Cloud Back Up: Wait a Moment

There is a lot of information about back up products and services, but users have hard time finding out what is the right strategy in terms of saving files and emails.

First of all, there are two types of back up: a back up that can save files and a back up of the entire computer that will save not only files but the whole system in case of crash: the image back up. Users are unaware that, when they buy a  Windows computer, manufacturers give them only a way back CD but not an entire Windows installation cd, and after that they have lost all their data, they simply try to return back to the installation settings and start again from sctatch, unless a virus stops them from returning back to a clean formatting.

At the moment of receiving computers for repair, our company has been advising users to implement the following strategies for back up. If you are already using a cloud service, you are welcome to keep using it; there are plenty of companies out there, such as Google Drive and Microsoft Skydrive. Each of them offers 5 GB of storage for free. This service should be used only to store files, documents, pdfs, pictures, videos etc etc. This type of back up aims at saving only your files and is not meant to restore your computer to the status quo after a crash.

If, on the other hand, users are very serious about back ups, they should consider the image back up, but not on the cloud. Windows computers can be easily imaged used a built in " Create System Image" or a third party tool such as Clonezilla; Mac users should use Time Machine: both Windows and Mac users should plug in an external hard drive that is the destination of the imaged computer once the task will be completed. The image back up will restore the computer as it was at the moment in which it has been imaged. Moreover, users should also have a boot cd that Windows will create automatically at the moment of the image back up: that way, when it is time to restore the image, the boot cd will find the image file in the external back up and the restoration process will be really very easy.

Simply put, backing up computers should have been already used by the major computer manufacturers as an educational tool to inform consumers that various options are available. With the right piece of information and awareness, users would have saved their machines from crashes instead of buying new ones (when it was not necessary) and would have used their computers for longer time without incurring in productivity's disruptions.