By Bill Zeilinger
In my business as a graphic/web designer, the diligent and consistent backing up of my files is an absolute necessity.
Technology is a wonderful thing. We can store our business files, web page content, letters, family photographs, videos, music, mailing lists, phone contacts, homework, genealogy and more on a desktop or notebook computer. Many of us have invested in large external hard drives to store and back up all of our information in the event of a computer crash. The capacity of these drives has grown from a few gigabytes to several terabytes (that means a really, really large amount of storage space). BUT… these devices are really no more reliable than the hard drive in your computer. They can break, burn out, crash and die. When this happens, your irreplaceable information is lost.
Services that rescue the information from a damaged or dead hard drive are very expensive, and depending on the damage to the hard drive, you may not be able to get it all back.
For now, the best solution is to copy all your files onto CDs or DVDs. Since these are optical media, they can be stored indefinitely and will not degrade like magnetic tapes or disks. A stack of CDs or DVDs is relatively inexpensive. If you have never done this before, the process may take a few hours, but losing business information can be painful and potentially very expensive. If you use paper or plastic sleeves instead of hard plastic cases they will take up less space in a cabinet or drawer. Better yet, store them in a small metal tackle box to grab and go in the event of an earthquake, fire or other disaster. Back up or be sorry.
Bill Zeilinger is a graphic/web designer and owner of Those Designers in Signal Hill since 1980. He can be reached at (562) 427-6742.
