By Sandra Quinn
Today (March 31) is World Back-Up Day – do you have your precious documents, sentimental photographs, invoices, account details and contacts all backed-up onto a reliable server in case your hardware unexpectedly fails you?
We all know the theory behind it, but let’s be realistic for a minute – do any of us actually follow the guidelines, back-up everything and protect ourselves against the loss of precious data by having a reliable back-up system?
In honour of the day that’s in it, we decided to take a look at the best ways to back-up your data, whether it is personal or sentimental items, crucial work data or financial documents.
Here are some of our top tips for backing-up your information, data and important files;
- Firstly, let’s get back on that realism train again – even if you tell yourself that you will remember to back-up your data on the first Tuesday of every month for example, it is highly likely that you will not follow through on this – life will get in the way and you won’t remember on a regular basis. In order to combat this, the best thing to do is to set up scheduled automatic back-ups. This way, you know that it will be done on a set day to an automated schedule and it is not something you need to worry about or slot into your diary.
- Secondly, think about the best options available to you – should you back-up your data onto a physical piece of hardware, a USB or hard drive for example? In this way, they cannot be hacked or accessed by anyone unless they physically possess the hardware and if you password protect the device, you are adding on an additional layer of security and protection. The one drawback here is that you will need to physically do this at regular intervals and it does require a bit of memory and human intervention, rather than just depending on an automated back-up and restore function on your device.
- If you are more of a hands-off person who relies on the automatic updates, a cloud back-up system may be the solution for you. There are a few major perks to this system in that you don’t have to worry about it, it can be set up to be automatic and it is also on the cloud, so you can access it remotely and from anywhere or from a number of devices. Unlike the previous option, you do not have to have the piece of physical hardware with you in order to open the file. There are options which are free and very reliable, but if you want to up your game or require more storage, there are paid models, which will give you more storage space, so have a think about your requirements first.
Here are a few reasons why a back-up and restore might be required;
- A virus could corrupt your files and render them inaccessible.
- Your device could be stolen.
- You might have forgotten your laptop or phone and need to access some saved information remotely.
- You might have deleted something accidentally from the core device and need to access it urgently or restore it.