What You Need To Know About Free Data Backup Software

When you first heard about data backup services, you probably wanted to wait a while to see if data backup lived up to the hype. If you waited, pat yourself on the back. Although there are still many paid services that offer some free data backup as a promotional item, that free space disappears fast. Just like anything else on the web that’s worth having, sooner or later someone will develop freeware data backup that is nearly or totally free.

How It Works

The best free data backup programs don’t use websites like paid services do. What free data backup services does, instead, is to compress all of your computer files into one file and then you store that file onto a separate disk or other storage device. For example, in Windows, most documents can be compressed to Zip files. Things you can put on a free backup data software program are images, documents and spreadsheets. Some can handle music files and some can’t.

You can use the free data backup to function on an automated schedule or you can use it manually. Each shareware program comes with its own set of instructions. You do have to be sure that it will work for your OS (operating system). Most of the free data backup software floating around the Internet is suited for Windows only.

What’s The Catch?

There are several disadvantages to using free data backup software, so you need to carefully look at them before deciding to use one. Most paid free data backup software does not have any kind of technical support – that’s why it’s free. If you have a problem with the free data backup software, you’re basically on your own.

You could cruise around the Internet to see if there is a forum of people who use the same program you do and are willing to answer questions and share tips. You could also search for “freeware forums” such as the one at FreewareArena, where all kinds of free online software is discussed, including free data backup.

Another disadvantage is that free data backup is not designed to handle the load of a large business. If you want to back up your business data, then you really should invest in a paid service. But if you just want to back up your personal data or your manuscripts (if you’re a writer), then free data backup should be powerful enough for you.