Losing all the information that you have on your computer can be devastating, whether it be your personal computer or your business pc. At least when at work you are able to call your IT Support Company and hopefully they will be able to rescue your PC by using an online backup, but as a home pc user you do not always have that luxury. Whilst it is possible to recover data after a disaster such as a hard drive crash, this is not always the case. Corrupt files can cause havoc on your home pc. 

Some scenarios where data could be lost include, but not limited to,

1. Virus attacks
2. Hardware malfunction
3. Human error
4. Natural disaster
5. Theft
6. While Deleting Programes
7. Other unpredictable causes

For small, medium and large businesses data backups and data recovery stratergies and the IT tools they use to do this are essential to their survival, they refer to this as Business Continuity or Disaster Recovery, a term you are sure to have heard before.

Should Everything Be Backed Up?
A question that is often asked is “what should be backed up?”
The answer is simple, any and everything that is of value to you which may include

1.your own information
2. pictures
3. emails
4. documents and other files

You should also have copies of all software that you use including relevant serial numbers.

When Should I Backup My Personal Computer?
How often you backup your personal computer depends on how often you use it. It is important to back up any important folders or files whenever a major software change is made, or new folders and files are created that are of value to you. 
 
A full backup should be made of all your documentation and then periodic backups should be made when data changes. The period of time depends on how often changes are made and how crucial the data is.

Types of Backup for Personal Computers
There are three main types of backup with other strategies using a combination of at least two of them.

Full backup: a complete set of all the files that you want backed up. A full backup will provide a complete copy of all your data and makes restoring easier if only certain files are to be restored. A full backup is only performed occasionally.

Full backups take a long time to complete because of the amount of data and take up the most storage space on the backup media. Redundant backups are stored on the server taking up valuable space. You need to keep at least two consecutive full backups.

Differential backup: this backs up those files that have changed since the last full backup and should be on a regular basis. Differential backups are faster and take up less space than a second full backup. The problem with differential backups is that redundant information is stored as each backup is similar to the previous one plus any changes that have been made since the previous backup. Subsequent backups will take longer as more files are changed since the last full backup.

Incremental backup: this is a backup of any changes to files since the last backup of any type. If a full backup is created every month and incremental backups run daily, only data changed that day will be backed up. This is different to differential backups that would create larger and slower backups. Taken over a one-month period, this could use a lot of storage.

With incremental backups, it is possible to backup multiple versions of the same folder. The downside for incremental backups is slower restoration. To restore incrementally, the last full backup is restored and then each subsequent backup in the correct order until the data is restored.

Although it takes longer, if you do not expect to restore on a regular basis, incremental backups from an offsite server is your best option.

Where Should I Backup My Personal Computer?

A copy of your operating system and applications should be onsite in case of the need to restore a failed hardware or operating system. It is not necessary to keep a copy of data backup’s onsite as this leads to complacency and a loss of all your data should disaster strike.

It is foolhardy to have backups in the same location as the original data. A flood or fire could mean losing all the data. Leaving backups with friends or neighbours is not an ideal solution either as a loss of data could lead to a loss of friendship.

Backups are safest in a remote location. Many hosts and ISP’s provide backup and data storage at a minimal price. Restoration from a remote backup server is easy and painless.