How Important is Your Data?

When was your last backup? Are you using "cloud storage" yet?

January 27, 2011 -- I always try to remain polite when friends and clients come to me in panic with their non-booting computer looking to recover their "whole life" -- typically the hard-drive gets corrupted and Windows will no longer boot, either because of a hardware failure or perhaps because of serious virus damage. My first question is usually, "When was your last backup?"

How would YOU answer that last question? Does the loss of possibly years of digital photographs scare you enough to read on?

Without a backup, important files including photos, email, contacts, videos, music, and documents can OFTEN be recovered without loss, but often only after extensive (and sometimes costly) recovery procedures. I won't lecture you today about the merits of backing up these important files.

Backups are something that many of us have good intentions of doing, but often don't take the time to do. Backup software might seem too complicated; and not knowing where to find the files we need to backup or remembering to backup on a regular basis leads to this important task being neglected.

The topic for today will be utilizing "cloud storage" services to help you with your backup needs. We can also refer to this as "online storage" or "online backup". I consider this as supplemental to your existing backup strategy and better than none at all.

There are many online backup services (see sidebar for a list of some popular ones) to choose from -- some very robust and focused on businesses for a fee, while others have targeted the individual user, and often with a free choice on the lower end of storage needs. Most commercial services usually offer a free 30-day trial.

There are two programs that I like to use: Dropbox and SugarSync. The free versions of each will often meet the needs of many home users and even small business users.

Dropbox [www.dropbox.com] is free software that syncs your files online and across your computers. There's even a Dropbox app for the iPhone and BlackBerry. What I really like about Dropbox is the simplicity of the interface -- there is almost no interface except for a Dropbox icon in the notification area of your task bar.

Your Dropbox folder is like any other Windows folder but is monitored for changes which get sychronized first to the Dropbox servers and then selectively to other computers associated with your account. You can simply drag files of any size (up to your account size limits) into your Dropbox folder and the rest is automatic. After you put your files into your Dropbox folder on one computer, they'll automatically appear on any of your other computers that also have Dropbox installed (Windows, Mac, or Linux). If for instance, your laptop isn't connected to the internet at the time, it will catch up later when connected. Your initial free account provides 2 GBs of storage but this can be increased quickly by referring friends, family, and business associates. If you need even more storage, there are monthly pay plans available.

Very simple and it works. Sharing files and folders with family, clients or associates is a breeze. Your data is encrypted both when transferring to and from your computer and while on the Dropbox servers. If your computer should fail, recovery of your files is a simple process which can be done from any computer via the web interface (shown below).

Dropbox has a great little video that says it all. Once you have Dropbox installed, start referring your friends and associates and share those photos or important documents you both work on. The whole process only takes a few minutes of your time to signup and install the small program.

SugarSync [www.sugarsync.com] has taken a slightly different approach from Dropbox although the benefits and many features are similar. SugarSync installs a File Manager on your computer. From here you can select individual folders that you would like backed up and synchronized to other computers connected to your account. This goes on quietly behind the scenes. It can monitor your Documents folder, or your Pictures folder, and any other you select.

To start, you get 5 GBs of online storage for free. Beyond those needs you can signup for incremental pay plans, but you can also get more free storage through referring the program and service to friends and associates. A couple cautionary notes. SugarSync specifically excludes backing up Outlook .PST files. Outlook Express or Windows Live Mail data files should backup okay but I would not try to use SugarSync to actually synchronize these files between multiple computers.

The web interface will let you access or restore your backed up files from any computer. As with Dropbox, SugarSync maintains multiple versions of deleted or modified files and folders also, so you can actually go back in time and undo mistakes or deletions.

SugarSync also has a short video introduction. The setup wizard will get you going in only a few minutes. Once you have SugarSync installed, start referring your friends and associates. You can rest a little easier knowing that you have some extra backup protection for your important data.

I have really only touched on using both Dropbox and SugarSync for backing up important files. Both products are continually developing and adding new features regularly. Both products have helped me be more productive. Being able to share files easily between multiple computers, between home, school and work, or between those who need to collaborate on a project, or from a mobile device, seems to take some stress out of having access to important files. I rarely need to use a USB memory stick anymore.

Just remember: At the end of the day, there are really only two types of computer users -- Those who HAVE lost important files, and those who WILL lose important files.

Take action to protect yourself now. Give one or both of these programs a try and see if they make sense for you.

--MLJ