Coronavirus Time Killer - Back Up Your Computer
By Timothy Tibbettson 06/15/2023 |
With many people self-quarantining or out of work, they have resorted to desperate measures - cleaning or painting their house, cooking dinner, and *GASP* checking off all those little projects on their honey-do list. With so many people returning to their laptops and desktops, now would be a good time to back up your valuable data.
We've had people bring us numerous computers with often gigabytes of music and photos alone. Backing up that much data can be time-consuming, and many of us have more free time than we know what to do with.
There are numerous ways to back up your data:
1: Local Backup
Admittedly, we're geeks, and a little nutty, so we always keep a backup hard drive, an external backup hard drive, and even a few DVDs with the classics. But there are more reasons.
Backing up to an internal or external drive is the fastest way to back up and restore your data.
You don't have to worry about slowly sending files over the internet to the "cloud."
You're not stuck paying for a cloud service for the rest of your life.
If you have a Desktop, the best move is to buy an SSD hard drive. They're faster, and most companies include data migration software. In other words, you clone your existing hard drive to the SSD drive, swap drives, wipe your original drive and back up to it.
We've sworn by Western Digital SSD drives because we like the data migration software. 500GB drives are approaching $50, while 1TB drives are under $100.
If you're on a laptop or don't want to swap hard drives, external hard drives have also become affordable.
Again, we've had a Western Digital hard drive for so long, we can't remember. That said, you can get a 2TB drive for a little more than $50 and an 8TB drive for just over $100. Compare those prices to the cost of a cloud service. External drives plug into a USB port and appear as a new hard drive.
Once you've added a new internal or external hard drive, you can use File Explorer to copy your files to your new drive. If you're not a fan of File Explorer or want to automate the process, we have numerous freeware and shareware back up apps to download.
2: Cloud Backup
We're not fans of Cloud Backups, but they are easy and convenient, so we understand the allure. Backing up and restoring is only as fast as your internet. Recently, a friend called me because their architect lost their data, and they needed 3-4 days to download all their files to get his blueprints. Can you imagine?
Most companies charge $10 or more per month for 5TB of storage for a basic account. Forever. If you purchase a Westen Digital 8TB hard drive, you will save that money after the first year, and you control your data.
If we had to use a cloud-based backup, here are the ones we'd consider:
Mega - Free for up to 50GB and plans start at $5.56 a month.
Sync - Plans start at $5 a month.
Dropbox - Free for up to 2GB and plans start at $12.50.
Google Drive - Free for up to 15GB and plans start at $19.99 month.
OneDrive - Comes with Windows 10 and plans start at $6.99 a month.
Similar:
5 Websites to Track the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Live
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Coronavirus Time Killer - Back Up Your Computer
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How to Reinstall Windows 10 Without Losing Your Files
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We've had people bring us numerous computers with often gigabytes of music and photos alone. Backing up that much data can be time-consuming, and many of us have more free time than we know what to do with.
There are numerous ways to back up your data:
1: Local Backup
Admittedly, we're geeks, and a little nutty, so we always keep a backup hard drive, an external backup hard drive, and even a few DVDs with the classics. But there are more reasons.
Backing up to an internal or external drive is the fastest way to back up and restore your data.
You don't have to worry about slowly sending files over the internet to the "cloud."
You're not stuck paying for a cloud service for the rest of your life.
If you have a Desktop, the best move is to buy an SSD hard drive. They're faster, and most companies include data migration software. In other words, you clone your existing hard drive to the SSD drive, swap drives, wipe your original drive and back up to it.
We've sworn by Western Digital SSD drives because we like the data migration software. 500GB drives are approaching $50, while 1TB drives are under $100.
* As an Amazon Associate, we earn a commission if you purchase an item using our affiliate links
If you're on a laptop or don't want to swap hard drives, external hard drives have also become affordable.
Again, we've had a Western Digital hard drive for so long, we can't remember. That said, you can get a 2TB drive for a little more than $50 and an 8TB drive for just over $100. Compare those prices to the cost of a cloud service. External drives plug into a USB port and appear as a new hard drive.
* As an Amazon Associate, we earn a commission if you purchase an item using our affiliate links
Once you've added a new internal or external hard drive, you can use File Explorer to copy your files to your new drive. If you're not a fan of File Explorer or want to automate the process, we have numerous freeware and shareware back up apps to download.
2: Cloud Backup
We're not fans of Cloud Backups, but they are easy and convenient, so we understand the allure. Backing up and restoring is only as fast as your internet. Recently, a friend called me because their architect lost their data, and they needed 3-4 days to download all their files to get his blueprints. Can you imagine?
Most companies charge $10 or more per month for 5TB of storage for a basic account. Forever. If you purchase a Westen Digital 8TB hard drive, you will save that money after the first year, and you control your data.
If we had to use a cloud-based backup, here are the ones we'd consider:
Mega - Free for up to 50GB and plans start at $5.56 a month.
Sync - Plans start at $5 a month.
Dropbox - Free for up to 2GB and plans start at $12.50.
Google Drive - Free for up to 15GB and plans start at $19.99 month.
OneDrive - Comes with Windows 10 and plans start at $6.99 a month.
Similar:
5 Websites to Track the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Live
Coronavirus Scams to Watch Out For
Coronavirus Time Killer - Back Up Your Computer
Can I Get Coronavirus From Mail or Package Deliveries?
How to Reinstall Windows 10 Without Losing Your Files
How to Back Up Google Drive
comments powered by Disqus
