedule backups to automatically occur at a set time or whenever changes are made to already backed up files. Remote backup services also tend to be more secure, employing cutting-edge asecurity measures and technologies, like military-grade encryption, to safeguard your data. Lastly, keeping backups off-site "in the cloud" ensures you have accessible copies of your data should something locally wipe out or damage your computer (think a fire or natural disaster). 

Recommendation

You may go through an online resource to decide which could be the best cloud based backup can fit your budget and organization. i.e. Top ten backup service comparison and reviews.