Different Ways to backup your hard drive explained

Published on: 17 August 2018 Last Updated on: 08 August 2019
hard drive

If you have not been backing up your data, you are not playing safe. It is a practice that you should make a habit of. Why? There is a high risk for you to lose your data when your hard disk drive fails when your computer is stolen when a disaster strikes, or when malware infects your computer. It is imperative for you to safeguard yourself from these incidents, and the only effective way to achieve this is by backing up your hard drive. Besides, backup methods save you time and money, and they could give you a competitive advantage. Additionally, some data is irreplaceable and losing it would be a disaster. That’s why this article will explain some of the ways to back up your hard drive.

Local drive :

One of the best and most efficient ways to back up your data is by transferring all your data to a local drive – one that is separate from your computer. Backing up on another hard drive is an easy and quick process, especially if you have several drives attached to the system. You could back up your databases and files to an external drive, a USB flash drive, or even a secondary drive. Moreover, you could save your hard drive data to a different drive on a computer that is connected to your network. Keep in mind that the backup process when using a local drive varies. You have to ensure to carry out the backup steps appropriately. It could save you a lot of trouble when your data gets lost.

Cloud storage :

Another effective way to back up your hard drive is by relying on cloud storage services. In recent times, this backup method has become one of the most revered. Its popularity has risen because it can be done automatically, and you get a particular amount of storage space for free. Moreover, you could access your files and data from any location so long as you have a good internet connection.

There are some cloud storage services, and you should choose the one that works best with the size of your data and files. You can test these services for yourself by logging on to ottomatik.io, which is one of the best cloud storage services. Other reputable cloud storage services include OneDrive, Google Drive, Box, and Dropbox. Some of these storage options are free, some require you to pay, while others are free but with paid extras.

Drive cloning :

Well, if you have considered other backup options and you are still not content, you might want to consider drive cloning. It is another effective backup option; albeit not as popular as the methods above. So, what exactly does it entail? It works through a clone hard drive, which is a second drive that has an exact mirror image of your original hard drive. Unlike in the earlier days when drive cloning was an expensive strategy, storage management companies have come up with excellent software, making the process more seamless. Using the software available, you can create an exact image of your hard drive fast add efficiently.

3-2-1 strategy :

The whole idea behind backing up data and files is to ensure that all vital information is fully protected. That is why you should consider a 3-2-1 backup strategy. It is a strategy that requires you to rely on multiple backup options. When you choose this strategy, you should ensure to create three copies of your hard drive data to avoid losing it. You should also ensure that you store one copy of the data you’ve backed up off-site. This ensures that your data is safe from natural disasters and theft. Also, you need to utilize two data formats. With this strategy in place, you will hardly lose any data.

Conclusion :

There are numerous backup options, and all are meant to protect your hard drive from total data loss when a natural disaster strikes or your computer crashes. Backing up your data helps you save a lot of time, effort, and money that you would spend trying to recover lost data. You might want to consider one or all of the methods mentioned in this article. They could save you a lot of trouble. 

Read Also : 

