Here's a guide to the different ways to backup, from external hard drives to flash drives and cloud services. Steps to follow so you don't lose your documents
One of the first lessons in "computer school" focused on the importance of backup. Today on the devices we usually use the most we leave a large part of our lives. Documents, photos or messages that used to be in the drawer are now on our computer. Backing them up is the ideal way to never lose them.
Why it is important to make a backup regularly. As we said backup is the best way to not lose all the documents that we have stored over time on our computer. Data that we often use and that we need in our daily life and therefore must be safeguarded. For this reason, making a backup every now and then is not enough. The best choice is to organize one at regular intervals. Oppure farne uno sempre dopo l’acquisizione di documenti, foto o video molto importanti. Fare affidamento su un unico metodo di backup non è consigliato. Vediamo quali sono i migliori metodi da seguire per tenere al sicuro e sempre presenti i nostri dati.
Prima scelta: un hard disk esterno
Fonte foto: Pixabay
Hard disk esterno
Come prima opzione per la salvaguardia della vostra vita digitale potreste pensare all’uso di un hard disk esterno. Questa è una soluzione comoda visto che molti hard disk possono ormai essere trasportati e quindi non dovrebbe essere un peso usarli sia in casa che in ufficio. Se poi usate un fisso potreste pensare di prenderne anche di più grandi e con maggiori capacità d’archiviazione e farli “accomodare” sulla scrivania. Spostare i dati su questi hard disk è semplicissimo. Usually connect via USB to the computer and once synchronized, a process that in many devices is automatic, you can drag our data from the PC to the hard drive. It is also a good solution against theft or damage. External hard drives have among their disadvantages the possibility of breaking. While we transport them or for various reasons, one day they might not work anymore. It should be remembered that in most devices the data is recoverable even if the drive is damaged. In addition, the most recent ones have a very high average life span and are unlikely to cause you problems when storing files. Which ones to buy? This depends on your uses. If you need to store photos and documents, 500GB or 1TB can be enough. And costs range from 50 to 100 euros.
In case you need an external hard drive that is fast enough, the choice can only fall on an SSD. Oltre a garantire una longevità abbastanza elevata, permettono di mettere al sicuro i propri dati e di non perderli almeno per quattro o cinque anni. Il costo per un hard disk da 256GB è leggermente più elevato rispetto a quello di un hard disk a stato solido, ma la differenza sarà bene ripagata.
Seconda scelta: la pennetta USB
Fonte foto: Pexels
Pennette USB
Come seconda opzione potreste pensare a un metodo ancora più comodo da trasportare: la flash drive. Spesso poco più grandi di una gomma da masticare e hanno le forme più variegate. Come sistema è molto simile a quello dell’hard disk solo che in questo caso i dati sono salvati con la memoria flash. Ovvero una tipologia di memoria a stato solido e non volatile. Tradotto non ha bisogno dell’energia elettrica per mantenere memorizzate le informazioni. They are very easy to use, once connected it will be enough to drag or copy and paste the documents. Among the possible disadvantages is the ease in damaging them. Given their small size it is very easy to ruin them. In addition, they are not very suitable for those who need a lot of space, being small their storage capacity is reduced. But they cost less than a hard disk, generally with a few tens of euros you can buy flash drives with a decent storage capacity. Even if the most sophisticated ones are close to 100 euros. They are ideal for those who have few documents or for those who transport them and then delete them. Not surprisingly, they are widely used by students.
Third choice: cloud storage services
Say goodbye to small or medium-sized storage devices. Your data goes into the "cloud." That is, your files will find space in a server data center. There are a number of companies that offer this space on the network. Often the same companies that produced our smartphone or our computer offer this service by default on our device. Using it is easy, we just need to be connected to the Internet and access our personal account. Here we can decide to upload, move and delete files. The size depends on the service we choose but generally they offer a lot of storage space, it all depends on the type of subscription you will want to pay. The main problem, however, is the violation by a hacker of your data. There are several cases of famous people who have had their privacy violated with personal photos and videos ending up on social networks. Another disadvantage could be the closure of the service you use. This has happened to smaller companies. Il prezzo non è un grosso problema, di solito molti servizi con uno spazio più che abbondante sono gratuiti o con dei canoni mensili che possono variare a seconda dello spazio richiesto (la spesa si aggira intorno ai 10-20 euro al mese).
Un sistema di backup più avanzato
Fonte foto: Shutterstock
Il NAS
Tutti i metodi visti sin qui sono molto efficaci e permetteranno ai vostri documenti di avere una lunga vita. Però in alcuni casi, in base alle vostre richieste, ci sarà bisogno di un sistema di backup più avanzato rispetto a quelli elencati sinora. In questo caso un’ottima soluzione sono i network-attached storage, anche noti semplicemente come NAS. Si tratta di un dispositivo di rete adibito al salvataggio e alla condivisione di file tra i vari nodi di una LAN. Questo permette a più utenti di condividere documenti, cartelle, filmati, ecc. Sarà un po’ come avere il vostro cloud personale. It's still a fairly expensive storage system, and generally not recommended for everyone. You'll also need some pretty specific knowledge to use it to its full potential. But in case your work requires a lot of space and the ability to share this is one of the first options to consider.
Use programs like Carbonite and CrashPlan
(Taken from YouTube)
There are programs that will facilitate backups. These are especially good for businesses that don't have the luxury of losing a single document along the way. Carbonite offers annual plans, from $42, $70 or $105, for unlimited cloud storage. You won't need to remember to do any operation, because with each new data you enter it will be saved automatically. Obviously you'll be able to access it from any device and in this case a particular aspect is related to security. An always active assistance service and an antivirus system designed specifically to safeguard your documents will avoid unpleasant data thefts. Especially against ransomware attacks, which in the last period are targeting small and medium-sized companies, often putting them under blackmail. Downloading it, installing it and setting it up on your devices is very simple and doesn't require much experience in the IT field.
A similar task is performed by Code42 CrashPlan. Here too it is a paid system that allows multiple users to share and save files on a shared cloud. In this case even greater emphasis is placed on the security of your documents: each company will be able to protect the data according to their needs. Then there are tools that take a system image of your machine, basically a snapshot of all your files and settings at a particular time, which you can use in case your computer crashes. On Macs, the built-in Time Machine program does this, while Windows has its own system image backup tool.