Posts Tagged ‘hard drive’

Are Disk Imaging Tools Reliable?

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

For most users of Disk imaging tools I’m sure they’d rather never know if their disk image is working correctly or not since it would mean that their PC had crashed or they needed to recover their data. It is something worth looking into though since it’s to late when you find out your disk image was bad after a crash occurs.

Knowing which disk imaging tool is best, and knowing how to check if it’s working properly are the simple steps to ensuring your backup is going to work A1 when you need it.

Choosing the Right Tool for the Image

There are a lot of software products that do disk imaging.The most popular is probably Norton Ghost, been out for quite a few years. It’s a product that’s been on the market for a long time, how ever in research I’ve done I’ve found many users stating the the images didn’t work well when they needed them.

There are more promising programs on the market such as Acronis True Image which have been providing customers with better success.

To learn more about this program specifically check out these Acronis True Image reviews.

Make Sure your Hard Drive Image Works

Using a program like Acronis creates a restore image, rather then just a regular image on disk.Instead of just being a image of everything on your system, Acronis creates a bootable disk that allows you to restore your computer back to the settings and setup it was at the time your image was made.What does this mean for you? well you don’t just get a backup of your files. You also get your system settings, registry, email, startup folder etc. all backed up in one easy to re-install place.

Testing your Disk Image

You might be 99.9% sure your image is good, but I’d suggest testing it even still to ensure everything works after you’ve created it. Why?Like I said earlier in the article if you don’t test what your backup software creates and just try it when things crash it’s not a good time to realize that some files or the media could be corrupt and unrecoverable.

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Reasons to use an Online Data Backup Service

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

Hackers, viruses, acts of nature — even a coffee cup is capable of destroying years of your precious data.Today often a lot of our dearest memories and possessions are stored in a digital format on a hard drive or memory storage device, you’d think that the majority of us would do anything to keep this data safe.

Not that I wish this on anyone but just for a minute think if your home caught fire and you lost your wedding and family photos, you could never get them back. How about if a thief broke into your house and stole your tax information for the last ten years from a file cabinet in your den?

The scary thing is that unless you are one of the people who have setup a back system on their home PC you could be leaving yourself open to this happening any day.

What exactly is Online Data Back?

An online data backup service is a private, secure storage solution for your most sensitive data.These programs and services connect with your desktop and provide a secure interface for you to transfer files and folders to a secure location online that is protected and watched over by PC security every day all day.Storing files this way is the online equivalent of a safe deposit box for your important documents, jewelery and other items.

Some of the most popular online data backup services are Carbonite and Mozy. The standard Carbonite or Mozy review will tell you that these services are well worth the price: they protect you and your family from the prying eyes of the internet and the unpredictability of home electronics.

Why should I use an online data backup service?

Because you value your privacy.You like to be able to know you can rest easy that professionals are watching over your important files and data.So you won’t be taking any chances that your personal information on your computer could be compromised.

Recovering data after a crash is very expensive, and usually isn’t successful.Of course the question has to be why would you wait until something is gone to try and restore it.Being a responsible PC owner and user requires you to be proactive about avoiding data loss and ensuring that important data is backed up for a rainy day via a proper online backup service.

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