How do you protect your precious data??

In this day and age so much is done on the computer, files are saved, financial programs are run and emails are all residing on your computer hard drive. As a business owner I have to keep my records for several years in case they are ever needed by the IRS or anyone else. The problem is that computer hard drives come and go, so how do you back up all your important data and information?

I have taken precautions to back up my data here at home. I bought a fairly large external hard drive that is networked to all our computers. All my important info is on that drive in case one of my computers dies.. Anyway I have been thinking about other ways for save my data. If my external hard drive dies it would be a good idea to have back ups of those files elsewhere right? So, I also put my data on a CD periodically but what if we have a house fire or a break in?

Business owners have to think about these things because they are responsible for keeping their records accessible and safe for up to seven years. I did some research and found a number of different ways to back up your data.

Basically you should have a data backup on site (in your home or office) and you should always have an off site backup such as safety deposit box with CD backups or you can pay other companies to store your backups on their servers.

I found a company (IBackup) that does online backup of your data for as low as $9.95 a month. This is a good idea for anybody who has a website, blog or who stores important information on their computer or mobile device. I was most interested in the database backups they offer because my entire blog is a database with hundreds of articles. I cannot imagine loosing all that data!

Also, if you have a blackberry or other mobile device or if you have data that is accessed by many users in different locations IBackup is a great way to make your data accessible to anyone on any computer or device.

IBackup also thinks keeping your data safe and secure is the first priority! Their website describes their “world-class facilities are custom designed with raised floors, HVAC temperature control systems with separate cooling zones, and seismically braced racks. They offer the widest range of physical security features, including state-of-the-art smoke detection and fire suppression systems, motion sensors, and 24×7 secured access, as well as video camera surveillance and security breach alarms.”

If you are thinking about having your data stored off site in a secure yet accessible location you should consider using and online backup service such as IBackup. In these days everything is computerized and it’s better to be safe than sorry right?

What do you do to keep your data safe? I am interested in some other methods used by bloggers and business owners so please share them below!