Today, computers form an important part of everyone’s life. They have eased the way we carry out our personal as well professional needs. Computers can be used for many purposes. From accessing emails to playing games, computers fulfill all needs. However, every such application has some data associated with them. In addition, you can use the computer hard disk space to store some additional data. Apart from computers there are various other devices like camera, phones, laptops, etc. that contain valuable data of yours. The data stored on such devices can have multiple forms.
Some of the most common forms of data are mentioned below.
Documents – Documents could be in the form of Word or PDF file. It includes important certificates, books, official papers, etc.
Images – Image could be in any of the image file formats including JPEG, GIF, TIF, etc. It includes your childhood pictures, Wedding pictures, etc.
Audio – An audio file could be in the form of MP3, WAV, and more. It includes your favorite song track.
Video – Video files are usually in the AVI, MPG, MP4, etc. file formats. They include your movies, or any other personal videos.
Emails, Database file, etc – The data could also be in the form of saved emails and database files of various applications.
In addition to the above mentioned points, data could take many other forms. However, such valuable data are always prone to various issues, as you cannot always rely on the devices on which they are stored. Any kind of issue occurring on the device could lead to severe data loss. There are various reasons for data loss including physical damage done to the device or accidental deletion of some of the files. In such a situation, it becomes practically impossible to get back your lost data. In order to overcome such a situation, you must take a regular backup of your data.
Today, most of the users do not backup their data. In a recently conducted survey in the UK, it was seen that 1 out of 5 people never take data backup. However, backing up the data is considered to be a good practice. It ensures data availability in case of any devastating situation. In spite of the availability of various data recovery software, backing up the data is considered much easier as it just requires you to save your valuable data into a safe location time to time.
Need for Data Backup
Due to the unreliability of the various devices, your data have been always at risk. Some of the reasons, which support data backup, are mentioned below.
Overcome the loss due to hardware failures
All data storage devices including computers have many hardware components. Such hardware components can fail without giving any prior warning, which can result in severe data loss. Such a situation can be avoided by taking regular backup of the data.
Assures data availability in case of virus attacks
While working on computers or any other device, there is always a virus threat that can damage your important data or system files. In such a case, you can format or reinstall the machine and copy the data from the already created backup.
Protects from data loss due to theft
Nothing can be more valuable than your precious data. If you have created a data backup in an external media or storage device, you can ensure data availability in case someone has stolen your device.
Get back the accidentally deleted files
While working, you or your kids might accidentally delete some of the files. Taking regular backup ensures that your data is safe.
Ensures data safety in case of natural disasters
In case of any disaster like fire, flood, etc. you can survive the situation of data loss. Once everything is OK, you can restore your data onto another system.
Above-mentioned points are some of the key reasons for data backup. In addition, there are few good practices while taking data backup. Some of them are mentioned below.
- It is advised to take regular backups. Many devices have inbuilt functionality of scheduling the backup process. This helps in taking incremental backup of the data, thus saving a lot of disk space and time.
- You should take backup onto a clean storage device. The device should be free from virus and any kind of errors.
- Always test your backup by recovering the data from them.
- In case of any major installation or changes done on the system, take a complete backup of the system beforehand.
Various options for data backup
You can use any of the following options for taking data backup
- The availability of the latest key-chain sized drives has taken over the traditional approach of taking backups using floppy disks. They can store data up to gigabyte size and are free from any scratches and damage.
- You can take data backup in the form of an image. A Backup taken using such method contains a copy of the selected files and folders in the hard drive. However, you can always take a normal backup of the files by moving them to a different location.
- With the advancement in technology and the speed of the Internet, there are various methods available to take an online data backup. This ensures availability of the data everywhere. In addition, many are using the Cloud concept to store data.
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