Backup Computer Online

In order to backup your computer online, you’ll need at least 3 things in your checklist. The first one will be the computer that holds the data to be backed up, the second would be your Internet connection (yes, this sounds silly, but I’ve had users complaining about not being able to read their email when they’re offline) and the third one would be an account with an online backup service provider.

If you are reading this, we can safely assume that you have at least 2 of those 3 things in your checklist, your computer and an Internet connection, now the hard part is to get the right online backup service provider.

There are a few dozen online backup providers, however it’s hard to tell which one will be the one that suits your needs, so the safest way to select a provider is by signing up with those that offer free trial accounts, so that you can download their software (or if you’re using your own or another backup software to make sure that it’s compatible with the provider’s systems), do some backing up and restoring and making sure that you’re comfortable with it as well as that it does what you’ll expect them to do. It’s also wise to send them some support request, even if it’s a silly one as “where do I enter my password?” just to test their response times, as you won’t want to sign up with a provider that will take days to reply to an email when you face some problem restoring a backup.

Once you’ve selected a provider, the next step is pretty similar with all providers. Install the software, set it up so that it knows which files you want to back up (or if it’s your entire system) and how often will the backup be updated. After it’s been set up, it should start with a first backup. The first backup will always be slow and will take some time, if you are backing up too much information it can take over a day, so make sure that your computer won’t be turned off during the first backup (if you’re using a laptop computer make sure that it’s plugged to a power outlet) and that you’re using a broadband Internet connection that won’t limit your speed or bandwidth. The first backup is always slow as the backup software has to create a full copy of every single file to be backed up and upload it to the remote server. But don’t let this slowness discourage you, after the first backup has completed, backup updates will perform way faster, sometimes so fast that you won’t even notice when the software uploaded the most recent changes.