How to: Back Up Your Hard Drive For Free

If anything can go wrong, it will. This means although it can be a bit tedious, we always need to backup our computers. Data backup is not only good practice; it’s an essential one. It may be a spanking new computer or a jalopy for the digital world, data backup is as important as a virus scan or keeping a firewall.

Think of all the files accumulated over the years.  One snafu and oops it’s gone. Good news is that data backup solutions can fill that gap for you. It’s out there’s easy and importantly, it’s free. One of the backup solutions is built right into your operating system, some of it is on the web and some can be provided by a kind friend.

The Basics:

The easiest and most accessible backup is obviously on another networked computer. Simple file sharing between two computers makes it a routine of copy and paste. Configuration is slightly different among the different systems (Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7). Native Mac backups or with a PC are also pretty much covered.

 Manual backups are like heavy duty lifting. Backup utilities like IdleBackup (Windows) and SilverKeeper (Mac OS X) automatically sync folders for you, relieving a lot of the work load.

1. Simple File Storage Sites

Cloud computing is upon us and so why not take a look at some online solutions. Of course, you can go for full system backups which are available at a premium. But we did mention “free” in the title. A lot of online file storage companies offer ample space for free though falling short of complete system backups. Backing up your stuff online thus calls for cherry-picking essential files and safekeeping them online.

Here are a few in the queue:

• Windows Live Skydrive: A total of 25GB for free with a per file size limit of 50MB.
• File Factory: 100GB of free storage with a 300MB file limit. Downer could be the slow speeds.
• Dropbox: For smaller needs.  Offers 2GB of free storage with neat file syncing features.
• Mozy: 2GB of free storage but with a handy Windows client that makes uploading a cinch.
• Orbit Files: 6GB but with limited choices.

2. Documents, Photos, Music and Videos

Yes, some of these websites do double over for file storage needs. You probably use them every day but never looked at them from this angle.

 - Docs: For your documents, why go any further than the trio of Google Docs, Office Live and Zoho.

 - Pics: For your photos, make your online accounts with Flickr, Snapfish, Picasa, Photobucket or Facebook.

- Tunes: For music, MP3Tunes, File Factory and Deezer sound really cool.