Disaster Recovery - Personal Computer(s)

PERSONAL COMPUTER PROTECTION REFLECTION
For one’s personal computer, an individual can follow a number of different trains of thought concerning data recovery and backup protection. This protection can come in the form of recording data to CDs/DVDs, using thumb drives or backing up to an external hard drive but the drawback to these methods is that they can be lost or corrupted just as easily as the computer itself. One also has to consider the potential cost of using one of these methods as it will vary with the amount of memory necessary to effectively and efficiently back up the data.

A second train of thought involves on-line data storage with many options available at a variety of costs. There are options for data, pictures, music and video available through services like DropBox, Box.net & SnapFish, and while there are plenty of free options, many charge annual fees for their storage services. Other than associated costs, another potential drawback of online storage is the integrity of the service. It is necessary for a person to feel that the online service is trustworthy and stable enough to remain operational for the long term. On the flip side, these services are offsite and keep your data protected no matter what happens to your computer or the site your computer remains at (no worries about fire damage, water damage etc. that could kill a computer and any external drives or devices that data is stored on).

I have already started on my way to protecting the data on my computer. I began using DropBox initially as a method of avoiding emailing documents back and forth to myself from my personal computer to my school computer. I really like the convenience of having my files accessible no matter what computer I’m on (although downloading DropBox on any computer that I create documents on can be a drag). I currently am having issues with QuickTime on my computer so I have no access to my music because I’m unable to open iTunes. After doing my best to clear up the issue and consulting with a computer technician, I was told that I’d have to save all of the data I have on the computer, wipe the hard drive clean and start over with re-installing all of my programs. I’ve known about this problem since January and I still haven’t taken any steps towards this because it seems so time consuming – I wish that more of my data was already backed up in some form so that I could just start fresh.

My real issue is the back up and protection of my picture files. I can’t even begin to count the number of pictures on my computer. I did back them up once a few years ago but I haven’t done it since then. Honestly, I think I’d lose almost every picture of my 4 year old daughter and all pictures beyond when my 6 year old turned two.

PERSONAL COMPUTER PROTECTION - THE PLAN…
1. I plan to purchase an external hard drive with enough memory to back up my personal computer. I would want one that could also back up a desktop that we just inherited at the same time. (My husband just picked up one with 320GB of memory for $125 for his computer at work and our home PC.)
2. I’ll continue to use DropBox for online storage of my schoolwork files so the external drive would be primarily for music and pictures.
3. I think that I would also save the pictures to DVD’s and stash copies of them at home, work and with relatives. This would be a really inexpensive method to ensure that even if my computer/external hard drive crashed I would still have copies floating around.
4. As far as virus protection, I currently run Kaspersky 2009 and am very happy with how it works.
As the system administrator and only user of my computer, I would just have to make sure that I consistently backed up my data to the external drive and that I used my DropBox. In addition, I would need to continue to run virus updates and regular scans to keep my computer protection current.