Laptops are more prone to damage, being lost or stolen due to their mobility. Most users don’t realize the risks involved with carrying around a laptop and its only too often they won’t have their data backed up. This post provides some information on laptop backups for the business and home user.

How to backup a laptop to protect data

There are various methods that can be used to take data off a laptop to have it stored in a safe place. I’ve already posted that you should make sure to encrypt data on a laptop but you should also ensure your backups are encrypted to eliminate the risk of data comprise.

So with encryption in mind some of the following methods could be used to perform a backup of a laptop:

• Use a USB storage device such as a hard drive or flash drive (fully encrypted)
• Have the laptop synchronize automatically with a central server every time it connects to the network
• Use a reliable online backup service that performs automatic backups

At this point we’ll not recommend using DVD’s or CD’s for backups simply because they are unreliable and it’s a more manual process with rotating discs for newer backups.

Which data backup solution to use for laptops?

So we have only given 3 examples of different backup methods for laptops so which ones would actually be applicable to you? Let’s split this into the business user & the home user:

Backups for business laptops

You only need to read the likes of Data Breach to discover some of the causes on how companies loose data, USB flash drives being a major factor in a lot of cases. A USB drive is easily lost or even stolen so it doesn’t eliminate the risk of losing data; it’s actually more of a risk. Also, you need a secure storage facility to store the external drives as having an employee take a backup home is unacceptable practice.

A good setup for a company to have is to ensure the laptop synchronizes with the office server every time it connects to the company network. Any data saved on the laptop should be transferred directly onto the server so that it can then be taken offsite as part of a business-wide backup.

Unfortunately not every company can afford the above suggestion or simply of the technical resources available, this is where reliable online backups step in.

Performing laptop backups for home users

Personal owners of laptops shouldn’t be treated any different than a business laptop user as both types of people use and interact with laptops in the same way i.e. going mobile. The same thing happens to personal laptops as it does with business laptops such as experiencing system crashes, being misplaced or stolen.

Unfortunately not every home user can afford to have a server or use a online backup provider and in most cases a USB hard drive or USB flash drive will be an efficient method to protecting against data loss.

Don’t forget to encrypt your data

If you use a laptop for business or personal reasons ensure you use encryption on the notebook but also on the backups. These pointers are part of some helpful laptop security protection tips.