Are you a home user or small business looking for a backup solution? Do you carry a laptop with you everywhere you go? Is the data that you carry important to you? You should consider a backup solution that fits your needs. I want to take you through a short list of items that you might want to look for in a backup solution. Your needs may vary and I just want to inform you of what features are out there.

Some of the common criteria that people look for may sound obvious. Does the software perform all types of backups? Can it protect single files at a time even if they are in use at the moment? These are some of the normal features you can get with backup software. Do you need a "one-click" hard drive backup solution? Do you know what a "one-click" backup is? All of these features depend on your needs. It is just like a new car. Do you need the car to get from point A to point B or do you want to cruise in style? Let's cover a few features.

Backup scheduling is a necessity in my opinion. Any piece of software that you are going to use to backup your system regularly should come with the ability to schedule. Scheduling will allow you to set it and forget it, increase your productivity, and allow you to have piece of mind knowing that your data is being protected. It saves you the time of manually scheduling a backup every night or every week. Who knows, you could forget if you didn't have that functionality.

Backup to removable media is another option that I think is important if you will be purchasing a software solution. You may want to have the ability to back up static data for long term storage to CD, DVD, or Zip Drive. I know there are tons of pictures I have that I probably won't do anything with until I want to view them in five years. A DVD backup would make that easy.

Do you require data compression? Is it necessary for your backup software to compress the data so that you can store more information on the media? This might come in handy if you are limited on space and still want to backup your data regularly. It may not be a requirement for you but could be something you look for later.

Do you want to filter the files that you are backing up? Let's say you have a small business and you want to backup all of your important data and not include mp3's. You can make a rule that allows you to perform that task. This is perfect for those special cases when you need a little bit more control over what you are backing up.

Are you a process oriented person and want to know that the information you have backed up has been verified? This function performs a type of error checking. It makes sure that you have retrieved the data that you said you wanted. The draw back is that it takes more time to complete.

Do you want to use old CD/DVD rewritable disks? Well, some backup software comes with the functionality to erase the media before it ever starts to backup your data. This would be nice if you don't have a bunch of data and want to recycle some of those rewritable disks that you no longer have a use for.

Another great function is creating image backups that are bootable. How nice would it be for you to restore to a pristine state with a bootable disk and not have to worry about installing the original operating system first? This is nice, keep in mind that you have to have the storage space to keep that entire image. They can get pretty hefty if you aren't careful.

I hate to talk about system restores or desktop restores but there comes a time when you might need to do them. Would you like the ability to restore specific data to a separate hard drive so that you can hand pick the files you want replaced. It may not be something you identify now, but it might be a nice to have later on.

This is just a preliminary list of things you may look for in your backup solution. Keep in mind that when you are looking for backup strategies, backup solutions, or the ability to restore systems your mileage may vary. A home user may have different criteria than a small or medium size business. The amount of data may differ from person to person. You should evaluate what pieces and parts you need before you decide to go out and purchase a solution. The point is take this information and plan appropriately all strategies are different. Just take action. The strategy won't be any good if you don't backup your data.