How Often Should I Backup My Data?

One of the more frustrating things that can happen to your computer is a massive loss of data. In order to avoid the loss of files and data from your system, it is very important to complete backups on a regular basis. There are many factors that can lead to catastrophic data loss, and it is not always easy to see when they’re coming – in fact, if you could see it coming, this would never be an issue. Whether it be hackers, natural disasters, or user error, there are too many ways for a significant amount of data to be lost and never recovered. Therefore, you should try to ensure that your data is safe and secure so that no matter what potential threat your computer faces, you have nothing to worry about.

How you should backup your files can depend on the importance of your files, as well as the amount of threats that could potentially harm your system. In order to ensure that your most important files are secure, it is necessary to backup your data on a weekly basis.  Large corporations have essentially no room for error regarding their data. Businesses  should have regular scheduled backups performed on a daily basis. By doing it more often, this will minimize the risks that your system faces. In fact, it is preferable to use automatically scheduled backups so there isn’t as much user error.

How do you backup your files? One option is to backup your files to the cloud. The cloud is useful, because it ensures that your files are backed up on both your own servers, as well as internet servers. Services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft Azure are just a few examples of cloud services that can be used to store your data.  Feel free to learn more about these cloud computing services here!

Another option would be to backup your data on an external hard drive. This is also useful if you suffer a large data loss on your regular hard drive. These portable hard drives are useful if you need to transfer your data as well.  This might be for those of you that are more tech-savvy, but also remember that it’s only worth backing up to your external hard drive if said external hard drive is disconnected from your computer most of the time.  Otherwise, you’re not really backing up your files, you’re just using an external hard drive as a hard drive!

Finally, there are certain services that can be used to backup your data continuously. Software services such as Carbonite, IDrive, and SugarSync that will all backup your data continuously. These services differ in what they can provide. For example, Carbonite allows for an unlimited amount of storage, but only from one computer. Other services allow for an unlimited amount of computers to be on the account, but they will have a limit on the storage they can use. Still, these services are a great way to ensure your data is being backed up on a continuous, just be sure to make certain which service is best for you.

Given the amount of volatile factors that could potentially lead to a significant data loss, it is essential to perform regularly scheduled backups of your system. Even if you don’t have super-duper important files regularly on your computer, it is a headache for you to lose everything at once.