New Years Resolution - Backup more often!

I'm pretty good about backing up my hard drive (mainly my photos and itunes music) on a regular basis to my external hard drive.  I try keep it simple and use Microsoft's free Synctoy and in just a couple of clicks, done!  You can download it here -  SyncToy: the smart way to copy files.  An external hard drive that can store 60 to 160 gigabytes can be had for less than $100s.  To me, this is the easiest way to backup a large amount of data in a timely manner.

If your backup requirements are minimal, another simple solution is to get a usb thumb drive and copy your files to it.  You can find them for around $20s or less which holds a gigabyte of data.  Heck, you can even get one that can store up to two gigabytes for less than $30.  Check out Newegg.com, ZipZoomfly.com, or TigerDirect.com for some great deals.  While most of these can survive a trip through the washing machine, they are not indestructable and can break or go bad over time.

I also try to backup key files to CR-Rs/DVD-Rs as well, just as a Plan B in case my drive goes bad.  I have developed a ritual to back my photos to disc while I'm traveling.   But at home, I'm just as regular at doing this as someone who ate a bunch of cheese - not often.  Even though DVD-Rs and CD-Rs are somewhat fragile, they are more portable than carring around an external hard drive.  If you are fanatical about backups, you might want to keep copies of the discs off site, like at a family meber's home or at your friends in case your place is detroyed by a (insert disaters here).  Yes, I'll be the first to admit I'm lazy.  So taking the time to backing up to discs and storying them off site to me is tedious.  I also don't want to buy a second external hard drive and swap offsite either.  Which leads me to this....

During my time off work, I have been catching up on my podcasts.  One of which is the The Real Deal.  This show is hosted by Tom Merritt over at cnet.  Don't fret my non-geeks.  This podcast doesn't bog you down with the geek-speak.  The whole premise of this podcast is to "...give you access to secrets and info that will help you master the confusing world of technology."  In this episode - Real Deal 29 - Online Storage, Tom covers several free on-line storage sites in which you can upload your data.  One of them even has the option to add a drive letter to your computer so you can just drag and drop your files.  Depending on how you connect to the internet, this might take a while uploading to their website, but it give you an option to keep some or all of your key data offsite.  There are some other pros and cons to this process, which are covered in the podcast as well.  The episode is just over 15 minutes, so find a stoping point and take a listen.  And if anything else, BACK UP YOUR DATA!!!!