I am often surprised by the number of business owners who do not regularly backup their computer system so that a version is available if the original data is lost or corrupted. There are many unforeseen circumstances that may occur, for example, fire, flood, a computer virus or simply your computer crashes and causes you to lose your data. It can even be accidentally deleting a file.
Sometimes data is able to be recovered when your system crashes; however, this is often at considerable expense and requires taking the computer to an expert.
How many business owners would be lost without their files if their computer crashed and data was unable to be recovered? How much would it cost you to rebuild all the files you require in your system? You may keep all your business cards, but consider how much time it would take to re-enter all the data.
Recently, a client with a home-based office experienced data loss for the second time. The first time, her data was unrecoverable and she not only lost valuable business data, but also all her photos and family videos. At this time, she did purchase an external hard drive to backup files. When the data loss occurred a second time, some data was able to be recovered; however, the external hard drive was affected and some things were lost. She immediately called me asking for the details of the online backup service I use and signed up the same day.
A backup service is a resource no business owner should be without. It is too risky to fail to backup your valuable files. I use 'Carbonite' - an online backup service. This is a service I would not be without. My investment is around AU$70 per year for unlimited backup of my files including photos and video clips. The benefits are invaluable. To date, I have only needed to retrieve files on a few occasions. For example, nothing adverse happened to my computer, but unfortunately I worked on a file and clicked 'save without retaining a copy of the original. I was able to access my online backup service and retrieve a previous version of the file. The service is also great if you accidentally delete a file. Instead of recreating the entire file, you simply log in and retrieve the last backup version.
Many business owners are too busy or often forget to complete a backup at least weekly. With the Carbonite online system a backup is easily done. As long as you are connected to the Internet, the backup will automatically run in the background. I have not experienced any slowing of my computer whilst the backup is in progress. Initially, the backup takes some time depending on the amount of data you have stored on your computer; however, subsequent backups are seamless and you won't even realize it is running in the background. Basically, you do not have to give it a second thought and there is no risk of forgetting or not having time to complete this important task.
Please be advised that I am in no way affiliated with this service other than being a happy customer myself. I simply wish to share what I have found to be an invaluable resource. How much would you pay for peace of mind?
Click here to visit the Australian Carbonite website and here for the US Carbonite website and see if this is a solution for your business.
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