Data Security

School...work...play... all of the above. Our computers have become an integral part of our daily lives in the 21st century. They are our calculators, our messengers, our televisions, and our teachers. With so much added responsibility to these devices it's no surprise that we keep our most precious items in digital format on them as well. Pictures, videos, and music comprise some of the most difficult to obtain, expensive, and sometimes even priceless data stored onto a computer for all of us. Though this is true, many of us fail to have any backup solution to ensure that these items are "safe" and able to be restored in the event of a system failure or data loss.
Below I have listed a few key points to address when selecting a backup solution as well as a few options that seem to work well.

1. Storage Amount - You've got to make sure there is enough backup space with your backup solution of choice to hold the data that you would like backed up.
2. Scalability - The question here is as follows: Can the solution be changed to adapt any change in my backup needs? Will the solution allow you to add more storage later on? Will it allow you to add another computer? Will it allow you to add other computing devices such as cellular devices?
3. Backup Type - There are two main types of backups. The first is a full backup of the entire system. This would copy EVERYTHING. The other type copies files and settings in the documents and settings locations listed inside of each profile of windows. On a more technical note, traditional backup solutions do not backup programs at all. There are solutions out there that will image, take a snapshot, of the entire hard drive of the computer, but this is not normally the case.
4. Security - Does the solution scan the data to make sure that viruses and spyware aren't backed up? Beyond that, it is important to make sure that your data is encrypted or at least password protected so that personal items stay personal.
5. Cost - The cost of each solution has to fit into your budget. A regular backup solution is important to have, so the cost of your solution must be one that you can afford to maintain.