Backups

It is always a good idea to back up vital material. Attach a file to an e mail and send it to yourself. Or save that vital file to a flash RAM or an external hard disk. An external hard disk is a case that holds a hard disk, of what ever size you want or can afford.

Just before Christmas 2009 my computer started to crash. It had been thinking about it for a few days. I had saved essays to my e mail address, to a flash RAM and to an external. So when my computer fell over just before an essay had to be handed in it was not quite as catastrophic as it could have been.

I have a collection of externals and they are very useful for long term storage. Computers do fall over (crash), sometimes they get stolen. If you have all the vital information on an external you can get started again relatively painlessly. If you are saving an essay give it a new name each time...ie the date and the time it was saved. Then it is easy to identify the most recent version.

Flash RAMs can have a big capacity these days. Currently I am using a 16Gb flash RAM. I have a collection of external hard disks ranging from 6Gb to 320Gb. I prefer the 2 1/2 inch hard disks as they go into a notebook or a netbook. I do have a 3 1/2 inch external hard disk, but it is a bit on the big size. A 2 1/2 inch external will fit into your pocket.

Save your vital data or you may well regret not doing so !