It's Backup Month! Throughout February, we'll be discussing tools, resources, and strategies to help you keep your data backed up and ready to restore. Check out our new resources from each week below and join in the discussion. Additionally, if you'd like to receive regular updates on low-cost, high impact tech for your nonprofit or library, sign up to receive our weekly By the Cup newsletter or monthly New Product Alert.

Week 4

• After the Crash: Minimize Your Downtime (TechSoup Talks! Webinar)
  Thursday, February 25, 11 a.m. Pacific
  
  Computers crash, viruses infect, and disasters happen. But they don't have to affect your ability to continue working if you're prepared. There are some key things you should know about your computer system and your applications, as well as things you should do with your data to ensure that you're back up in a few hours instead of a few days.
  
  Kami Griffiths will interview Laura Richardson from Uptime Resources to help you understand what you can do to get your system ack up and running so your staff can continue to do their work. It will open your eyes to the risks you should be aware of and the things that can help prevent data lose. You'll also hear from Gregory Seeley, a TechSoup Global Customer Service Representative, who will give an overview of how you can retrieve the products requested through TechSoup's donation program.
  
  This webinar is appropriate for executive directors, IT staff, accidental techies, and anyone else who is responsible for maintaining your nonprofit or library's computers and data.
• A Few Good Tools for Online Data Backup (Learning Center)
  Backing up your data remotely is an excellent solution, especially when it's done as one part of a backup strategy that also includes regularly scheduled local backups. Idealware has compiled a list of online backup tools that might work for your nonprofit.
• Disaster Planning: Backup, Backup, Backup! (Archived TechSoup Talks! Webinar)
  In this archived TechSoup Talks! webinar, TechSoup's Becky Wiegand interviews Nutmeg Consulting's Chris Shipley and Sarai's Zac Mutrux about the different types of backup options including hardware, portable devices, and hosted services.
• Backing Up Your Mobile Devices (TechSoup Blog)
  Smartphones are certainly becoming more ubiquitious, and data sprawl is becoming rampant. Be sure your backup plan includes your phone and other mobile devices.
• Outlook Add-in: Personal Folders Backup (Free Download)
  If you are using Outlook but not Exchange server, all your Outlook information, including your contacts, calendar entries, and email, is stored in a personal folders file (.pst file). This add-in simplifies the oft-neglected backup of this file, by adding a menu item directly on your Outlook client, and can be set to remind you of your backup.

Week 3

• Remote Backup for Your Organization (Learning Center)
  Automated online backup programs require only an Internet connection, a small software program, and a few minutes of your time. Learn what questions are important to ask when choosing a hosted backup provider.
• Remote Backup Pros and Cons (TechSoup Blog)
  Learn the advantages and disadvantages of using a third-party backup provider.
• MozyHome (Free Download)
  MozyHome Free is the free version of their MozyHome and MozyPro online backup packages, designed for personal use with 2 GB worth of free space.

Week 2

• Local Backup for Your Organization (Learning Center)
  Regular backups are vital insurance against a data-loss catastrophe. Developing a solid backup plan requires an investment of time and money, but the cost is far less than the burdensome task of recreating data for which no backup exists.
• Back That Mac Up (TechSoup Blog)
  Check out these backup tips for Mac-lovers.
• DriveImage XML (Free Download)
  DriveImage XML is a program that will back up your entire drive or partition to a file for backup and recovery purposes.
• SE Backup (Free Download)
  SE Backup is a simple, customizable backup utility. Users can back up data to a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or an external hard drive.

Week 1

• Your Nonprofit's Backup Strategy (Learning Center)
  Regular backups are vital insurance against a data-loss catastrophe. Developing a solid back-up plan requires an investment of time and money, but the cost is far less than the burdensome task of recreating data for which no backup exists.
• Symantec Norton Ghost 15.0 (TechSoup Stock)
  This professional-grade backup and recovery tool offers full, partial, and incremental backups, compresses files to save storage space, and works with Windows 7.
• Freestore Foodbank: Standardized Practices and Disaster Planning (TechSoup Blog)
  Learn how one organization standardized its systems across multiple branches and put regular backups in place just in time for a disaster.
• Free Download: BackupPC (Free Download)
  BackupPC is a high-performance, enterprise-grade system for backing up Linux, WinXX and MacOSX PCs and laptops to a server's disk. BackupPC is highly configurable and easy to install and maintain.

Photo: Amanda Tetrault, CC license