Backup, Backup, Backup

Way back in 2005, I had my horror hard drive crash story. Keeping backups of your data on a separate storage device or in the cloud is a way to protect your data when you have a crash or your original copy is lost, destroyed or damaged.

There is even a website to remind you to start backing up, March 31, as the World Backup Day.

Let’s learn the Tao of Backup.

1. Coverage. Backup every file in your care, no matter how lowly. Even the smallest file can take days to recreate.
2. Frequency. As frequently as you can - hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly.
3. Separation. Have multiple backups in multiple locations - physical or cloud.
4. History. Make sure you have copies of your old backups.
5. Testing. Test and make sure your backups actually works.
6. Security. Make sure your backups are secure - physically and digitally.
7. Integrity. Take care of the integrity of your data. If your original is corrupt, then the backup copy will likely be corrupt too.

3-2-1 Rule of Backup

An Industry popular backup method is the 3-2-1 Rule;

• 3 copies of the data,
• 2 different types of storage media, and
• 1 of them to be offsite in a remote location (this can be a cloud storage).