RSS
Home
How to avoid paying an arm and a leg to restore your data after a system crash?
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
The answer is simple: back up your data. Most users do not think about backing up their systems until it is too late, after the system has crashed. To retrieve data from the machine costs in the vicinity of buying a new pc: anywhere between $400 for Geek Squad (this is if they were able to get to the data) to $1500 for On Track.
If you are really lucky and computer savvy you might be able to use a standalone application such as ERD commander or Bart PE to get to the data off your machine. Keep in mind that this is only the case where your hard drive is still spinning.
The backup software available is split between online backup and local backup to an external hard drive, another pc on the network, or a CD/DVD. Norton offers a standalone service branded Norton Online Backup that allows a user to backup 25GB to Norton’s servers for a price $49.99 per year. One can add 10, 25, 50, or 100GB of storage for $29.99, $49.99, $79.99, and $149.99. The two most attractive features of the interface are: the application is mostly browser based and allows up to five PCs on a single account. Other vendors, Carbonite and MozyHome Online Backup, charge $54.95 a year and $4.95 a month ($59.40 yearly), respectively. SOS Online Backup, the PC Magazine’s top choice, offers more features and costs $49.95 yearly for a mere 15GB.
Software such as the Backup Vault works on a different principle and backs up data to a local folder, local drive, local area network, remote share, email address, or any FTP server, on a schedule, and costs £13.49. The most popular software in this category is Norton Ghost . The application is available for $69.99 that provides features such as copying recovery points to a FTP site for easier offsite backup management, backing up your files to network-attached storage devices, and is able to trigger incremental backups whenever ThreatCon reaches a specified threat level.
What is the best option? This is will be up you as the end user to decide. A local backup application requires a onetime purchase fee, while an online application carries a monthly or a yearly fee and is at mercy of the company’s wellbeing and server health.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
1. Rebooting is your friend and not your enemy Most users have an ingrain fear of rebooting their PCs. The misconception here is that the PC …
With the release of the new Android operating system, a debate arose as to which is better Windows Mobile OS or the Android since, for example, HTC …
