Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Backing up Your Data- Why It’s Crucial for Freelancers

As a freelancer you work without the assistance of a company tech support team. You have to be your own computer guru. This means that the responsibility for backing up files is entirely yours. And you should take the job seriously because your livelihood is in the balance.

Have you ever been in a position whereby all your work did a disappearing act, and no matter how much you tried, you couldn’t get it back? This is what happens to all freelancers at one point of time or the other. Be it an article that you’ve worked on for two weeks and is now ready for submission, or a file containing pertinent research for your project; losing it can lead to a lot of frustration and ire at yourself for not having created a backup copy.

The best way to learn this lesson is by experience. No matter how many times you’ve been told horror stories of this happening, you never quite grasp the lesson until you’ve learnt it yourself. It’s true. Months of research for my thesis went down the drain.

There are many reasons as to how your data could disappear. Harmful computer viruses head the list. Some viruses affect only Word and Images and render all documents unreadable. Deleting files by accident is no longer a cause for worry, since one can retrieve them from the Recycle Bin.

Methods of performing data backup include:

Creating a system restore point

Creating a system restore point regularly ensures that your data is safe. Even though a virus wipes out your documents, you can get them back by restoring your system to the last restore point. Hence, you’re safe, as is your work.

Backing up on external memory

There are many various types of external memory that can be used to back up your data. Flash disks, CDs, Hard Drives, are all samples of these. An external memory disk is one piece of equipment that every freelancer must invest in.

Backing up your data not only ensures that you do not have to do double work at no extra charge if your data is somehow erased, but it also helps to keep your good reputation and rating with your clients. When your data disappears, there’s no way you’ll be able to make your deadlines, and you might as well kiss that particular client goodbyeBusiness Management Articles, lucrative though his projects may be.

Get more freelancing tips at FreelanceSprout.com.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

April Boone is the owner of Global Marketing Solutions based in Foley Alabama.

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