When it comes to backing up data, one of the most common misconceptions people approach me with revolves around external hard drives. Moving files to an external hard drive does not make them redundant; it makes the external drive the single point of failure. The hard drive inside the box can fail, just like the hard drive inside your computer. In my office, the motto is, “if a file is not in two places, it does not exist.”

If the files are being moved off the computer hard drive to make space, the solution is to find a way to make the file redundant on other devices. This can mean buying two external hard drives to copy files onto, but that leads to a manual process, more cables on your desktop (I hate cables), and fewer available ports on your computer. Plus, when they fill up, there is no easy way to upgrade.

So, now we are looking for a product that automatically makes redundant copies of files, does not take up too much space, is easy to use and is user upgradeable. Sounds complicated, but it isn’t. I already have one.

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Via Columbia Business Times