Have you backed up your computer lately? If you are like me, the majority of your "PA life" is on your computer... notes, e-text books, audio recordings, resume, cover letters, fun pics documenting the year, etc... What would you do if you couldn't turn on your computer tomorrow? Personally, I'd cry. I bring this up because it happened to a couple of my classmates in PA school and I felt horribly for them. I think it only makes it worse when people say after the fact that they should have backed it up. Ha. Hindsight is 20/20. SO, here is my pitch to you to back your stuff up NOW.
If you have a Mac - life is easy. You just need an external drive that is bigger than your hard drive and Time Machine does all the hard work. You just need to remember to plug it in! It even reminds you every 10 days that you haven't backed up in a while.
Pro of Time Machine: it backs up your entire computer, including your operating system
Con of Time Machine: you are reliant on an external hard drive - if that fails - you're out of luck
If you have a PC or would like an alternate to Time Machine there are some online back up systems available. Carbonite, Mozy, Centurylink are a few of the more popular ones. I suggest Googling them to see which one fits your needs/budget.
Pro: Runs in the background and constantly keeps things up to date. File accessible from iPhone/iPad, etc.
Con: Cost. Carbonite runs about $153 for a 3 year subscription. Security. Each of these companies say that their information is super secure, but it is alway a little weird to give all of the information from your computer to an outside entity.
The last alternative is to back up your most beloved files on a CD or DVD.
Pro: Cheap.
Con: Limited space unless you use lots of CDs/DVDs to back up. Can be wasteful if you are changing your files regularly.
I am in no way, shape, or form receiving financial reimbursement from any of the online storage companies that I mentioned in this blog. Just some suggestions.
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