The data we keep on our computers is precious. Things like photographs, videos, letters and other documents are sitting on our hard drives, so they’re safe – aren’t they?

​Well yes, but what if your hard drive develops a fault, or you drop your laptop in the bath? Often that means waving goodbye to all that important stuff but these days there are several ways to
improve the odds by saving your data in another place. 

1. CDs/DVDs/Blu-ray discs
2. USB Sticks or Flash Drives
3. External Hard Drives
4. Cloud Storage
5. Social Media

 
It’s a good idea to use a combination of methods – belt and braces, so that if one fails you have another copy too. Each have their pros and cons but all of these are better than losing your files forever.
 
CD/DVD/Blu-ray Discs
These are useful for backing up documents. Of the three, only a Blu-ray disc can hold a larger number of photos. These can be easily stored or sent through the post – for instance a wedding album is easy to share in this way. Beware though, these discs don’t last for ever and you should think about something else for long term storage.
 
USB Stick/Flash Drive
These have the advantage of being small and easy to use on the go. They come in a wide variety of capacities from 1GB up to a max of around 256GB. If you need to transfer files from one computer to another – these are the tool for the job. One note of caution is that being so small, they are also easy to lose. I keep mine on a lanyard around my neck if I’m travelling.
 
External Hard Drive
Desktop versions are the size of a hefty hardback book, whilst portable versions are no bigger than your mobile phone. They also have a wide variety of capacities, from around 500GB up to 8TB or maybe more. As time goes by, larger and larger drives are on the market. A reasonable portable drive will cost around £50-£80 and will last you for a long time. You can back up your entire computer to it, or just the files you choose.
 
Social Media
Did you know that you can request an archive of all your Facebook activity – posts, photos, everything? Just go to Settings> General Account Settings> Download a copy of your Facebook data. You will be asked to confirm your password and then a file will be sent to the email address you have registered with. Instagram and Twitter have similar features too.
 
Cloud Storage
Most of us have access to some cloud storage though you might not necessarily know it.

• If your broadband is through BT, you have up to 100GB of free cloud storage which you can set up and access though your BT account online.
• If you are an Office 365 subscriber, you have 1TB of free OneDrive storage per user.
• If you have a Google account – gmail or an android phone, you have 15GB of free Google cloud storage.
• If you are an Amazon Prime customer, you have unlimited photo storage on Amazon Cloud, plus 5GB for other data.
• If you have an iPhone or other Apple product, you have 5GB of free iCloud storage.

Then there are the cloud services you can find online. One of the most popular is Dropbox which gives you 2-16GB of free storage. Others are Mega.com which gives 50GB free and Box, giving 10GB free of charge. All of these also have paid-for upgrades of space available.
 
These services are straightforward to access – most can be connected to straight from your phone as well as your computer. Using cloud storage combined with at least one of the other methods in this blog post, will help you to keep your data safe for years to come.

'Five Ways to Store Your Files and Photos' - written for File Genie by Freelance Writer Ruth Raymer @WritingWalking

Social Media is everywhere. Whether your favourite is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Google+ or one of the many others out there.

For the most part social media is a great way to stay in touch, share life's high points and give support or get support during the low bits, but we've all heard stories about the misuse of social media and the consequences these misuses can have on our lives.
 

​I’ve put together some simple pointers to help you and yours enjoy social media safely.
 
1. Pick a suitably complex password and never share it
By this I mean it should be difficult enough that it can’t be guessed by anyone else but easy enough so that you can actually remember what it is. Use a mixture of numbers, capital letters, and special characters - that’s things like @ £ $ ^ & *  _ + ! and so on – anything that’s not a letter or number. Some systems won’t let you use full stops, brackets or spaces, though others do. If you are having trouble with this, check the help files for ‘allowable characters’. This will help a lot towards better security. Try not to use a sequence like your birthday or your bank card PIN code though! Don’t use the same password for every social media account you have. It’s also a good idea to change your passwords regularly.

2. Only post if you don’t mind who sees what you post
If you wouldn't want your partner, parent or employer, or for that matter future partner, employer or your children to read or see what you have posted on social media, the best way is not to post it at all - EVER. These are public forums and that means they are viewable by anybody. Even if that person is not your friend on which ever platform you are using, it can still be put in front of their eyes whether it be second, third, or fourth hand. Once you put something online, whether it was a passionate rant at time you were upset or a drunken picture of a night out, it is very difficult (best to regard it as impossible) to remove once its out there.
 
3. Take time to go through the security settings
Whatever platform you're using, it doesn't take long and can go a long way toward helping you enjoy your experience. If you’re not sure how to do this, check the help files of your social media platform and if they leave you none-the-wiser, you could search for a YouTube tutorial or give me a call.
 
4. Be wary of sensitive information
Think twice before you put your address or your date of birth on your social media pages. This is information that can be used to trace you, by ANYONE. Think twice about any information that might be sensitive about your family too… children’s dates of birth, where they were born, what school they go to, can all be used to trace you and your family.
 
5. Don't associate yourself with just anybody trying to connect to you
If someone tries to add you as a friend or colleague and you don’t already know them, ignore or delete the request. Be careful about online profiles, not everyone online is who they say they are. If you don't know them in real life you probably won't want to know them online, it’s as simple as that.
 
6. Don’t give advance warning or notice of your holidays online
Announcing to the world that you’re away on holiday by posting a cute family selfie and a caption such as "Having great fun on my week away in France," is just telling everybody your house is unoccupied and inviting them to come and burgle you. That said, we do actually want to see your family photos from your week in France - it's just probably best and safest to post them on your return, with captions like "look what fun we had in France last week." Also at this point, it’s worth mentioning that you should check the settings on your smartphone because it can broadcast your location when posting from it. Check for ‘location settings’.
 
7. When using Internet cafes or any other device you don’t own…
There is usually a tick box when you log in to your social media account that says ‘Remember me’ or ‘Keep me logged in’ or Remember my password’ and so on. Make sure that you un-tick this box and that you log-off your account completely when you are finished what you are doing. Never leave yourself logged in because anyone coming to the computer or device after you can then access your account and all your details.
 
8. Removing accounts post-mortem 
It’s always a good idea to safely leave access to your social media accounts, in the event of your death, so that loved ones can login in and close the account if they wish to. Social media administration are usually unwilling to remove accounts even with a death certificate.
 
9. Remember it's called social media not anti-social media
If you're being shown comments or images you don't like, unfollow yourself from the account posting them just as you would if someone was being loud or crude in public. This means ‘unlike’-ing or deleting them, not just the post that you find offensive, but the entire account.
 
Social media is here to stay and is being used in more and more inventive and diverse ways. It can be great fun, informative or just a good way to kill five minutes, so have fun and keep you and yours safe while online.

How To Be Social Media Savvy - written by Ben Hemp and Freelance Writer Ruth Raymer.