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Website Downtime

The Beginners Guide To Dealing With Website Downtime

According to recent research, the average website is down for about three hours per month as a result of downtime to web hosting servers. The 99.9% uptime guarantee and refund policies offered by most to hosting provider, won't matter if you have lost traffic as a result of downtime. On average businesses can lose $10.6 million a year as a result of website downtime.  What Are The Major Causes Of Website Downtime?  Website downtime occur for reasons,some of them include:  Website code issues: poor programming can cause heavy loads on servers which leads to database error then eventually, makes the site unresponsive  Hacker attacks: a website can be brought down by attack from hackers in various ways - the server can be overloaded with DOS attacks, or malicious code is injected to steal security credentials - either way, the website owners are often forced to shut down the site in order to resolve the problem.  Data Centre issues: downtime can be caused by the hosting company itself. In this instance, uptime monitoring tools come in handy because they allow you to track the reliability of your web hosting company.  Increased traffic: increased traffic is probably one of the leading causes of website downtime. The only way to keep your site up and running even when there is a traffic surge is to engage the services of a reliable web hosting provider - a fully functional optimized website would be useless if your web host is unreliable.  How To Protect Your Website From Downtime  It's been established, website downtime can negatively impact an online business bottom line, therefore it is important to have protective measures in place to safeguard your business. Some of these methods include:  DNS management: is a service that automatically reroutes traffic from the affected server to a secondary server.  Backup recovery: setting up a secondary hosting account with a different hosting provider on a different server is a great backup option, that makes it easy for you to get your website online if your primary server experiences downtime  CDN: this network will basically store and deliver all cached content from your website and will protect it, in the occurrence of any short time downtime.  The combination of DNS management, a content delivery network (CDN) and a backup host- backup listing will go a long way in protecting your website from experiencing short or long-term downtime.  How To Avoid Prolonged Downtime With A Great Website Recovery Plan  Website downtime is unavoidable -site updates, extreme weather or equipment upgrade can cause website downtime. A website recovery plan and backup are are important to keep unplanned downtime from adversely affecting your business. Before setting up a website backup and recovery plan, you would need to put up - website monitoring systems in place to track website uptime. These monitoring tools provide vital information regarding website performance and availability.  With these tools, you can create a different test (checks on your website), to accurately narrow down the root cause of the problem and take adequate steps to correct it. These checks have to be set up outside of the basic HTTPS check the include-checking against known databases of virus and malware sources, record changes to DNS records and so on.  Set up a downtime page  The best time to set up a downtime page is when you still have access to your website. It comes in handy when there unplanned downtime or planned downtime. This page informs your visitor that you are on top of the situation. Putting up a 'service unavailable' or a 'website undergoing maintenance' message on a page is a great way to keep credibility and show that you have control of the situation.  How To Handle Website Downtime  1. Confirm site downtime: before taking any major step, you need to verify that your website is really down - that is, make sure it isn't a problem with your Internet connection or browser. To be extra certain, use a different computer to test out your website.  2. Find the cause: you should try to ascertain what caused the downtime -hardware issues, a programming error, expired domain or a DNS problem?  3. Get in touch with IT support: get in touch with the support of your web host and get assistance for the issue. if you choose a great web host, you should have ready support available.  4. Inform your website users about the downtime: it is imperative that your website visitors are not left in the dark. Put out messages on your social media account to keep your customers informed about what is going on and that your business is taking steps to address the problem. If it is a planned all downtime, it is good practice to send out a warning message detailing the date and time of site maintenance. 5. Check-in with IT: communicate regularly with IT and offer any information they may need regarding the web server or your website. You should also get an estimate of how long it would take for the problem to be solved.  6. Remain calm: this is tough to do but it is important to remember that website downtime can affect anyone and it is not the end of the world. Keeping calm is a great way to stay on top of the situation and resolve it quickly.  In Conclusion  A website is an integral part of a business's online success. Because of the great number of website downtime, it is imperative that downtime is dealt with swiftly to avoid long-term repercussions -loss of clients loyalty, the revenue.  Thankfully, major search engine websites like Google have put measures in place to help website owners mitigate SEO ranking damage by providing a way out. Read Also: What Makes A Good Mobile Website 7 Advantages Of Using Website Design Templates Winning Tactics To Build A Competitive Service Delivery Website

READ MOREDetails
IT Buzzwords

Riding The Wave Of Popularity: 7 Most Popular IT Buzzwords and What They Really Mean

