Every Day Is Backup Day

I originally posted this on my previous website for World Backup Day. Today is not that day, but I’ve seen some people online sad because they’ve lost data. I don’t want you to be sad, so here is my reminder to BACK UP YOUR DATA!!!

A couple updates to the article – I now back up my data to an 8 TB Seagate Backup Plus Hub external hard drive ($219) and the Backblaze online backup service ($60/year). Other than that, this article is still extremely relevant to backing up your important digital stuff.

There are three non-traditional holidays which I acknowledge. Sweetest Day is definitely not one of them (damn you, American Greetings).

Those three are:

1. March Fourth (a day to celebrate the marching arts)
2. May the Fourth Be With You (Star Wars Day)
3. World Backup Day (TODAY!!!)

By now, you’re realizing that I am a complete and total nerd/geek/dork. Of course, if you’ve met me even once, you knew that already, so, if you are coming to this realization now, then this is most likely the first time you’ve ever heard of me. Welcome to my website, hope you enjoy your stay.

Now, the real reason I’m writing this article is because, as stated earlier, today is World Backup Day. This day is exactly what you think it is – a day to focus on keeping your important data backed up, whether it is on your computer, your phone, your tablet, or some other device which stores information important to you. March 31 is World Backup Day because nobody wants to be an April Fool and lose their data. Being an IT professional, I preach this gospel to anybody I can whenever I can. This is why I say to you that every day is Backup Day!

Here’s how I recommend you backup your data:

3) Keep THREE copies of your data, the original copy on your computer and two backups copies.
2) Your backup copies should be stored on TWO different types of media. You should not backup your data to the same external hard drive, for example.
1) ONE of your backups should be stored outside of your home or office. Thanks to the many different online backup options like Carbonite or CrashPlan, this is easy to do.

It is commonly referred to as the 3-2-1 backup method and is the best way to guarantee you always have a copy of your data no matter what happens. Don’t be like Francis Ford Coppola, whose laptop and backup hard drive were both stolen, resulting in the loss of 15 years of work, including the script he was working on at the time of the robbery. The offsite backup copy is crucial to preventing data loss.

Personally, I back up my data to a Western Digital 1TB external hard drive and to the CrashPlan online backup service. Thanks to the free software provided by CrashPlan, my backups run continuously, ensuring that everything I have is on that hard drive and in the cloud. The cost of the drive is under $100 and is sometimes on sale for as low as $50. CrashPlan’s individual backup service for a single computer is $5/month or $60/year, well worth the cost. The simple fact is that, with all of the photos, videos, and other personal and professional documents we now keep in a digital format, the cost of losing that data is beyond a dollar amount. Start backing up your data today!