The list of things that can go wrong with
computers is so long it's a wonder anyone trusts them at all.
At the same time, more and more people are using their computers
to store critical information about their lives, from painstakingly
compiled genealogical data to original manuscripts to difficult-to-replace
financial data.
Prudent computer owners always have backup
devices to save such information. But storage options have
evolved to match today's advanced desktop and laptop machines.
As a result, the days of using floppy discs
or even external zip drives have given way to high-capacity
CD-recordable – and now DVD-recordable – drives.
But even with these new technologies, you
can still lose everything if, say, a fire damages your house.
The solution: a new wave of backup services that move sensitive
data out of your house entirely. These online services use
a high-speed connection – such as a digital subscriber
line (DSL) or cable modem – to move your information
to massive data warehouses.
Users can gain access to their stored information
with a few clicks of a mouse. All data transfers are encrypted
to ensure your privacy.
For users of the popular QuickBooks financial
package from Intuit, the QuickBooks Online Backup service
is available (www.quickbooks.com/services/backup). This service
is offered in three tiers:
• A $79.95-a-year service that stores
up to 100 megabytes (MB) of Quickbooks/Quicken-related data.
• A $14.95-a-month "Premium" service
that stores about 4 gigabytes (GB) of data, and allows users
to select which files and directories they want to back up.
• A $19.95-a month "Premium Plus"
service. This option is limited to 10GB of data. Also, the
program does not allow for selective back-ups, so if your
hard drive holds more than 10GB of information, as many new
computers do, this service won't work for you.
An alternative with more options: iBackup.com
(http://www.ibackup.com/). This service has storage
levels that run from 50MB (about 10 MP3 songs or 100 digital
photos) for $3 per month to 100GB for $800 per month.
While iBackup charges more than Quickbooks
for the same storage, it also has a number of nice features,
such as making your online-backup space look like another
disk drive on your PC.
You can also set up multiple sub-accounts,
so that you can back up important information from your computer
as well as your children's, without the two mixing together.
iBackup can also send you a CD-ROM copy
of your backup, so that you can restore your system if it
gets totally wiped out ($19.95 per 680MB CD).
For those not ready to buy, both Quickbooks
and iBackup offer 30-day free trials.
• James Turner is a computer consultant
and freelance technology writer.
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