[ad]Dear Computer Lady,
I have a 6 month old Dell Windows 8 laptop and I’ve been reading your helpful emails for a very long time. I purchased your e-book about buying a computer and am very happy with the computer I bought.
Now I want to protect my data and just purchased a portable hard drive.
Do I need to get the Acronis True Image software? The sales person at the store said I don’t need extra software.
Is it better to only copy pictures & data, or better to copy everything on the computer? Is that what the Acronis software does?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Thanks oodles, Karen
I’m glad you find my articles helpful, and I am very glad that you are being proactive in protecting your data! Many people don’t do anything about backing up their files until their hard drive crashes, and they have lost their precious data.
Most external hard drives do come with some sort of software that will help you backup your files, but it is different for each product, and not all of them have all the features you might need. Here are some of the things that I look for.
Is it easy to use? Some programs are easier than others.
Will it run automatically? Acronis will run on a regular schedule, so that you don’t have to remember to backup. I don’t know about you, but if I have to rely on my memory, not as many things will get done.
Are the backed up files easily accessible? Some backup programs package your files in their proprietary format, and you need the backup program in order to retrieve the files. That works fine until your computer crashes and you want to access the files on your external hard drive from another computer that doesn’t have the software installed on it.
I hope this helps with your backup.
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Elizabeth Boston is a Web designer, Social Media Consultant and managing editor of, “Ask The Computer Lady”.
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