How to Back Up Important Computer Files

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By Tylana Coop
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Do you back up your computer files?

What would happen if you lost access to all of your important computer files? Do you have your computer files backed up in case of an emergency or unforeseen computer crash? Computer viruses, equipment malfunctions, natural disasters, and accidents due happen, often more often than we may think about them. Read this article to learn how to protect and back up your important computer files.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Step 1

Buy a USB flash drive. These little convenient thumb-sized drives can help you store some of your important work at a small price. As an alternative, use a different type of media storage drive or card.
Step 2

Use your optical drive to burn your files to blank CDs or DVDs. If your computer goes down, you'll have your photos, documents, and music stored for easy access.
Step 3

Store your files in the "cloud." Use free services (restrictions may apply) such as Google Docs, Picasa Web Albums, Drop Box, Box, or Ubuntu One to save your files outside of your computer. You'll be able to download them later should an emergency occur.
Step 4

Print out selected document files to paper and store them in a file cabinet. Should your computer go down, you'll be able to locate them there.
Step 5

Take advantage of your computer or operating system's automatic back-up file services, if available. This way you'll have more than one copy of your important computer files.
Step 6

Back up your files on an external hard drive or secondary computer. This is a smart way to protect both your time and vital data.

Comments

link82 said

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on 11/23/2009 Really good information. My laptop crashed and I doubt I'll recover my hundreds of photos on there. Good things I saved a few on my PS3 and external hd.

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