You might be wondering why you need to backup your files. What is the importance of having backup files? Are they really necessary? You might find backing up files or documents a tiring job but it is wise to do just that. It is one of the essential parts of the computing if you spend long periods of time on a computer doing documentation or saving up very important files for your business or work. There have been too many stories about users who have lost all of their important files from their computer because of computer crashes, virus infection and mistakes on saving the files. Without back up files, those corrupted important files are virtually non-retrievable.

Back up files are the duplicates or copies of your important files that are saved in a different location, external hard drive, flash disks or CDs. When you back up your files, you are storing them in a secure and safer location, away from damage and virus attacks and can be accessed anytime. In this manner, you are protecting your files from damage and corruption due to virus and Trojan attacks, misuse of the computer or file loss. Do not think that computer problems like that won’t happen to you.

You don’t need to back up the entire computer, mind you. You only do that when you are reformatting the computer or upgrading the operating system to a new version. However, there are many possible methods on how to back up your important files. The most common nowadays is the flash drives or USB. It’s a plug and play kind of device used to copy, save and transfer files from one computer to another. It can store numerous data depending on the capacity it can carry. CDs and DVDs are excellent methods for storing music, movies and important files from your computer. What’s more, CDs allow you to write or add more files in it making it a great storage for documents you will use for presentations and businesses. Also, it is not more likely to be destroyed if it is stored properly.

Another way to save copies of your data is through an external hard drive. An external hard drive is a portable hard drive used mainly for backing up large amounts of files, video presentations, movies and virtually anything you can transfer from your computer to the drive. Another method of saving file is uploading them online on a cloud computer or a virtual storage place. What it is, it is a site where you can upload and save you data and access and download them anytime in any computer. You can upload up to 10 gigabytes of information, depending on the site you are using and the service you got. If you use the site for free, you got lesser storage capacity compared to paid options but still, that free space is enough to save thousands of files you have on your computer. One example of cloud is dropbox.com. All you have to do is install their software and register and you’re on your way to saving your files on a virtual computer.