What Should You Know About Backing up Your Device Data?

It is recommended to get in the habit of backing up your data. Whether it is personal information or important files from work, having a copy or two would give some peace of mind.

Creating data backups may seem like a bothersome thing, but the process is not that complicated, thanks to advanced technology and flexible methods to copy your files and store them in a safe location just in case.

Ways to Back up Data

As a rule of thumb, most businesses and individuals use either external devices or cloud storage to back up data.

• External devices

Let’s start with external devices. A decent hard drive costs about 50 dollars. It can provide terabytes of available storage. Sure, there is an argument to be made about investing in an SSD rather than HDD since the former works faster. On the other hand, an HDD is cheaper and has more space.

If you have a MacBook, remember that most external hard drives are pre-formatted to accommodate ntfs files. When it comes to macOS, transferring some files from the computer to a hard drive and vice-versa can be a bit problematic since you can only read ntfs on mac rather than modify such files.

Luckily, there are third-party applications that can help you with the issue in case you do have ntfs files you want to back up.

• Cloud storage

Cloud storage is the second popular method to back up one’s files. The process is pretty simple. You copy the files from your computer, smartphone, or tablet and transfer them to a cloud service.

For Apple users, iCloud is the default cloud service. It comes with five gigabytes of free storage with an option to extend it by paying a monthly fee. You can get as much as 2TB of total cloud storage for ten dollars a month.

Other than iCloud, you also have Dropbox and Google Drive. The latter is great in particular if you only want to keep copies of documents. In fact, you can create them directly on the platform and access them whenever you need to.

Besides, there are more services than just the aforementioned three. The demand for cloud storage is growing, and new companies are looking to enter the market and offer various perks to potential customers. The competition is great for us consumers because these companies will continue to innovate if they want to stay competitive.

Causes Behind Data Disappearance

Now that we have discussed ways to back up your device data, what about some of the reasons why you should bother creating file copies in the first place? There are bound to be some people who are on the fence about backing up their data.

Even if you have a reliable device, the odds of its hardware malfunctioning eventually are pretty high. And when that happens, your data will disappear. Sure, there are some tools to restore the information, but you cannot count on that all the time. Sometimes, it is impossible to restore the information that was in the hardware.

Cybersecurity threats are another common reason why it is necessary to back up data regularly. You may be thinking that hardly anyone would be interested in targeting an individual, right?

Well, the reality is quite different. You may become a target accidentally by ending up on a landing page that is crawling with malware. Or, you may download a file someone sent you and fail to react in time.

The threats become even more of a problem when it comes to businesses that store vast amounts of data, a part of which could be sensitive personal information about clients. Losing that could lead to significant consequences. Strengthening cybersecurity strategy in addition to backing up data should be on the priority list.

Finally, you have someone who may get their hands on your computer or smartphone and delete files accidentally or on purpose. Again, this is not a common occurrence, but you will rest easier knowing that there is a file backup in case something happens to your data.

Should You Back up All Data?

The question of whether you should back up all your files is worth asking as well. If you have limited available storage to store data, you will need to think about which files you should prioritize.

On the other hand, it is difficult to tell whether one file is worth more than the other. After all, you cannot know when you might need a file, and losing it just because you failed to create a copy is quite upsetting.

Overall, it is probably for the best to invest enough money and purchase a decent external hard drive or subscribe to a cloud storage service and pay a monthly fee so that you have enough available space to back up your files.