In article ,
The Medway Handyman wrote:
I save anything vital like my business accounts on to a memory stick,

Save or backup? If the memory stick is the only place you save it then
I'd suggest putting elsewhere as well! I've had plenty of memory stick
go bad (admittedly, less common with decent brands).

For stuff like this you might want to consider dropbox

http://www.dropbox.com/

Or, if you are feeling generous, use my signup link and I'll get some
more space ;-) ( https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTIwMjYwODk )

You get a couple of gig free - so it's not massive but handy to be able
to get hold of stuff on other machines at time. It just gives you a
"folder" on your machine that you save things to - and then they are copied
up into the cloud.

There are other options around like this - Microsofts Live would be
one worth a look if you don't want cross platform.

but I don't backup general stuff - which could be an inconvenience
if anything happened.

what sort of size backup are you talking about? Complete machine backup?

I have Norton 360 which has a built in back up feature - but it doesn't
work. Drives me mad.

*runs away*

So, would I be better off with one of these online backup companies or
buying some kind of external device?

Possibly both. Online will be restricted in size (unless you pay, and even
then you won't want to backup GBs over your broadband connection).

I've given up with Western Digital - currently using Samsung storystation
external drives which seem good. YMMV.

If the latter, any suggestions to a PC numpty?

As I say, dropbox is simple and free (and limited). External drives I would
currently go for samsung but they are much the same I suspect.

Software wise I suspect others will know better. Doesn't windows backup
"do" now? I'm a Mac and solaris person really.

Cheersm,

Darren