Welcome to World Wide Backup Day 2021! Today is the day to make sure you back up your computers and devices, I think that it is incredibly fitting that this day falls the day before April Fool’s Day, don’t you? So here is your official reminder to Back. Up. Your. Stuff!
Don’t let this happen to you..
In honor of World Wide Backup Day 2021… I present to you a quick overview of some of your backup options for phones and computers.
But first things first 3-2-1
No, we are not launching anything… The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy is the gold standard of data preservation. It states:
3 Copies of your Data (Computer or Laptop / Local Backup to EHD / Cloud Backup Service)
2 Different Devices ( Computer or Laptop / Local Backup to EHD )
1 Copy off site in case of disaster (Cloud Backup… automatic is best!)
Apple / Mac
If you’re on an iPhone/iPad/Mac you should be backing up / synching to iCloud for your photos/contacts/messages/device settings and several other items. The settings are easy to find on your phone under: Settings/Your Name on the top bar/iCloud. You may or may not need to purchase additional cloud storage from Apple but it’s short money to make sure all of your photos and information is safe in the cloud and available on all of your devices.
**One very very important thing to note… your information backs up to iCloud, so it’s retrievable should you break your phone or iPad, and in that way is “backed up”. iCloud really is a synch system so any changes made to say a photo in Apple Photos will be reflected across all of your devices. If you delete a photo on your phone, it’s also deleted on your iPad and your Mac computer.
If you’re on a Mac desktop or laptop, your quickest and easiest local backup option is Time Machine. You’ll need an external hard drive with enough memory to backup your Mac and any other external drives attached ex: my internal drive is 3Tb and I have an attached 1Tb drive so my Time Machine backup drive should be at least 4Tb. Drives are fairly reliable now and extremely inexpensive all things considered.
Android / PC
Android phones can back up to Google, very simply. Select Settings, then System, then Backup, turn it to on. You’ll have the choice to set it to back up only on wifi if you are keeping an eye on your data plan. There are several other options to explore including specific apps to back up Android phones.
For PC users, perhaps one of your simplest options is to back up your computer to Mircosoft OneDrive which is included on all Windows 10 computers, you can also back up your phone photos to OneDrive keeping everything in one easy to access location.
PC users (or anyone really) also have the option of purchasing an external hard drive (again large enough to backup your computer and any associated hard drives) that comes with backup software that when enabled can auto-backup your computer as well. You can back up your computer at home, and take the hard drive to work to keep it safe off site.
Cloud Backup
Dropbox, Amazon Photos, Amazon Drive, Google Drive, Google Photos, One Drive are all cloud based services which can be used in a variety of ways to backup data and photos.
Automatic Cloud backup services such as BackBlaze or Carbonite will back up your computer continuously to online servers so your data is secured in another location. These are fairly inexpensive and provide huge peace of mind in areas where natural disasters are a concern.
Modern Memorykeeper Can Help!
One of the services that Modern Memorykeeper provides as part of a comprehensive organization of your photos both physical and digital is a review and recommendation for the best backup strategies for your unique collection. Need more information or help preserving your memories? Get in touch today, we’d love to help you save your photos to share with your friends and family.
Now.. go forth and back up your stuff!
Professional Photo Organizing with Modern Memorykeeper, LLC. 