I want to

Back up your photos for free

If you want a quick and easy way to back up your photographs you might want to have a look at MyShoeBox which is a download product. Install it, choose the photographs you want to backup, or let the product do that for you. You can also add folders from Dropbox for example. You can arrange your photographs chronologically or by time of day, location, season and so on. You can also share galleries with your friends. Add the app into your smartphone and add your pictures to it.

Backing up to the cloud

The issue of backups is always an important one, but something we so often ignore, right up until the moment has passed and it's too late. I have backed up important material onto discs in the past (both CD and DVD), and I have also got data backed up onto several external hard drives. You should also make sure that one of your backups is off site - the distance that I once saw was something like 'double the wing span of a crashed aircraft on your house' which is rather dramatic, but not a figure that you'll forget.

Obviously the best place to backup to these days is into the Cloud, and after having a look around I've chosen to go with SquirrelSave which claims to be the UK's #1 service. It's a commercial offering, costing around £60 a year, but it's all automated and works entirely in the background, which is exactly what I wanted. I also have an unlimited amount of space, which is just as well, given that I'm backing up rather a lot. (You'll see what I mean when you look at the screenshot below!)

They highlight their keys points thus:

• Automatic - No need to set a schedule or remember to start.
• Instant - Save a file and it is backed-up straight away.
• Unlimited - Unlimited backup for your personal files.
• Historical - Copies kept so you can go "back in time" forever.
• Simple - Simple to install and easy-to-use.
• Secure - Fully encrypted and 100% safe.
• UK based - No data sent overseas.

It's currently working away in the background, and I've not really noticed any degradation in speeds. I'll let you know how it goes. Meantime, here's a screenshot of the interface in action, which gives you a nice idea of what you can do with it.

(And yes, it really does mean 28 days!)

 

Social Downloader - Backup your social resources

The worst happens - you lose access to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Unlikely, but it does happen. Hopefully you'll get it back, but what if you don't? What happens to all those tweets, photographs and so on? If the idea horrifies you, take a look at Social Downloader. It's a new easy-to-use social downloader to backup your social life in 1 click. You need to download the utility and give it access to your accounts. It can then:

• Facebook backup: photos (Wall, Albums and Tagged), comments and likes
• Instagram backup: photos, comments, likes, tags, friends and followers
• Twitter Downloader - Download, backup and export from Twitter" Twitter backup: tweets, favorites and friends