Back It Up

What is one of the biggest self-inflicted threats to any business? Data loss.  Imagine your computer (or just your hard drive) decides to poop out on ya at the worst possible time.  If you don’t have a backup (and few people do frequent backups),  very important data could be lost, costing you a lot of time and/or money.

I learned this the hard way last year when my hard disk failed on my 5 year old Dell Dimension PC.  I did have an external data storage drive, BUT I hadn’t done a back up in months because the drive’s power cord broke and I never got it replaced

That really got me to think about online backup storage services. There are many benefits to cloud storage: no need to buy/maintain extra hardware; easy connectivity that is always on (especially in this day and age of high-speed internet access) and since its online, you can connect to your files from anywhere, including your smartphone.

Some things to look for when choosing a provider are  secure ftp hosting service, no bandwith and file type restrictions (for backing up everything from a business plan, to your childs 1st walk video) and cheap pricing.  This space is very competitive, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find one that is right for you. But trust me, back up your stuff ASAP.  One day you’ll thank me…