In this digital day and age, data backup has become an absolute must for every business and personal computer user to ensure all their digital data and documents. Once limited to just a few outdated backup methods, Mac users now have a wide array of backup options and programs to choose from. Before making a decision on what program is right for you, here are ten things you should know.

1. Try it out before you buy it. Most software developers offer trial or free versions of their product so prospective customers can essentially “test drive” it. Look for Mac backup programs that offer a free trial so you can get a clear understanding of how the software works.

2. Is archival a necessity? An archived backup is essentially a snapshot of data at a specific time and for many small business owners and home users, archiving allows them to access previous versions of documents and files. For example, using Mac backup software that offers archiving allows you to store monthly or annual backups of business data, ideal for tax purposes, reporting, and more.

3. These days, more and more Mac users are opting for a web-based software program that allows you to access and restore your files from any computer with a high-speed Internet connection. Most web-based services charge a flat monthly fee for unlimited or a predetermined amount of storage space.

4. Know the difference between full and incremental backups and choose a service that allows you to perform both at your discretion. A full backup refers to the first time you back up an entire document or file while an incremental backup refers to only backing the data of a document or file that is new or has changed since the last backup was performed. Many users opt to perform incremental backups daily (which are faster to perform) and full backups once a week or monthly.

5. A mac backup software program that compresses data while it copies to the backup media will reduce the size of the backup and take up less space. Look for a program that offers standard compression format over a proprietary compression scheme.