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8 Ways to Back-Up Your Computer (and Keep Your Stuff Safe)

by Terrence O'Brien on February 26, 2009 at 02:01 PM


Online options

Online file storage solutions are becoming increasingly popular and are an excellent option, especially if you want to share files between several PCs. Some Internet storage solutions are used without ever leaving your Web browser, while others add themselves to My Computer like they're just another hard drive. Still others install small apps that work in your computer's background, syncing your data to the Web without you ever having do a thing.

Depending on the scale of your backup plans, we suggest going with either Mozy or Dropbox for your online storage needs. If you're only backing up small amounts of important data, then Dropbox's free 2-GB of storage can't be beat. While it won't let you back up your music collection, it's more than enough for office documents and a few hundred photos. Dropbox has downloadable clients for Linux, Windows, and Mac that will sync anything you put in your Dropbox folder with an unlimited number of PCs, and you can even access files from your iPhone. Dropbox does offer a premium plan that allows you to sync 50GB of data for $9.99, but if you need that much storage, then go with Mozy.

MozyHome offers a similar 2GB for free plan for Windows and Mac only, without any Web or iPhone access. What sets Mozy apart is its $4.95 unlimited data plan, which is by far the cheapest we've seen. We think that's a small price to pay for some computing insurance with no bounds.

Whatever option you choose, this off-site method of backing up your data will keep everything safe, even if your house burns to the ground.

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