There are many potential causes of data loss for all computer users ranging from the casual home user who just does a bit of occasional surfing and the odd bit of Photoshop, too the computer super users and computer aided design experts. Typically data loss can occur when a computer starts to experience boot up problems.

If you have been here before then at least you will have a vague or depending on your experience a deeper level of knowledge here, but for many potential data loss scenarios are a new computing horror to overcome, so what typically should we be looking out for?

Computer starts up but never reaches the login window: When this happens there are a number of potential problems that can be to blame, these range from hardware issues relating to the hard disk drive, down to driver incompatibility or the loss of important system files. Sometimes the problem can be resolved by booting up in Safe Mode, however, not always.

Computer starts to become slow: When we first get our new computer there is very little on it when it comes to programs and games for example, and over time the operating system due to the way it is designed becomes cluttered. Registry repair utilities can help operating system problems but data loss is always a risk. In extreme circumstances a total ODS re-install is the best option.

Pc virus, malware and spyware: Pc virus and other, malevolent applications can cause untold data loss and problems if not handled in the correct manner from the outset. Boot sector viruses and others will first start to be noticeable when you Pc starts behaving strangely so be on your guard.

So we come back to how we handle a problem when it arises. How do we prevent data loss when we inevitably have to reinstall our current operating system or upgrade to a new one?

The answer to preventing data loss is incredibly simple: backup, backup, backup. You would however be simply amazed at how many computer users at home or work fail to follow this simple protocol when backup today is so simple.

External hard drives can be purchased in most computer shops now days and a quick search online for online backup will also give you a number of remote back up options.

So what’s the answer when the data loss monster has knocked at your door? Well if you truly cannot afford to lose data, take out the hard drive from the machine and replace it with a new device for the reinstall. This leaves you the option of professional help if all else fails.

You can find more great advice on remote data backup and USB data recovery here.

But your photos, documents, and other files can be protect with a great option of safe media free storage. Web Attached Storage can protect and store your personal information in a location other than your home, office, or on that USB stick in your pocket.

Although files on your computer are safe from many threats, there is still a chance of fire or flood, or a computer–generated disaster, like hard disk failure, virus, worms or trojans damaging the files that hold your data. Digital data is expensive, difficult, and time consuming to recover and sometimes, impossible.  And if you have a laptop computer or netbook theft is a very real danger.

A inexpensive and practical solution is Web Attached Storage. Your files are encrypted and transferred for storage to keep your data private, but accessible by you. Additionally, accounts are password protected.

There are some key items to think about when using Web Attached Storage. Some guidelines include:

Continuous Backup

The more often you backup your files, the less likely you will lose information. The best Web Attached Storage services have network drive and synchronization features.

Have multiple copies

Although Web Attached Storage is secure, it’s also just common sense to keep the originals on your computer.  Thus making it easier to simply synchronize changes to your Web Attached Storage.

Make your files findable

Archiving data is useless if you can’t find that data later. Web Attached Storage mirrors your existing folder/file structure. To do so is a smart business decision.

Passwords are your secret key

Web Attached Storage requires your personal password to be accessed. Always keep your account name and password private so your files can’t be compromised.

You don’t want to have to reconstruct banking data, bemoan the loss of family photos, tax returns, and important documents. And getting to this data from anywhere is a key element of being able to beat the competition. Data to consider synchronizing to Web Attached Storage include:

Photographs

Home Movies

Audio Files

Financial Records

Word Documents

Documentation

Email Archives

Web Attached Storage has advanced beyond online backup to provide features like synchronization and network drive while protecting your data.

Which Web Attached Storage product do we like?  We particularly like the features, cost, and reliability of OPENRSM CloudBackup.  It gives a great balance of features that go further than online backup that is particularly cost effective.  We can’t say enough good about it.

We get bloggers questions all the time… The most common one is “How do I backup pages on Squidoo?”.  So being the techno geeks we are, we saw some documentation about a great plugin for Firefox titled ScrapBook.  We downloaded it, tested it, and gave it a real workout. And you know what? This works for every social website we surfed!

ScrapBook is a good way to keep all that data you have on any number of sites organized with a local copy that your backup to internet can automatically archive for you. With one program! No fancy command lines, dealing with widgits, it saves it for you so if any of the sites go bad, you’ve got your content.

How you ask? Follow along and do it the easy way.

A First, go to the ScrapBook download page (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/427). Just click the green Install Now button and then restart Firefox when it tells you to.

B Once Firefox has restarted, you’re ready to use ScrapBook.

C Go to a website you’d like to save with ScrapBook. Once you’re there, on the menu, select Capture Page As.

D Now, with “Capture Page As”, you can pick the depth of links you’d like to save. This is a important! This backs up all the links on your page automatically. With the depth set to zero, you wouldn’t automatically archive those extra pages. If it was set to 1, you’d be able to. But if it is set to 2, you will save all the linked pages and so on.

E After picking the options you want, click Capture. You’ve now saved a copy on your computer! Now, go to the ScrapBook menu and click Show in Sidebar. You’ll see the pages you’ve captured listed.

To review, here’s what we have so far? You now have a local copy of all the content on your FaceBook, etc. page. So if anything goes south, your covered. But like Billy Mays always says… “But we have more for you”.

If you have a backup to internet product like CloudBackup on your computer just make sure that it’s configuration has your personal files selected for backup. All your social website content is backed up this way and backed up with the rest of your data. And Firefox runs on windows, Mac, and Linux all the same.  Not only will your computer have a full internet backup, but your social websites will be too.