Store backups safely online

Many companies offer online backup. In this Workshop, we’ll look at two free services: Mozy, which provides 2GB of storage and simple scheduled backups; and Humyo, which provides 10GB of space if you want to back up a few files by dragging and dropping them manually. If you want to schedule backups automatically, turn to Step 6; otherwise launch your web browser, open www.humyo.com and click Sign Up.

The next page asks you to choose between four types of account. The 100GB Premium account is selected as standard: it’s free for 14 days, but after that costs £4 a month. Unless you want the extra space, select the Free option at the top. Fill in the form below with your name, email address and password, copy the verification code and click the Signup button.

The next screen will ask you to find friends already signed up with Humyo. This can be useful if you want to share files, but for now, simply click the cross in the top-right corner of that window to close it. Next, check your email: you should find a message from Humyo. Click the link it contains to verify that your address has been entered correctly.

Once your email has been verified, you can start to use the Humyo website. Click the Upload Files button on the bottom left. If a security warning appears, click Run to dismiss it. A box appears saying ‘Drag and drop files here’; try left-clicking a file on your computer, dragging it over this box then releasing the mouse button.

Next, try dragging and dropping a folder full of documents into the same place: all the files will be uploaded to the site in one go. Remember that larger files will take longer to upload. Humyo is great for backing up a small number of files, but the free account doesn’t allow you to schedule backups. For a free scheduled system, we’ll look at Mozy.

Point your web browser at www.mozy.com, click the MozyHome button at the top, then look for the MozyHome Free box on the left of the page. Click the orange Sign Up Now button. Fill in the form and, on the next page, answer a few questions to get your free space. With this done, check your email program: when you receive an email from Mozy, click the link it contains.

The link will confirm that you gave a valid email address, and you’ll see a screen with two downloads: one for Windows and one for Mac computers. Click the Windows link and choose to save the file on your desktop. Once it’s done, double-click the file to start the installation process and follow the instructions. Once that’s done, click the Finish button.

When the program runs, you’ll first be asked to enter the username and password created earlier. Enter them, then click Next. You’ll be asked how your information should be encrypted – click Next to select the standard option. The next screen shows the files Mozy has found on your computer – deselect any that you don’t want to back up, then click Next. The next step asks you to test your internet connection – click Start Test to do so.

Once the test has been passed, click Next, Next and then Finish. Mozy will then start backing up your files. To monitor the process, double-click the orange-and-grey Mozy icon in the Notification Area. This will open a window showing how many files have been transferred, how many remain and an estimate of how long the process will take.

Backing up your files once is a good start but it’s best to schedule a backup so that it takes place automatically every few days. To do this, right-click the Mozy icon in the Notification Area and click Configure. When the MozyHome window appears, click the Schedule tab. Select Scheduled, then either pick a time to back up every day or a day and time to do so every week.

If you later lose some files, they can be recovered even without the Mozy software. Open the Mozy website, click Login and enter your username and password. You’ll see a page with a list of computers you’ve backed up, along with information on when the last backup was performed. Click Restore Files, and on the next page select Choose Files To Restore.