IT has jargon that goes along with it, just like any other profession. As you become more familiar with it due to working in a professional IT setting, you will be able to better understand what is being talked about by your bosses and coworkers. With that in mind, let’s talk about seven of the most common IT buzzwords that you might encounter as you learn the ins and outs of the profession. 7 Most Popular IT Buzzwords Net Neutrality: You have probably heard a great deal about net neutrality in various contexts, but what exactly does it mean? Net neutrality refers to the notion that an internet provider or the government should treat all data on the internet the same way, regardless of what it contains or where it is going. The reason this matters is that without net neutrality, governments or companies can pay to prioritize their traffic. Personalization: Personalization in this context means customizing the information presented to the user of a product. It’s the reason that companies collect data from the people who visit their sites. Some see this practice as being useful because they enjoy targeted advertising, while others find it invasive. Machine Learning: Machine learning refers to artificial intelligence, as in computer programs having the ability to learn from data without being explicitly programmed to do it. The Google algorithm and its latest iteration is a perfect example of machine learning. By studying your behavior, the algorithm learns what search results you are likely to appreciate. Artificial Intelligence: Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a broad term that means intelligence being displayed by machines. It has long been the focus of science fiction writing going back to Isaac Asimov and other masters of the genre, who foresaw many of the scientific advancements that are becoming reality today. The ability of a machine to capture data, and to “learn” from it is seen as exciting by some people, and frightening by others. Actionable Analysis: Actionable analysis means the act of analyzing data which then leads a company to make decisions and take action. It is the sort of data analysis that can have real-world consequences depending on what action it leads the business in question to take. Data Mining: Data mining means the concept of discovering patterns from large amounts of data. Some people think that it means garnering information about individuals or groups based on their online movements, but this is incorrect. Big Data: Big data is a term that is often used to talk about amounts of data so massive that traditional software analysis techniques are insufficient or incapable of understanding it. This sort of data can tell companies about the people from which it was collected, but only if they know how to interpret it correctly. There are many more buzzwords that relate to IT, and you can learn all about them if you enroll in ITProTV’s IT training courses or one of the other popular ones online. IT is a fascinating, multifaceted industry, which is why so many people are getting into it these days. Read Also: 6 Software Technologies That Will Dominate 2018

READ MOREDetails
Disadvantages Of Synthetic Text-To-Speech

The Disadvantages Of Synthetic Text-To-Speech In Advertising

Speech to text conversion is commonly used in advertising as an alternative to using a real human voice. It works using technology that converts input text into speech that is designed to be as natural as possible. There are a lot of variants on the type of technology used, but overall the software tends to be very similar and fairly easy to get hold of for businesses who want to use it in their advertising. If you are considering using this modern software for your next advertising campaign, it’s definitely worth thinking carefully about. Despite it being somewhat cheaper than real human voiceovers, there are some pretty chunky downsides to be aware of. Let’s take a closer look at the disadvantages of synthetic text-to-speech in advertising: It Is Unlikely To Be Quicker Than A Professional Human Voiceover Many people think that a computer system will be a quicker way to get a voiceover when in fact the system used can be very time consuming and challenging to use correctly. It isn’t a simple process and there’s quite a lot of learning involved in order to get a good result. The Results Are Never As Natural As A Human Voice Despite the incredible advances in technology with AI voices, the result of text-to-speech technology is still pretty robot-like. The natural nuances of the human voice have still not been mastered when it comes to AI voice so if you do plan to use AI vocals for your advertising campaign it is important to know that it will be noticeable. People Don’t Like AI Voices 73% of people don’t trust AI voice technology and 71% of people prefer a human voice rather than a synthetic one. When it comes to your branding and message, that’s quite a big factor. Could an AI voiceover turn your audience off your advertising? Pronunciation Will Not Be Perfect If you’re wanting a clear message from your AI voiceover you may struggle with text-to-speech. Pronunciation is always a little bit off, which means your messaging may well be lost somewhat via the voiceover. Technology Is Still Young You may feel that soon enough there will be a way to use AI in text-to-speech advertising that is cheaper and quicker than a real voiceover. The problem is that great AI voice-overs are pretty far off. Technology has advanced a lot but nowhere near making it easier, quicker, and realistic compared to a human voice-over actor. Using text-to-speech advertising now means accepting its limitations. Pace Of Speech Is Unnatural The speech will be read as it is written when you use text-to-speech software. This means that there won’t be any natural pauses, hesitations, and silences as you would have with a professional voiceover actor. Companies offering text-to-speech software will advise you to add exaggerated pauses and paragraph breaks in your script to get around this issue. The fact is that this doesn’t sound dramatic or effective, it just sounds awkward because the AI voice can’t add the tone and intonation necessary to make those pauses make sense. Consider Using A Professional Voiceover Service If you want a natural, personality-filled, professional voiceover for your advertising, consider using a professional voice over agency. The costs compared to text-to-speech are surprisingly affordable, and the results are second-to-none compared to AI voices. It could be the perfect way to give your advertising the professional finish you’ve been looking for. Read Also: Tekmetric: Auto Repair Software and So Much More Key Marketing Tips To Gain More Customers For Your Health Care Practice

READ MOREDetails