How to backup laptop
The laptop has literally replaced the desktop computer thanks to its high functionality and portability. In the same spirit, it has made data portability more efficient contributing to the big data revolution of this century. Every individual who deals with digital products, documents or works in an office has a laptop. And there’s a lot of data in these gadgets. Anyone who believes in the power of data and its value knows learning how to backup laptop is a fundamental skill to have. If anything were to happen to their laptop and crucial data gets lost, their world, your world, would come crashing down. But, of course, not every data on your laptop needs backing up.
Which data to back up
Essentially, junk files, downloadable materials, outdated documents, and anything you feel is not needed should not be backed up. They will just consume your storage space, and you need each byte for backing up crucial data. Original documents, artwork, music composition, business data, clients data, system data, are all nonreplicable types of data and they must be backed up, lest you lose them permanently should a disaster occur or your laptop gets stolen. However, the ultimate decision on what to back up lies with you.
Ways on how to backup laptop
Before learning how to backup laptop, you should know there are three major ways of backing up. These are using an external drive on your laptop, using a cloud storage service, and an online data backup service. For Windows 8 and above, the backup process is easy. Just open User File History and follow the prompts to back up either on a different drive in the laptop or an external drive. For online backup service, most of the process will be detailed by the company you select.
- External drive – Backing up your laptop through an external drive is the easiest and cheapest way of backing up small amounts of data. It is best for personal files, photos, videos, documents, system data, and any file you deem important. However, it becomes economically regressive as you back up large amounts of data owing to the large storage space. Furthermore, storing large amounts of data on a single drive increases the risk of losing such data in the event of perils such as theft or natural disaster. You can salvage such a situation by ensuring you use multiple drives and store them in different locations, but this will require retrieving them every time you want to update your back up making it cumbersome and inconvenient.
- Cloud storage service – While cloud storage service may not be considered as a backup method for your laptop, it may serve similar functions. Essentially, you open an account with a cloud storage service such as Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, or Gmail and sync it up with a folder on your laptop. Every document that you deem important will be saved on both your laptop and your cloud storage allowing you to retrieve such data should anything happen to your laptop. However, it does not offer restoration of data in case of data loss.
- Online data backup – If you need a full backup plan with extensive security features, more storage space, and an automatic backup process, then an online data backup service as AZBS IT should be your number one option. Not only do you get large storage space for your backup, but chances of losing your data are also minimized to almost zero owing to data geo-replication and redundancy that ensures multiple copies of your backup are available. The data restoration process is even simpler and seamless making your work much easier. Unlike onsite backup method which requires physical storage devices, online data backup service will save you the space and the cost of buying those devices and maintaining them. Regardless of whether you’re looking to backup just personal files, or your full business data, you will have more flexibility with cost and space with an online data backup service.
AZBS IT Consulting
AZBS IT has a proven track record in online data backup services and extensive experience in Data management solutions, expert IT consultants, cybersecurity, 24/7 maintenance, and monitoring, back up and disaster recovery. Not only do we pride ourselves in developing comprehensive IT solutions to meet business challenges, but we also help you grow and maximize profitability. Hire us at a fraction of the cost of hiring an in-house IT team and get the full suite of IT solutions.
