Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"Backing up your computer is important enough that you shouldn't need a day dedicated to it, or a collection of deals on online backup services and hard drives, but that is exactly what today is. March 31 is World Backup Day 2011, which should serve as a reminder to backup your computer, smartphone, iPad and even the hard copy pictures and documents you have around the house."

I'm not entirely sure who decided today was World Backup Day - oh, looks like a few people from Reddit - but it's a great idea! People simply don't pay enough attention to the importance of backing up their data. Notebooks.com has a great collection of resources for the tools and services required for having a solid backup plan. Well worth the read!

I'm personally using Crashplan for my off-site backups now - what with Mozy jacking up my rates by 1309% and all - and a combination of a Windows Home Server, Windows Live Mesh, and a 2 TB external drive keep my data secure. How do you protect your precious data? Better yet, how do you protect the precious data of friends and family who don't know any better?

UPDATE: Yes, it's two World Backup Day posts in a row...what can I say, I really want you to all be backing up! :-)

"Your lifestream contains important data, but all those pictures, videos, documents, and blog posts are exposed to potential loss. Some web 2.0 services shut down without warning. Others are hacked. Sometimes data is lost from basic human error, or the intentional actions of a disgruntled employee. Don't put your lifestream at risk when there is a simple, easy, low cost way to back it up."

Backupify is an interesting service - it allows you to backup much of what you do online, slurping your data from Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Photobucket, and much more. They have plans to add YouTube account support, and others in the coming months. If you sign up for an account before December 31st, your account will remain free when they start charging for the service in 2010. Sign up now!