BestByte Computer & Technologies - Computer Support, Repair, and Networking - Granger, Indiana
 
Data Loss - Computer Crash
Disaster strikes and you’ve lost your data!  No big deal, it was just pictures, music, letters, financial data, website favorites, and…  Hey, wait a minute that cost me a lot of money and time to accumulate all those things!  This is why a backup plan is so important.  I’ll give you some solutions and you decide which is right for you.

External Hard Drive

You can purchase a large external hard drive for around $100.00 and make copies of all your important files.  It’s a very basic and inexpensive solution, but there are drawbacks.  First, in most cases you have to manually connect the external hard drive to each computer and run backup software.  If you don’t have backup software, you will probably copy the contents of your “My Documents” folder to the external drive.  This solution poses serious problems if you forget to backup or leave the external hard drive in the same location as all your computers.  A fire or other disaster would destroy your computer and your backup copy of your data.  Not optimal.

RAID 1

You can purchase a computer with two hard drives that simultaneously have two copies of your data and operating system.  The advantages of this system are overall cost, protection against a single hard drive failure, and the backups are automatic and happen instantaneously.  The disadvantages of a RAID 1 are similar to and external hard drive in the fact that a fire or other natural disaster would destroy the computer and the backup drive at the same time, and it’s hard to find computers with RAID.  Custom computer builders are the best solution for this option.  I recommend www.bestbytepc.com.

Carbonite

Online backup is now affordable for all.  Carbonite is a software solution that installs on your computer and allows you to select the files you want to backup to an offsite server.  The advantages are in the automatic backup and the protection from data loss in the event of a disaster.  Depending on your budget, the cost may be affordable or it might not.  For around $55.00 per year, you can have peace of mind.

RAID 1 + Carbonite

In the event of a hard drive failure, Carbonite will allow you to download your data to a new hard drive or a new computer.  No, it doesn’t happen quickly and you aren’t backup and running in a few hours (depending on how much data you have to download and how long it takes to get your computer repaired), but you will get your data back.  In my opinion, a download of your data from an offsite storage server is my last option for a speedy recovery.  I recommend having a RAID 1 solution on your server or main desktop to protect against a single hard drive failure. In the event of a failure, replace the failed hard drive and the RAID will rebuild with minimal downtime.  The combination of RAID 1 and Carbonite will also protect your data in the event of stolen computer, fire or other complete loss. 

Bestbyte Computer & Technologies

We specialize in backup solutions like the ones listed above or other custom solutions designed to fit your needs.  Please contact us for computer needs.
Carbonite
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