Posted on July 24, 2011
by Alex
There is only 1 guarantee with computers, eventually it will crash. In the past it wasn’t that big a deal, as long as you kept a backup copy of the important documents on floppy disks (rememba them?) or on CD / external hard drive in case something happened. Now most people have their entire lives on the pc, from financial documents, to family pictures, to downloads (since a majority of software and music is now a download and not physical media). We have gig’s and gig’s of things that people would consider critical that would be expensive or impossible to replace (I currently have just over 100 gigs in my existing backup, between documents, pictures, and music alone).
Do you realize that all media providers put the responsibility on you (the end-user) to do your own back up’s and if something happens to your hard drive that all you may get is “Sorry but you have to pay for them AGAIN!”. Some providers may allow a no cost recovery download to get your files back but you should never count on it.
(From the iTunes Site as an example – In Bold)
Additional Information
1 Automatic Downloads and downloading previous purchases are not compatible with iPhone 4 (CDMA Model). Automatic Downloads and downloading past purchased music is supported only in the US and is not compatible with iPhone 4 (CDMA Model). Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store
This week alone I took 2 different calls of clients that had pc crashes. One pc was a couple of years old, the other one was less than 3 months old (so don’t think, That wont happen to me because I have a new pc). In both cases the clients had an online back up setup using iDrive (http://www NULL.idrive NULL.com/?p=techgeekandmore). All that happened was that they got their replacement pc’s, we connected to iDrive and they downloaded all their important files. No lost files, only minimal downtime. Last week, I took a call from another client that lost her pc through theft and in her case, the burglar also took all her disks, including her only back up’s. She is now trying to recover from scratch and has years of pictures that she may never get back.
I have been using iDrive for years now, and have always recommended it to friends and family as a way to protect what is important to them. Since the beginning of Tech Geek and More, TGM has been a referral partner for iDrive because I know it works.
The recommended back up strategy is a multi part approach.
- Have a backup locally. Be it to Disks (CD most likely) or to an External Hard Drive.
- Have a backup remotely. This should be in a secure encrypted manner.
- Two of the biggest reasons for the remote backup are FIRE and THEFT (as shown above). A backup doesn’t work if you can’t get to it.
There really REALLY REALLY is no reason why you shouldn’t have a backup solution. If you have just a small number of documents that you need to protect, iDrive offers 5 gigs of service for free (that amount can grow if you refer others to iDrive). If you have more than 5 gigs, the costs are as little as $4.95 a month.
There is even a plan that lets you backup as many as 5 pc’s under 1 account (for a total of 500 gig’s of space), for just $14.95 a month and those 5 pc’s don’t have to be in the same home. In addition iDrive has a discount for education
Sign up with your .edu or k12.state.us domain based email address to avail 50% off on IDrive Pro Personal and Pro Family plans.
iDrive is pc and Mac compatible, and has apps for both Android and iPhone that allow you to have access to your backup files from your smart phone (LINK) http://www.idrive.com/idrive-for-iphone.htm (http://www NULL.idrive NULL.com/idrive-for-iphone NULL.htm)
To view a demo of iDrive (LINK) http://www.idrive.com/online-backup-demo.htm (http://www NULL.idrive NULL.com/online-backup-demo NULL.htm)
To sign up for iDrive service follow this (LINK) http://www.idrive.com/?p=techgeekandmore (http://www NULL.idrive NULL.com/?p=techgeekandmore) or just click on the iDrive banner on the right side of Tech Geek and More.
(Disclaimer – Tech Geek and More does get a small referral fee for those signing up with a paid iDrive account. However, this recommendation would be exactly the same even if Tech Geek and More was not getting anything).
(http://www