When working from home in your SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) environment, one vital thing is to manage your backups.
Far too often, backups are left off until too late.
For example, last year Francis Ford Coppola had his laptop stolen, containing scripts, including a future project with Matt Damon. In one sad event, million-dollar ideas – gone.
That’s an extreme case, but it probably won’t take more than a minute or so to list a dozen files, that if you lost today would make the next week (or month) miserable.
So backups are vital.
However, a big problem in backups is convenience. Copying your files to a CD or DVD, checking they are correctly backed up, then storing them in a safe place (like a safety deposit box) is a good idea – but not easy to schedule or remember.
Online backups provide another solution. IDrive is an example of a free backup solution that makes sure your files are copied safely (and securely using encryption) to their system. And since they are located much farther than your safety deposit box, you’re looking at really REMOTE storage!
To use it, sign up and enter a user name and password. Once your account is set up, you can download their program (both for Windows, and now IDrive for Macintosh as well).
Running the program is straightforward. By default, it will arrange to backup some of your Windows folders (like the ‘My Documents’ folder) unless you turn off the option. You can choose to backup regularly, continuously (where the program keeps uploading as changes occur), or on a set schedule. Using the schedule feature is handy, since you can run the program late in the night, and do backups while the Internet is ‘quiet’.
Another useful feature is in the menu options, for testing upload and download speed. After the test, you’re told how long 1 Gigabyte will take to upload or download. I like this, since I’m not interested in calculating what 200kps means, and appreciate that they do the math for me – one more example of the ease of use with the program.
An optional tool, the IDrive Explorer, adds right mouse click features to Explorer, making it easy to add files and folders to the backup list, or even backup immediately. This is perfect if you have a file you want immediately offsite, or one that is not regularly scheduled for backup.
One security feature I liked is when you start the program, you are asked to provide an encryption key. While IDrive.com provides a default for this, I recommend you use your own, as this adds another layer of protection for you (although you MUST remember to keep that key in a safe place – lose it and your backups are lost as well).
As mentioned already, besides Windows they now offer Macintosh solutions. Since the Macintosh is getting more and more popular, this is a great option to make the transition easier – store your vital data with them from your Windows computer, then download it back to your Macintosh. Much easier than spanning disc copies.
All in all, I was impressed by the software included, and how it made backups simple to do. Especially for me, I tend to get somewhat neurotic when I’m working on a new project, and want to get backups offsite as soon as possible. I’m looking forward to using this more often, and getting files immediately backed up safely – and remotely.
Prices vary (from $4.95 a month for 150 gigabytes of personal use, to business accounts starting at $9.95). There is the free account with 2 gigs of space, so I recommend you sign up for it right away. From there, try out the program, and upgrade to the plan most appropriate for your backup needs.
But no matter which one you choose, don’t wait – make a plan to do backups regularly and comprehensively. You can open up a safety deposit box – or go a simpler route, and get on online backup service. Using IDrive, I found online backups were much easier – and I’m more likely to do them – the KEY to safeguarding your vital data in the home office!
