3 File Backup Routine to Incorporate Today

There is no doubt that the number of cyber attacks and other risks we face today is increasing rapidly. The recent case of ransomware known as WannaCry is a clear example of how an attack can result in the complete loss of essential files; files that can be valuable and aren’t always restorable. Having a good backup routine is more important than ever before.

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For personal users, establishing a backup routine is not complicated at all. There is a simple 3-step routine that can help safeguard your files when implemented today.

Everyday Backup to the Cloud

Cloud services are not only free, but also offer a wide range of features that can be handy for backing up files. Your Google account, for example, comes with Google Drive and 15 GB of free cloud storage space to use. The latest version of the Google Drive app for desktops is even handier for backing up essential files. Instead of a dedicated Drive folder on your computer, the app can now be configured to monitor several folders and back the contents of those folders automatically.

This means you can set your Google Drive app to automatically monitor your work folder and back up documents to the cloud. It can also be used to back up photos and other files on your computer. Make sure you only back up the essential files for two reasons. First, it will be much faster for the app to complete the upload with only a handful of important files to cover. Plus, the Google Drive’s limited free space won’t be a problem when you only back up essential files to the cloud.

A Dedicated Cloud Backup

Cloud storage services are designed mainly for storing and sharing files, so they are not the best services to use if you want to back up your entire computer. For this, you need a cloud backup account. Fortunately, similar to the cloud storage services, you can get an account for free or for a relatively small fee.

Cloud backup services are designed specifically for the job, which means you can easily back up an entire hard drive – including your software and configurations – to the available storage. Some cloud backup services now offer unlimited space too. The only catch is that you can only back up files from a single computer.

Offline Backups

For quick and easy restoration, it is also a good idea to maintain an offline backup; or several of them. Thanks to the decreasing prices of hard drives and SSDs, you can now have more than 10 TB of storage for backup purposes without breaking your bank.

You even have more options when it comes to setting up your offline backup. You can use a USB external hard drive for the fast copying of files. You can also set up a more elaborate Network Attached Storage to enjoy additional features, including the ability to set up multiple hard drives in RAID configuration.

When the worst case scenario hits and you lose all of your files, you can easily recover all of them thanks to these backups. You can choose to recover only the important files from the cloud, restore files from the external hard drive, or do a complete system restoration with the help of the cloud backup service.