Where's your backup?
December 14, 1999
© 1999, Douglas E. Welch
When you need to talk to a tech support person about a computer
problem, I can almost guarantee that the first question out of
their mouth is "Where's your backup?" Making a backup, a secondary copy of your data, is one of the
most important aspects of basic computer maintenance, but so many
of us neglect it. It is only when we have a major crash and lose
data that we find out how foolhardy we have been. Thankfully,
now there is almost no excuse not to backup your data. If your
computer has access to the Internet there are several free or
inexpensive services that allow you to move data to a remote computer
to protect it.
The services below all work on the same basic principle. They
provide you with a certain amount of free hard disk space on their
servers that you can access via your web browser. Some of the
services also allow you to use your disk space to share sounds,
MP3 music files, pictures and other information with your friends.
Another big advantage is the ability to access your data from
any other Internet connected computer. This can help you when
you are traveling or if your main computer becomes totally disabled.
In my volunteer work as an Internet trainer at my local library I often deal with people who don't have their
own computer. Internet backup services allow them to make the
most of their library computer access.
 XDrive
XDrive is a free service that provides 25 megabytes (MB) of free disk
space and provides most of the services mentioned above, including
web browser access and file sharing. Additionally, Windows users
can download a free application that integrates their "X" drive
directly into their Windows desktop. Once this software is installed
they can access the "X" drive as easily as their hard disk or
floppy disk drive.
 
iDrive
iDrive is very similar to xDrive. You have the ability to make your
files public or private, share them with others and access them
from any computer. While it is less integrated with the Windows
Desktop, iDrive does provide software, called Sync, to help you
synchronize folders on your local hard disk with your iDrive.
For example, you could keep a folder called "BackUp" on your local
hard disk. Sync can then automatically synchronize all of these
files with you iDrive storage space, updating any changed files
as necessary. As with xDrive, Sync is a Windows-only solution
although Macintosh and Unix users can still access their space
using their web browsers.
Yahoo Briefcase
Yahoo Briefcase is designed for the less sophisticated user rather than those
looking for heavy-duty backup solutions. Only providing 10 MB
of space per user, Briefcase is more of a file sharing mechanism
than a backup service. Still, this is one more example of how
search engine/portal sites are trying to be all things to all
people. They continue to add services in an effort to draw more
users to their advertisers. If you are already a user of other
Yahoo services, this might be the place to start.
Other services
There are far more Internet backup sites than I can detail, but
here are 2 more services to check out. New services are being
created every day.
StoragePoint
@Backup
Even if you don't have a backup tape drive, your floppy drive
is broken or you have a floppy-less iMac, there is no longer any
excuse for not backing up your important data. These Internet
backup services could mean the difference between writing the
"Great American Novel" and losing it in a hard disk crash. Better
safe than sorry…especially when it is free!
Douglas E. Welch is a freelance writer and computer consultant
in Van Nuys, California. He also writes Career Opportunities, a weekly column on high-tech careers and A Gardener's Notebook. You can find more of Douglas' writing on his web page at: http://www.welchwrite.com/
He can reached via email at douglas@welchwrite.com
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