On this page, take a look at your personal computer backup and storage choices, use links to comparative reviews of hardware, software and online services, and use links to how-to's.

Choices

• Hardware -- Your basic choices for backing up the data on the hard disk in your computer include using a USB flash drive, CD or DVD optical disk, or another hard disk including portables, external, networked attached storage (NAS), RAID, or a home server. For an introduction, see Data backup: Use it or lose it, Consumer Reports, October 2007 -- hard drives, flash drives, optical drives, online backup services, pros and cons.
• Software -- Options include selecting individual files & folders for backup, making an image backup of an entire HD, and/or incremental backup to replace or supplement old versions of files with new ones. To get started, see Tech Support Alert's lists of essential and desirable features of backup software and their backup FAQ; also see security below.
• Local, Offsite, Online -- An external HD sitting on your desk is great if your computer's HD fails but if your house burns down not so much. Put a full backup in a fire proof safe at home, in a safe deposit box at your bank, and/or stored with an online service provider.
• Two Are Better Than One --  First, do a full backup and then set up automatic incremental backups to a local device (see hardware above) and/or to an online service. Second, put a full copy of your archival data on a USB flash drive, CD, DVD or portable HD and secure it in a fireproof safe, safety deposit box and/or with an online storage service for offsite protection in case of flood, fire, theft, etc.
• Security -- Scan your HD for malware (spy, trojan, virus, worm, etc.) before backing up otherwise you could be backing up the malware too. Internet Security Suites from  BitDefender, Bullguard, CA, McAfee, Microsoft, Norton and Panda include backup modules. Norton 360 v2 (PC Magazine editor's choice March 2008) also includes 2 GB of hosted online storage.

Notable

• Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini (250 GB), Brian Neal, PC Magazine, July 21, 2008 -- editor's choice
• The Best Backup Tools, Michael Muchmore, PC Magazine, July 1, 2008 -- external hard drives, home NASs, file-and-folder, online services & drive-imaging.
• Mozy Delivers Solid Online Backup, Erik Larkin, PC World, Washington Post, May 3, 2008
• Western Digital My Passport Elite (WDML3200), Joel Domingo, PC Magazine, April 11, 2008
• New SentrySafe Hard Drives Defy Water, Fire, Brian Heater, PC Magazine, March 20, 2008
• Genie Backup Manager Pro 8.0, Edward Mendelson, PC Magazine, March 14, 2008

Comparative Reviews -- Hardware You Can Use for Backup & Storage

• Little Big Hard Drives, Joel Domingo, PC Magazine, May 7, 2008 -- Buffalo, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Western Digital
• Networked Storage for All, Oliver Rist, PC Magazine, April 8, 2008
• The Best USB Keys, Eric Griffith, PC Magazine, March 20, 2008
• Review: 7 secure USB drives, Bill O'Brien, Rich Ericson & Lucas Mearian, Computerworld, March 3, 2008 -- Corsair Flash Padlock and Survivor GT, Imation Pivot Plus, IronKey Secure (editor's choice), Kingston Data Traveler Secure, Lexar JumpDrive Secure II, and SanDisk Cruzer Professional.
• Portable Storage: Convenience is the Key, Patrick Schmid & Achim Roos, Tom's Hardware, February 12, 2008 -- Fujitsu, Hitachi, Samsung, Seagate, Toshiba and Western Digital.
• USB Flash Drives Reviews, Consumer Search, January 2008: 23 reviews of 75 products -- Corsair Flash Survivor GT, Corsair Flash Voyager GT, Kingston DataTraveler DT1.
• External Hard Drives Reviews, Consumer Search, November 2007: 28 reviews of 65 products -- Seagate FreeAgent Pro, Seagate FreeAgent Go, HP Media Vault MV2020.
• Five eSATA Drives Reviewed, Joel Durham Jr., ExtremeTech, August 22, 2007 -- Cavalry CAXM37500 (editor's choice), Iomega Silver Series Professional Hard Drive, LaCie d2 Quadra, Seagate ST305004FPA1E3-RK FreeAgent Pro, Western Digital MyBook Premium ES Edition.
• Is That A Hard Drive in Your Pocket? Tony Hoffman, PC Magazine, July 18, 2007 -- Toshiba 200 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive, HP Pocket Media Drive, Western Digital Passport (160 GB)
• Buying Guide: Save Memories on Portable Drives, Joel Domingo, PC Magazine, May 16, 2007 -- Western Digital MyBook Pro, Iomega UltraMax Hard Drive (640 GB), LaCie SAFE Hard Drive 500 GB, CMS Velocity RAID Backup System, Western Digital Passport (160GB)
• Buyers' Guide: External Hard Drives, Joel Domingo, PC Magazine, May 16, 2007 -- Western Digital MyBook Pro, Western Digital Passport, LaCie SAFE, Iomega UltraMax, CMS Velocity2 RAID Backup System.

