Of all of the equipment in my home office, my laptop is the one piece that makes it easier for me to run my business.  While the only problems I’ve had with my laptop have been self-imposed, a computer can offer a few challenges that are easy to overcome.

Challenge #1: Storing too much information on your computer

You can store more data on your computer than in your file cabinets…great. But that doesn’t mean that your hard drive won’t fill up as quickly as your cabinets, which makes it difficult to find the files you need.

Solution:

Dump the files on your hard drive the same way you would the papers in your file cabinets. If you know you won’t refer to a file again, delete it. Otherwise, you’ll waste too much time searching through files you don’t need, to find the ones you do need.

Challenge #2: Being vulnerable to losing data

A computer is easy to replace, but data, not so much.

Solution:

Don’t wait until your computer crashes to think about backing up your data.You never know when your computer is going to give out or in my case, crash to the ground. One of the best investments you can make is in a reliable backup system. Whether you use a manual system or a virtual backup system, keep in mind that data can be time-consuming and even impossible to replace.

Challenge #3: Using slow, outdated equipment

If you total the amount of time you waste waiting for your computer to process, you may find minutes quickly turning into hours. Can you afford to waste that much time?

Solution:

After you take the time to figure out how much time you’re wasting while waiting to download files, print documents or process data, you’ll realize it’s time to upgrade your equipment. Computer prices drop daily and good deals are easy to find. Bizrate is one of my favorite sites to compare prices.

What computer challenges have you faced and how have you handled them?

SugarSync is one way to store you data virtually

You’d think that after I drowned my computer a few weeks ago, I would have moved on. For the most part, I have, but I still can’t help reminding everyone I know about how important it is to backup information often. In another guest blog post, Chelanie Israel shared tips for backing up data. Another way to back up data is through virtual drives.

Guest post by Chelanie Israel

I’m asked often about virtual drives. Do they work and are they worth it?

A few questions

The questions you have to answer before you can determine whether a virtual drive solution will work for you are:

1. What are you backing up on the virtual drive?
2. How much space do you need?
3. Are you going to backup manually or use software?
4. How much do you want to spend?

The cost of online space

Online space can get very pricey. If you are backing up just the basics: your address book, calendars, accounting data, passwords and settings, online storage is very cost affordable. If you are using less than 5 gigs, you can sign up for quite a few services for free.

If you need more than 125 gigs of space over a year, virtual storage is probably not something you want to consider, unless you need the comfort or ease of not having to move a drive someplace else. You also need to verify that the service you are using fits your requirements.

The difference between backup and online storage

Virtual storage is a good solution, but only if you use it effectively. When looking for an online solution, you need to know the difference between backup and online storage. Carbonite, Mozy and iDrive are backup sites, not virtual storage.

DropBox, Box, MobileMe, Huddle and SugarSync are virtual storage. The difference is virtual storage allows you to access your files from multiple devices ( i.e. computer, iPad, internet access). Most online backup drives do not. Instead, they work with a single computer.

Whichever way you decide to backup your data, it’s important to take steps to protect your information.

Chelanie Israel, aka Miss Mac, has worked with Apple Computer since 1986. She worked for Apple for 16 years, Adobe for 9 years and has worked with Intel, View Sonic, and Sling Media as well as many other leading technology companies as a vendor representative over the last 20 + years.

Guest Post By Chelanie Israel (aka Miss Mac)

Clients often come to me after their hard drive or archive drive has died and when I ask them if they have backup, they give me a “No, of course not…why do you think I came to you?” look.

I can’t stress back up enough.

How often do I backup? Every day, every week, and anytime I’m doing something I don’t want to lose. For me, that’s everything.

I keep three copies of everything and sometimes four if it’s something I just can’t live without (i.e. my client database, the things that help me do my job: passwords, settings, Quickbooks, and the projects I’m currently working on).

Keeping Data Safe

Some of the things that I do to keep all of my data safe is:

• Replace my drives every two years. Why? Because a hard drive is just like an engine. When it gets to total time it will crash. The average life span of a drive is 3-5 years if you use it like a normal person. If the drive is being worked 7/24 (most servers, web servers, and backup drives) cut the life span in half. So replace those drives every year-and-a-half to two years to keep your data safe. I get a new drive and copy the data to the new drive. Then I keep the old drive as my second copy. When I get to the third generation…then I consider deleting the data, but usually just stick it in the safe.

• Back up often. TimeMachine will backup once an hour. It keeps 24 hours of hourly backups, and then it keeps one backup a day for 30 days and then a weekly backup until the hard drive is full. When my drive is full, I replace it. Then when I’m ready to replace it again, I take the old drive and erase it for use again. (Be sure to write the original date of service on it so you can replace it appropriately.) This gives me 6 months of backup that I can go back to at any given time.

• Manually backup once a week on another drive. These drives become my archive drives. They don’t get erased until I feel like the data will no longer be needed. In my business, that’s never. But you know how long the information you need should be kept.I also backup to an offsite server once a week, or whenever I feel like I have something I can’t afford to lose. If it will take more than two hours to recreate, I back it up offsite. For the average person, that’s an external drive that you can swap every couple of weeks somewhere offsite. Great offsite storage ideas are relatives, a safety deposit box, friends or a virtual drive.

• About every 3 weeks, check my backups. I check a few documents, my calendars, etc. to make sure that they are working in the old format. That way if something happens, I can go back and rebuild if I have to.

Archiving Information

Archiving information is not the same as backing up information. Remember, you have to backup your archives just like you backup your current data. You just have to decide how long to keep backup of your archives.

If you are going to keep your data for a long time, you might consider investing in a fireproof safe to store your backup drives. Of course it’s a great idea to have a copy of your backup drives locally and a copy somewhere else as well, in case of disaster.

If you are using a Mac and you have 10.5 or 10.6 it’s as easy as getting an external drive and plugging it in. If you are using a windows machine, almost all external drive comes with some type of backup software and if they don’t, hit Google.

There’s always manual backup, which I suggest you do even if you have back up software on the important and mission critical data. Mission critical is something that if you don’t have, it would make staying in business hard or impossible. It’s always good to have a minimum of two copies and three is better. Why, because there is always a chance of corruption in your backup.

Virtual backup is another option. In part 2 of this post, I’ll share tips about virtual drives.

Chelanie Israel, aka Miss Mac, has worked with Apple Computer since 1986. She worked for Apple for 16 years, Adobe for 9 years and has worked with Intel, View Sonic, and Sling Media as well as many other leading technology companies as a vendor representative over the last 20 + years.