Ann,
You may already have a solution for your backup needs. If you don't or for others who might be looking for a solution, I will share with you what works for me. I am moderately technical and have made my backup choices on the premise that all media has 1 thing in common: one day, it will fail. Therefore I have backed up my stuff (mostly photos - I have almost 50K) three different ways:
1)
My solution of synchronizing my data to local media is: Goodsync, from a company called Cyber Systems. This software allows you to synchronize files, folders and directories to any type of media: drives, memory cards, servers, and various cloud providers. I think one does need to be at least somewhat technical to use it, but once you set it up, it just works. Goodsync.com for more info.
If you decide to buy Goodsync, I recommend getting it via Trial Pay. Through Trial Pay, you can sign up for or buy something different, and get Goodsync for "free". For example, instead of paying the normal $30ish for Goodsync, I signed up for trial pay, and purchased a $5 service on Fiver.com and got "Goodsync" for signing up and buying something for $5 on Fiver.com. If you are interested in buying this way, start here:
http://www.goodsync.com/trialpay_dl_bn.htmlUsing Goodsync, I am able to keep copies of my data on 2 external drives (one of which is usually off site), 2 different PCs and 1 server. Um, yeah, I have a few (too many) devices.
Note: I get nothing for this recommendation.
2)
My solution of synchronizing my data to "the cloud"is: Backblaze.com. Most folks, have not yet heard of these guys. I chose them versus other providers, like Carbonite (which I have heard is good), because I wanted to get something that was very inexpensive and very easy to use, for unlimited data (between photos, videos, and music, I have about 1TB of stuff I want to back up). The normal price for Backblaze is $3.96 per month, if you subscribe for 2-years. I think it is $5/month, if you don't want to commit.
They have software that installs on my PC which passively uploads pretty much everything: operating system, apps, and data. To configure the software, I did two things:
1) I told it not to back up my back up drive
2) I encrypted my data with a password
This took about a minute and the only time I touch the software is when I want to do online video chat: I pause my backup so all of the 0.7mb/s upload bandwidth that I have with my DSL provider can be used for the video.
If you are like me and you have slow upload and lots of data, it will take a LONG time to back-up all your data. For example, for my approximately 1TB, I started backing up on Black Friday 2012. BackBlaze software estimates that 46 days from today, it will be finished.
For me this is fine for a few reasons. Once the initial data is backed up, I am not adding new stuff faster than what I can upload, which I think is around 7 or 8GB per day. Also, I'll soon be able to upgrade my upload bandwidth to 3.0mb/s.
The other thing to know about BackBlaze, if you have LOTS of data like me, if you ever need to recover that data, you'll probably do it by paying them additional money to have them send you your data on a drive. For me this works because it should be extremely unlikely that I ever need to recover from the cloud. However, as a deep safety, for the cost, relative to the value (to me) of my data (esp my photos), it is a no-brainer to have this service.
If you are interested in getting this service you can do it, one of two ways:
1) Just go to their web site; or
2) If find what I have written as helpful, you can buy it (same price) through my affiliate link:
http://www.backblaze.com/partner/af4803Note: I would get some a commission payment if you use my link.
Forum MODs, if you don't want my affiliate link here, you are welcome to delete it. My apologies if I broke a rule; it is not my intention to do so. Also, I have not yet had to attempt a recovery from BackBlaze, so I cannot vouch for how well that works (or doesn't work).
3)
My solution for recovering my OS and applications, as well as historical data is: Acronis True Image Home, 2011. Both of the back-up methods above are synchronizations that protect data against media failure. However, what happens if:
a) my OS gets corrupt (I use Windows 7, so it happens), or
b) if I save over a file and a few weeks later I want to recover that previous version?
I use Acronis True Image Home to solve both of these issues, for me. I regularly back up my OS and applications (which I keep on a separate partition of my hard drive), and I use "Acronis Non-stop backup" to keep a history of previous version. Acronis manages the history so that I don't have to think about it, similar to what Apple users get from Time Machine, from my understanding.
The one thing that I really don't like about Acronis is that every year the company releases a new version of their software and asks for upgrade money. From reviews that I have read, these upgrades often add very little in the way of new features that would be of value to me. Anyway, I have seen Newegg occasionally offer this software for as low as $19.99, but I think the regular price (you can usually find a coupon code) is either $39 or $49.
Note: I get nothing for this recommendation.
I hope that this helps you and others who read this. Finally, there are probably other good solutions out there that I am not familiar with. I am in no way trying to disparage them. I am sharing what I do, why I do it, and if applicable what I like or don't like about my back up choices.