Comparative Reviews -- Backup & Storage Software

• Save Your Data With One of These Top Backup Programs, Jon Jacobi, PC World, July 22, 2008 -- NovaBackup 10 Pro, Retrospect 7.6 Pro, NTI Backup 5, Paragon Drive Backup 9, Titan Backup
• Our Favorite File-and-Folser Backup Tools, Edward Mendelson, PC Magazine, March 25, 2008
• Drive Imaging: Beyond Backup, Edward Mendelson, PC Magazine, February 12, 2008 -- Acronis True Image, Drive Image, Norton Ghost, Paragon Drive Backup Personal Edition, Shadow Protect Desktop (editor's choice)
• Fifteen Backup Programs to Safeguard Your Data, Jon Jacobi, PC World, September 24, 2007: Traditional (file-based)... Cyberlink PowerBackup, EMC Retrospect, NovaStro NovaBackup 8 Standard, Genie-Soft Backup Manager Pro, NTI Backup Now; Image Based... Norton Save & Restore, Acronis True Image Home, Runtime Software DriveImage XML, Active @ Disk Image, Paragon Drive Backup; Continuous Backup... NTI Shadow, IBM Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files, StarDock KeepSafe, MirrorFolder, AJC Active Backup
• Backup Software Reviews, Tech Support Alert, 2007 -- Genie Backup Manager (editor's choice), NTI BackupNow, NovaStor NovaBackup, Handy Backup, Double Image.

Comparative Reviews -- Online Backup & Storage Services

• The Best Online Backup Services, Michael Muchmore, PC Magazine, April 29, 2008 -- Carbonite, HP Upline, IDrive, MozyHome, SOS
• Online Backup Services Reviews, Consumer Search, November 2007: 24 reviews of 39 services -- MozyPro, MozyHome, iBackup.
• Take Your Storage Online, Sean Kerner, Tom's Hardware, October 17, 2007 -- Xdrive, MediaMax, IDrive-E, Omnidrive, Box.net, Carbonite and Mozy.
• Online backup solutions: a review, Joel Hruska, Arstechnica, July 16, 2007 -- Carbonite, Mozy (editor's choice), XDrive, Iron Mountain's Connected Backup/PC service.
• Review: Five Online Backup Services Keep Your Data Safe, Serdar Yegulalp, Information Week, April 9, 2007: AT&T Online Vault, Carbonite, eSureIT, iBackup, Mozy (editor's choice)
• Six Free Online Storage Services, Michael Muchmore, ExtremeTech, February 28, 2007 -- box.net, DropBoks, eSnips, MediaMax, OmniDrive, openomy.
• Backup Service EULAs Warrant a Closer Look, Ed Foster, The Gripe Line, Infoworld, February 12, 2007 -- Mozy, Iron Mountain, Carbonite, Xdrive, and SOSonlinebackup.

How-To

• How to Prevent a Data Disaster, Rick Broida, PC World, June 10, 2008
• Choosing the Right Shared Storage, Loyd Case, ExtremeTech, May 20, 2008
• Carry a PC in Your Pocket, Scott Dunn, PC World, February 21, 2008
• Lock Down the Data on Your Portable Drives, Becky Waring, PC World, December 21, 2007
• Ten Storage Strategies for the Home, Loyd Case, ExtremeTech, November 6, 2007
• Painless Backups to USB Drives, Michael Lasky, PC World, July 23, 2007
• Back Up Your Files Online Without Even Trying, Erik Larkin, PC World, March 21, 2007