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The importance of backing up your data
Posted May 8, 2019
By Emily Macios
Our computers contain a lot of important documents and files that we use and rely on everyday. Whether it's work documents, family vacation photos, tax documents, etc., your data is usually invaluable. What would you do if you were to lose it?
Data loss can happen at any time. With the constant reading and writing of data, hard drives are prone to failure over time. And this usually happens at the worst time, and without warning. The blue screen of death is never a welcome sight. A computer crash isn't the only way to lose your data. Physical damage, file corruption, viruses, malware, and power failures are other common methods of data loss. Or your computer could get lost or stolen. There are countless ways that your data could be lost forever.
This makes it critical to backup your data regularly. And in more than one place.
Types of backups include:
External hard drive
External hard drive storage is cheap and very cost effective. It is also very portable and makes it easy to transport data. Data can be transferred between different computers using a USB cable. This is a great option for storing large files.
If using a Mac, Time Machine can be enabled to create a backup of your entire system every hour of the day. If anything were to happen to your Mac, everything can be restored from your Time Machine backup on your external drive.
Flash drive
Flash drives, also called thumb or jump drives, are very fast, and small enough to put in your pocket. Storage size is usually smaller than an external hard drive.
Cloud Storage
Cloud storage is very convenient if you want to access your files from anywhere on any device. It'a also very secure and safe since the data is stored in a remote location. Cloud storage services like OneDrive, Dropbox, Amazon Drive, and Google Drive make it simple to access your files on the go while on your mobile device or laptop.
How often should you back up your files? Well, that depends on how often you make changes. If it's an important document that is updated daily, a backup should be made at least once a day. Otherwise, it's important to back up your files at least weekly.
Data backup should be an essential and regular part of your routine. Save yourself the anxiety and disaster of data loss by performing regular backups to multiple types of backup sources.
