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Sunday, August 11, 2013

Back Up Your Information!

'Backing Up My Music Collection' photo (c) 2006, Dennis Brekke - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/"Have you backed up your information to the cloud or your computer?" questioned the AT&T customer service representative.  This after my iPhone was dropped in the Charles River last week.  (Read about it here: It's All Fun & Games Until Somebody Loses an iPhone).  

Numerous times I've heard this same question being asked by my technology support specialist.  Being a self-professed techie herein lies my biggest weakness - I just haven't paid much attention to "Backing up my information.   Why?  I'm sure it has something to do with the  "It will never happen to me!" mentality.

Well, I'll say it loud and clear to anyone who wants to learn from my mistake: BACK UP YOUR INFORMATION - pictures, contacts, calendars, documents, etc.  Anything you have on your computer, iPhone or tablet - if it's important to you - BACK IT UP!!!  Don't learn the hard way like I did.  When I dropped my phone in the river - there went all my family photos, my contacts (I can't even remember my own kids' numbers) and my calendar. Everything!!

Upon receiving a new phone - I immediately signed up to be in the "cloud" so that my data will hopefully, be safe in the event I need it.  I'm considering backing up my information manually as well (as I often wonder about Cloud security).

Resources:


What is Back Up? 

iOS:  How to Back Up & Restore

Android:  How to Back Up Your Android Smartphone to Your PC

Computer:  5 Ways to Back Up Your Computer


When was the last time you backed up your important information?? Or do you have a similar - "No Back Up" story like me?   (Hoping you don't!)

4 comments:

  1. Nice guide! Can you also write something on using Dropbox as a backup tool? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nancy,
    I'm sorry it did happen to you! What a bummer. You, my friend, though have turned it into a teachable moment for the rest of us. You are a master of gathering applicable resources. Thank you for sharing!

    Denise

    ReplyDelete
  3. Right on! At present, you show the importance of things by backing them up. Change your phone's settings. There's a feature there which automatically backs up photos as soon as they're taken. That's already one less worry and one less job for you. Ruby@Williams Data Management

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's best to have multiple backups for our files, especially the most confidential and important ones. After storing them in your computer, you can copy them to a removable storage device (e.g flash drives and CDs). I learned this when I forgot to back up the draft of my article four years ago. The publisher lost a copy too so I had to retype it. USBs have become my best friends since then. :)

    Manda Maldanado @ Scality.com

    ReplyDelete

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