Configure automatic backups to the LaCie CloudBox for one or all of the computers in the home.

Your computer has important documents, photos, music, and movies that you rely upon every day. Unfortunately, a computer hard drive can fail, taking away all the data that it held. To avoid losing your files, it is critical that you back up your computer as often as possible. A computer backup copies all the data stored on its internal hard drive to a separate storage device. Examples of storage devices include:

• Network storage such as your LaCie CloudBox.
• A cloud or online service
• An external desktop or portable hard drive that connects to a port on your computer. Examples: desktop hard drives or portable hard drives.

It is possible to manually copy all your files to the LaCie CloudBox but you may find it time consuming, especially if you have multiple computers in your home. To automate backups, both Windows and Mac offer solutions built into their operating systems:

• Windows Backup - see Microsoft's detailed explanation of Windows Backup at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/backup-and-restore
• Time Machine® - see Apple's detailed explanation of Time Machine at http://www.apple.com/support/timemachine

Free backup software from LaCie is also available at:

• LaCie Genie Timeline for Windows
• LaCie Intego for Mac

The table below provides a quick reference of the types of backup available with the LaCie CloudBox.

If you lose data or your hard drive fails, you may access the backups created by the utility to recover some or all of your files. All the utilities listed in this chapter are easy to use and will walk you through a recovery operation.