Backup!

As I sit here transferring files from my old computer to my new computer – after the old computer upped and died with, yes, a few select files not backed up – I have been checking to see if all my online data is backed up, too.

With this site, I use the WordPress Database Backup plugin. I do backups weekly. Over at my blogger powered blog, I use the built in Export Blog function (under Settings –> Basic and the second choice you see):

Of course these backups are on my hard disk, so you I want to make sure I have backups of them in case another disk crashes hereabouts!

I also use Backupify to have backups made of a lot of my online data (tweets, friend lists, and a slew of other stuff including Google Docs, as needed).

I don’t worry so much that, say, Facebook is going to accidentally lose my data. I worry, instead, that something gets corrupted and prevents me from accessing it. Backupify is a good solution, as long as you’re okay with the data being stored in the cloud (though you can download it, too).

As my week has shown me, you don’t know what you’re going to miss until it’s gone. So double check your TimeMachine or other automated backup system, archive your blog, and practice better safe than sorry.

Got any backup tricks? Feel free to pass ‘em on. And if you can turn back time for a week, you’d save me a lot of time with whirring fans!