Get Organized: How to Back Up Your Computer Files
Submitted by
alison
Your entire life is stored on your computer—your work, your wedding video, a zillion (totally precious) pictures of your kids ... all just one spilled cup of coffee away from disappearing forever. Newsflash mama: It's time to get organized and back up your computer.
How you back up photos and files is up to you—you can save your images and important files to CDs, purchase and use an external hard drive or use an online subscription service to save files in "the cloud." It all depends on how much file backup storage space you'll need, how much money you want to spend and how much time you have to do it.
Most computers now come equipped with some sort of backup program already installed. It usually involves you designating an external hard drive or a series of CDs to back up to. Then the program will prompt you through backing up your precious memories, so you'll have them saved somewhere besides on your computer's hard drive.
The key is to actually remember to do it. Most people "mean to" back up photos and files but then find themselves caught off-guard by computer troubles when they happen. So try this tip: Set an alert in your computer calendar for every three months reminding you to do file backup. And when it goes off, be sure to actually do it!
If you're still sure you'll forget or want to let someone else worry about taking care of your backup, try an online service like Carbonite, which works in the background (while you're "working" on Facebook!) to constantly back up your files so you'll never have to worry about it again.
How you back up photos and files is up to you—you can save your images and important files to CDs, purchase and use an external hard drive or use an online subscription service to save files in "the cloud." It all depends on how much file backup storage space you'll need, how much money you want to spend and how much time you have to do it.
Most computers now come equipped with some sort of backup program already installed. It usually involves you designating an external hard drive or a series of CDs to back up to. Then the program will prompt you through backing up your precious memories, so you'll have them saved somewhere besides on your computer's hard drive.
The key is to actually remember to do it. Most people "mean to" back up photos and files but then find themselves caught off-guard by computer troubles when they happen. So try this tip: Set an alert in your computer calendar for every three months reminding you to do file backup. And when it goes off, be sure to actually do it!
If you're still sure you'll forget or want to let someone else worry about taking care of your backup, try an online service like Carbonite, which works in the background (while you're "working" on Facebook!) to constantly back up your files so you'll never have to worry about it again.
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