This doesn’t just apply to small business owners…it applies to us all if we value our data.
A few years ago my computer crashed and I lost all my data.
Photos…documents…gone forever!
And I hadn’t backed any of it up.
So they were really gone forever.
I purchased an external disk drive and started to regularly backup my data.
Each Friday I would backup my data. I was happy.
Then the external disk drive started ‘playing up’. Sometimes, it would not load up.
I thought the drive was on its way out i.e. becoming faulty.
I certainly didn’t want to lose my data again so I purchased another external drive…now I was backing up my data to 2 external drives. It was taking ages to do.
You cannot be too careful when it comes to your valuable data!
As a small business owner who provides blogging services, I am trusted to build and change business websites. My clients trust me. They provide access and I go in and change things.
Of course, I back things up before I start making changes.
But an external drive is not good enough if I am responsible for client’s data while making the changes.
Can you imagine if I deleted a whole website by mistake and I could not retrieve the backed up data!
Now I have gone one step further.
My PC data is now automatically stored off line via a facility called Jungle Disk.
The first time I backed up everything from my PC, it took 5 days.
Now each day, any changes on my pc – whether I add data or delete any data – it is automatically backed up and stored off site in a secure and robust environment. All in the background. I don’t even know it is happening.
I no longer have to worry about my data.
How much does it cost?
$3 plus 15c per GB of data per month.
I think that is worth paying for.
If you value your data, whether you are a small business owner or not, Jungle Disk is worth checking out.
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Andrew is a website builder and helps small businesses with their on-line presence…so they can grow their customer list and increase sales. That’s it! That’s what we do each and every day.
Hi Andrew,
If a Blogger like you is using JungleDisk then off course it would be a credible service.
But I am still using an external Hard Drive to back up my data.
I was just concerned about external drives. Using them is certainly better than having no backup process in place.
I feel a little more secure using an off site storage facility.
Andrew
Losing all the data would be a nightmare, that’s for sure. I have been doing regular backups as well, especially on external drives. But your recommendation is worth checking out, especially when I need to manage multiple sites at once. Will have a look at Jungle Disk as recommended. Thanks Andrew and keep us updated with the quality of this service from time to time.
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
Ching Ya
Of course there are numerous other facilites as well as Jungle Disk. I just like the simple set-up and it works in the background.
Andrew
This is an OUTSTANDING tip!
Everyone knows they should be doing this but the majority of even the smartest people won’t out of sheer laziness. Yep. I said it. Laziness.
That includes me and my business partner who’s blown up two computers and lost pretty much everything TWICE.
By learning from his example I started storing all my writing projects I was working on in folders I have on dropboxdotcom.
Just by clicking ‘save’ in word or excel I would not only have a copy of my files on my computer, but also in the cloud that I can access from any computer on the planet that has access to the interwebz.
I like your jungle disk idea also for helping me keeping everything else on my puter safe from computer burnout.
Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention!
Lewis
You are welcome – I hope it makes you take some action!
Andrew
Dear Andrew –
Sounds very important.
Question –
When you maintain a blog for your clients on a monthly basis, do you back everything up or is that a separate service?
Corinne
That is a separate service. That is where I backup your blog data to secure servers.
Andrew
I trust YOU so I will glance. I do however have serious security/trust issues with any/all facilities like this.
Dennis
Yes I understand what you are saying but these guys are very reputable and are part of RackSpace.
Andrew
I Haven’t heard much of RackSpace either…on the list of what to research. 🙂
Dennis
RackSpace are a big name in the hosting world. But I understand if you have not heard of them.
Andrew
Ah yes OK, starting to sound a little familiar. Honestly though, I’ve never looked much past Hostgator.
Sounds like a good idea, I don’t feel safe at this point… Very vulnerable. Thanks for sharing.
Ben,
You are welcome. Hope all is well.
Andrew
Hello Andrew,
I didn’t have a trouble with any of my hard disks, and I hope I don’t because I don’t have any of my sensitive data backed up. I can only imagine the horror of having an hardisk failure or something similar, it would take me ages to rebuild all my data back.
Hmm, you really have me concerned now, I think I’ll backup the most important parts of my data on my stick. I know it won’t manage to store all my data, but at least the important stuff.
I know that jungle disk certainly deserves its money if you ever happen to get your data lost on your local hard disk. I also had thoughts of trying ubuntu one (for my ubuntu), which is something similar with jungle.
The prices seem pretty low too, and I think the important data on my hard is priceless.
Alex,
I agree with your comments. Hence…me taking some action. And for such a small amount of dollars…you have nothing to lose…unless you don’t take action!
LOL.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
I’ve never heard of Jungle Disk before. Usually I back up my files using external hard drives, which is good but can be troublesome if you have lots and lots to back up.
Thanks for sharing!
Felicia
I also got to that stage – it was taking so long to back up and I had to remind myself to do it. It was becoming a chore.
Hence…the move to Jungle Disk.
Andrew