Thread: Schedule Automatic Hard-Drive Backups

Backing up your critical files is as exciting as purchasing home insurance, but it's just as important, too. Don't risk losing irreplaceable photos by making empty promises that you'll burn a couple of DVDs every few months. Instead, set up software and services to do the job for you while you concentrate on more-exciting projects.
First, avoid an "OMG my hard drive crashed!" catastrophe, by using a program such as the free SyncBack, which can schedule regular backups to your favorite external storage device-external hard disk, thumb drive, or network drive. (If you have FTP-server access, most apps can automatically back up to that as well.)



Of course, local backup isn't enough. To protect your data against fire, lightning, theft, or other disasters, you need to back up to a remote server over the Internet. Both Carbonite and Mozy Home offer affordable unlimited server space and utilities that quietly back up your data in the background while you work.