Love your Laptop – Top 5 Tips for Protecting your Data

This article was kindly supplied by ONTRACK, who is offering a 10% discount EXLUSIVE to all localwatch members on their services. (Details will follow shortly)

With an estimated 150 million laptops currently in use across the globe, it’s common knowledge that people have embraced the benefits of using laptop computers and other portable devices. Along with these benefits, however, come more instances of data loss as many users don’t practice the best methods for protecting the valuable data on their computers from harm. Ontrack Data Recovery reports that laptops are the fastest growing category of recoveries. Specifically, desperate laptop owners accounted for a nearly 50 percent increase in recovery jobs over the previous 12 months.

Even though technology is getting better, it’s clear that people are continuing to make the same mistakes. As a result, Ontrack is providing a list of the top five things your customers can do to protect their laptop data. These simple preventative steps will help create good habits for laptop use and hopefully prevent any data disasters and downtime.

o Handle with Care – Because laptops are portable, many people treat them like they are indestructible. It’s important to remember that an extremely fragile hard drive is inside your laptop and that drive can be knocked out of alignment with even a short drop or light jostling. You should keep your laptop flat and motionless when it is running since any vibrations can cause hard drive problems. Also, use a padded laptop bag when traveling.

o Keep it Clean – Another problem caused by the portability of laptops is that people tend to use/store them in unclean environments. Whether it’s spilling a beverage on the keyboard while multi-tasking, stacking papers or other items on top while it’s docked, or storing the laptop in a dusty corner when not in use – people cause a lot of problems for their data simply by where they take it and how it’s stored. You can keep your laptop functioning normally by avoiding these scenarios and only using it in clean, dry areas.

o Privacy Please – Part of protecting the data on your laptop involves making sure it is secure. Confirm that your laptop hard drive is password protected so in the unfortunate event that you lose the hardware, the sensitive data on the machine won’t be compromised.

o Watch your Back – One of the most common mistakes that people make with laptops is a failure to make sufficient backups of important documents. Backups tend to be made more regularly on desktop computers as part of a regular process. If a laptop is your primary computer, it should be put on the backup schedule as well.

o Trust the Pros – If your laptop is making strange noises or refuses to boot up properly, don’t forget the option of a professional recovery service. Data recovery is performed on thousands of laptops every year and professional data recovery providers are experts at saving the data off of laptop drives. If your data is valuable, it pays to search for a reputable recovery company and attempt recovery.

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