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GWS is not your mother. We can't hang around in the room,
look over your shoulder and nag you until you do this most
important of tasks. All we can do is tell you why saving
your work, your software and your records is absolutely
necessary to your success.
First thing to consider is what does it mean to back up
data? The terminology attributed to personal computer usage
is always slight askew. Backup can mean to go in reverse.
Backup -in this case- refers to copying data so that it
may be used in case the original data is lost. One would
think that it would be just as easy to just say "copy"
data instead. Therein lies the rub. "Copy" is
a PC term for a keyboard/menu function. PC lexicon is confusing
enough. You only need to understand that it's important
to save your files, licenses, address book, content, sales
statistics, etc. At some point, you will need a backup.
The second thing to consider is how will you save your important
data? Take into account that so very much can go wrong on
your hard drive, on your central machine. While it may ease
your efforts to make special folders on your desktop and
file all your data in them, those types of copies are not
really backups. If you get a virus on your main computer
and have to format (erase) your hard drive to cure it, everything
you have on file will be lost. What can you afford to lose
forever?
A real backup will be one that is self-contained and independent
of your PC. The easiest and most common way to backup files
and software is on CD. If you have a CD R/W drive, you can
save huge amounts of data to relatively inexpensive disks.
CD R/W drives are very affordable and you can even get an
external one that plugs right in the back of your comp.
There are other types of "recordable media" such
as those for 1.45 MB drives, Zip Drives, and mini disk drives.
Some are expensive. Others are too small in their storage
capabilities to be of much use. Whatever recordable media
you use, it's wise to spend the extra money for high quality.
Save all the software and data to a disk/medium you can
access if something goes awry on your machine.
Think about what you as a Gambling webmaster have on your
PC that you will need. Think about software you've got installed
that you use each day to build your empire. Do you have
backups of these? Will the restore CD (provided by the retail
chain when you bought your name brand comp) restore everything
you need? You may have original installation disks for your
software but have you made backup copies of those? What
if your email program goes haywire? Will you be able to
open your address book? Will you sacrifice all those confirmation
emails from your sponsors to the god of "I was going
to"?
All those referrer Ids, pay out tables and email receipts
for purchases of Gambling traffic are the accountings of
your business. Whether your meeting is with a tax form or
an IRS auditor, you need to have proof of your records.
If you use paid content, do you have all your licenses backed
up? If you downloaded content, did make a copy of it? When
tax time comes and your sponsor didn't send you a 1099,
will you be able to just use your backed-up sales records
as proof of your income? Those instant messenger conversations
you had where you made a verbal contract with someone, what
happens to that history if you upgrade to a newer IM program?
When you make backup copies of your files and software,
you are insuring yourself against harm, hardship and expense.
You save money and time because you won't have to re-purchase
or reconstruct. You save yourself stress because no matter
how bad the computer crisis, your hard work will be safe.
Backups save your data and they just might save your future.
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