What to use to backup data?

I plan to back up my important files daily (probably no more than 1gb worth of files) when I head to college. What is the most reliable way to do so (preventing data loss/corruption is more important than speed)? Flash drives? If so, which brand is best known for reliability out of the main brands (Corsair, Crucial, Kingston, Patriot, Sandisk, OCZ, etc.)?

Thanks!

 

The absolute most reliable way to back up data is a service by Iron Mountian called Connected Dataprotector. It's an application that runs on your laptop that backs up your data to their online servers off site, and allows you to recover the data from any particular backup from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. It also runs in the background and will not slow your system down by any noticable ammount during the backup process.

We use the localized version in house (instead of exporting to an off site server, we use an internal server) and the software is amazing. It has saved quite a few of our staff countless times when they have lost a file, or a hard drive went corrupt.

For home use, a 2 gig backup plan is $14.95/mo, so yes it's a subscription, but there is no upfront software purchase required.

Edit: A link might help -> http://www.ironmountain.com/solutions/soho/

As for a non software solution, a large flash drive usually suffices and is inexpensive. Just be sure to put some glowing eye bleeding neon tape on it so you don't lose it.

Edit: Added link.

 

Thanks for the reply - I think I'll go with the flash drive since it's quite a bit cheaper. If I backup my data once per day, how long can I expect the flash drive to last? And which is the best brand out of those I mentioned in my first post?

 

From my personal experience, either Kingston or Corsair. I have to admit that the concept of my backup solution being on a tiny, easily lost, flash drive does scare me a bit .

Maybe you should put it on a hub cap like the gas stations do washroom keys .

 

i use robocopy (i created a simple batch file) to back up my data to an external hard drive (wd passport).

 

How long can flash drives last though, with a backup every day? I think flash drives have fixed lifetimes? A year? 2 years?

 

Long enough so that you'll have to replace it because it's not large enough and not because it stops working.

 

Are you opposed to getting an external harddrive? I would go with that option, if I wanted to backup large amounts of data that was critical. From what I read, flash drives aren't meant to store data for long periods of time.

 

I use 2 dedicated Seagate external HDDs (one for the laptop and the other for my desktop) for primary backup purposes.

As a failsafe, I burn essential files to DVDs ... which I burn again the following year (given the fact that those discs can degrade over time).

 

I burn DVDs for my backup purposes. And I check them every now and then just to make sure they haven't started to break down on my. If then do, then I just burn another disk, they're cheap.

 

yeah I really like backup on DVDs. You just can't go run with them. Second option for me is external HDD. Never put backup on the drive you are backing up. Probably didn't need to say that.