Back up your data!
Have you ever had a computer crash? Have you ever lost all your data?
Now, imagine it's not just your own personal data, but all your client information, notes, billing information, practice financial information .... not a pleasant scenario.
If you are running a business, and I think you are, then you absolutely must back your data. If you are like most of us, you may think that you will remember to do this, but you probably won't. So an automatic, "hands-free" back-up plan is best.
Not only that, but think about the reasons you are backing up.
- You want to protect yourself in case your computer crashes.
- You want to be safe in case of fire or other destruction of your computer.
- You want to be able to retrieve data under any scenario where it may have been lost
Manual backups, meaning back-ups onto DVDs, can work but quickly add up to a growing pile of DVDs that have sensitive data on them. You can't keep them in the same place where your computer is, because of the fire scenario. And you have to remember to do the backups on a regular basis.
External hard drives can be configured to manually back-up, but again, you have the fire scenario. So either you have an automatic back-up with an external hard drive in your same location (bad in case of fire) or you have to cart it back and forth (not going to be automatic).
What to do? I use an online backup service. I know some of you may think this is not secure, so please, read on. I researched many companies before deciding on FirstBackup for my online backup system. It is double encrypted (more on that in a moment) and HIPAA compliant. They will sign a HIPAA Business Associate agreement with you, which is vital for standard of practice.
Double encryption means that they don't even have the password to your data. This turns out to be a very big deal. When I was researching companies, I was amazed to find that many of them, in the fine print, said that they would have to comply with any subpoenas for data stored on their computers. You never know who might be clever enough to subpoena in such a way, but with FirstBackup it doesn't matter. They cannot comply, because they don't have the access. (Of course, if you are subpoenaed, it's a different story, but that's under your control and with your full knowledge.)
What I like is that I can schedule nightly backups of both my home and office computers, and know that the process is happening without further effort on my part. This is vital to me, because I do so much on the computer. My office is nearly paperless, and my client files are completely paperless. This is a wonderful thing, but it means that backing up is absolutely imperative.
I should also mention that several years ago my home computer's hard drive just died one day. There was no fixing it, no data recovery possible. So I bought a new computer, and was very happy to find out the FirstBackup did a great job of restoring all my data. It took a little "babysitting" because there was so much data, but their technical support department was very helpful. About the only negative thing I can say is that their technical support is only available during the week, Midwest time. But they answer the phone and are extremely knowledgable and helpful.
So my recommendation is FirstBackup. They have a free 15 day trial. Please check them out for yourself, and make your own decision. I think you'll be impressed.
Backup your system with FirstBackup
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