…unless you had your data in three places. Without your original hard disk, your data is in only one place. Until you make another copy, it’s not backed up… But now you have only your backup: a single copy of your data.Your hard disk dies and all data on it is lost.You have a (single) copy of your data as a backup.If a backup is “a” copy, why are we suddenly talking about three copies?īecause stuff happens. Backups fail, and if you believe in fate (or Finagle’s law), they fail when you need them most. Backing up in 3, 2, 1…Ī great overall strategy for backing up is what many refer to as the 3-2-1 approach.īacking up to three copies. The closer your backup is to the original, the greater the possibility that you could lose both at once. If the backup is copied to a DVD, USB stick, or external drive and kept in the same physical location, and that location suffers a physical catastrophe such as a fire or flood, you could lose your data and your backup.If the backup is on a different computer on the same network, a network problem or malware on your local network could start deleting files, including your data and your backup.If the backup is on an external hard disk but connected to the same computer, and there’s a software glitch or malware on that computer that starts destroying files on all connected devices, you could lose your data and your backup.If the backup is on a different hard disk inside the same computer, and something happens to the computer that damages both hard disks (like a power supply failure), you could lose your data and your backup.If the backup is on the same hard disk and that hard disk dies, you could lose your data and your backup.The further away your backup lives from the original, the more types of disasters you’ll be protected from. Well, the ideal answer is “as far away from your computer as practical.” So where should this “somewhere else” be? If your data is in only one place, meaning that there are no copies of that data, then you’re not backed up. Rather than backing up this and that, hoping you’re including everything that might be important, a full- image backup is a copy of absolutely everything on your computer: your data, your programs, your settings, and even the computer’s operating system.īoth types of backups share two important characteristics: If you then burn those pictures to a DVD for safekeeping, you’ve backed them up again. Similarly, if you take the contents of your “My Documents” folder tree and copy it to another machine or burn it to DVD, you’ve backed those files up. If you copy pictures from your digital camera to your computer without deleting them from the camera, that’s a backup. Types of backupsīacking up generally takes one of two forms. Where backing up starts to seem complicated is when you look at all the options on how much to back up, how often, and what tools to use to make sure it happens regularly. The purpose of a backup is simple: if something happens and you can’t get your information from your computer or online account (which happens much more often than people realize), then you recover the data from the backed-up copies. Regardless of what you call the drive it’s on, if it’s only in one place, it’s not backed up. But that means there’s still only one copy: the copy on that backup drive. After copying their information to their “backup” drive, they delete the original. If you remember only one thing from this, let it be that.įolks occasionally misunderstand. If it’s only in one place, it’s not backed up. After you back up, you have that same information in two (or more) places. The key word is copy, as in duplicating the information. To back something up is to make a copy of it and then keep that copy in a safe place. What’s most important is that you set up a backup system that works for you, and works with little effort, so that when, not if, something happens, you’ll be prepared. You can keep your backups on external drives or back up a subset of your data to the cloud. You can copy data files or use imaging software to back up entire hard disks. Backing up means making additional copies of your data or system, and keeping those copies in other locations.
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