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It’s no coincidence that World Backup Day falls the day before April Fool’s Day every year.
Anyone who’s ever suffered permanent data loss because they didn’t back up their computer, hard drive, or phone knows exactly how it feels to be a fool.
Even if you think you’ve backed up all your valuable data, March 31st is as good a day as any to reevaluate your system and test that it’s working as planned.
If you don’t have a robust backup solution for the data you care about, there’s no time like the present to sort one out.
Cloud sync services like Google Drive and Dropbox are rarely enough.
Read on and learn how to safeguard your digital life.
What Are the Best Devices for Backing Up Your Computer and Home Office?
In recent years, affordable cloud sync services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft OneDrive have made off-site backup an attractive option for consumers.
However, cloud storage is no replacement for dedicated local backup.
Cloud storage providers routinely change their policies and fee structures.
If you rely solely on cloud storage, you’re at risk of your data being held hostage by the service provider — or worse — even if it’s a well-established company.
For example, Kodak provided “free” photo backup to consumers through its Gallery service for years.
When Kodak filed for bankruptcy, it shut down the Gallery service but offered customers the ability to download their data or transfer it to a Shutterfly account.
However, many users reported issues downloading large image libraries and irretrievable data loss.
Cloud storage has its place in many consumer and commercial backup applications, but putting all your eggs in one basket is unwise — particularly when you don’t own the basket.
A hybrid backup process combining local and off-site data storage is far more bulletproof than cloud storage alone.
More on that later, but first, here are the most commonly used local backup devices for your valuable data.
External Hard Drives (HDD)
Hard drive data storage technology has been around since the early 1970s but used to be prohibitively expensive.
(Source: Creative Commons)
The earliest personal computers, like the Apple II, didn’t include an internal or external hard drive and instead relied on cassette tapes — and later floppy disks — for data storage.
In the 1980s, a 10MB external HDD cost thousands of dollars.
Today, you can get a high-quality 1TB HDD for about $50.
(Source: Our World in Data)
The exponential decline in the cost of data storage over time has fueled many of the technological innovations we take for granted today.
Reputable manufacturers like Western Digital or Seagate offer inexpensive external HDDs for consumer and professional data storage, often with automatic backup software included.
All mechanical hard drives fail eventually, including the internal HDDs that may power your laptop or desktop computer.
However, the cost per kilobyte for HDD storage is now so cheap it’s practically free.
Adding at least one external backup drive to your home office setup to safeguard your valuable data is a no-brainer…
For most people, it’s the best and most affordable place to start.
Solid State Drives (SSD)
Solid-state Drives (SSDs) are a relatively recent innovation that stores data using flash memory rather than a physical hard drive platter.
SSDs are more expensive per KB of storage than HDDs, but prices continue to drop rapidly.
Most laptop and desktop computers from reputable manufacturers like Dell and Apple now have an SSD built-in that serves as the primary drive for the operating system (Windows, MacOS, Linux, etc.).
HDDs as primary drives are going the way of the dinosaurs thanks to the many benefits of SSDs, including:
- No Moving Parts: HDDs rely on mechanical components like spinning platters and write/rewrite heads to store and retrieve data, whereas SSDs read and write to flash memory. Eliminating mechanical wear and tear from the data storage and retrieval process results in much-improved lifespan and performance.
- Faster Boot Times, Better Performance: Using an SSD as the primary drive provides speedier boot-ups and dramatic improvements to almost every aspect of the user experience. Upgrading from an HDD-powered computer to a model with an SSD is like trading in your jalopy for a Ferrari.
- Portable and Durable: SSDs offer greater portability and durability, making them far superior to HDDs as the primary drive in laptops.
If SSDs are so much better than HDDs in almost every way, why not just use them for backup?
Cost.
SSD storage cost per gigabyte is approximately 3x to 6x higher than HDD.
For primary drives, the benefits of SSDs far outweigh the additional expense…
But HDDs offer adequate performance at a much lower price for most data storage and backup applications.
For cost reasons, the SSDs built into most laptop and desktop computers have limited storage capacity for media such as photos, music, and movies.
Large media libraries are typically stored on external or internal HDDs.
The high speed and low latency of SSDs that make them preferable as primary drives don’t provide significant benefits for backup and media storage applications.
USB Flash and Thumb Drives
Thumb drives provide cheap, portable storage but insufficient capacity for most backup applications.
Network-Attached Storage (NAS)
If you’re a power user who wants to back up multiple devices on the same hard drive, NAS storage is the right choice.
Network-attached storage drives can provide
- Centralized backup for computers sharing the same WiFi or LAN (wired) network
- Easy file sharing between multiple devices. For example, if you have a large media library on a NAS drive, many users on the network can access it at once.
- Remote access
- RAID support for additional backup protection if a single drive in a multiple HDD array fails
NAS and RAID backup solutions are typically used in data centers and other commercial applications.
For most consumers, RAID is overkill.
Optical Discs (CDR/DVD/Blu-Ray)
Optical drives using physical media like CDRs, DVDs, and Blu-rays for media playback and data storage were once common in high-end consumer and professional computers.
However, the declining cost and greater convenience of HDD and SSD data storage for home backup have made read/write optical drives more or less obsolete.
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS): Backing Up Your Local Backup
Local data storage is essential to any robust backup strategy, but ensuring data security doesn’t end with buying a hard drive.
Computers and precision electronics — particularly Internal and external HDDs and SSDs — are extremely sensitive to variations in electricity, including power surges, voltage drops, brownouts, and blackouts.
Surge protector power strips offer only basic protection against power spikes and none against fluctuations in voltage and electricity quality.
Unconditioned household power puts your computers and hard drives at risk of decreased lifespan and performance, permanent damage, and irretrievable data loss.
Investing in an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) helps ensure the longevity of your devices and the safety of your data.
Desktop computers, HDDs, and SSDs are particularly vulnerable to unexpected power outages, but laptops and tablets are also susceptible to damage when plugged into an outlet or charging.
A UPS with an auto switchover time of >10 milliseconds (>10ms) provides data center-level protection for computers, backup hard drives, and other sensitive electronics.
By plugging your devices directly into a high-quality UPS, you get protection from fluctuations in voltage and current and time to shut your computer and peripherals down properly in the event of a blackout.
It’s inadvisable to plug your devices into a power strip and connect the strip to the UPS, so make sure the model you choose has enough inputs available.
Also, keep in mind that many entry-level UPS units only give you a few minutes to shut down your systems and require you to be there when the blackout happens.
More sophisticated models often come with a dedicated app that connects to your computer via USB and initiates the correct shutdown procedure automatically.
Some portable power stations, like EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus, offer >10ms auto-switchover for NAS-level UPS protection and also provide extended battery backup power for computers, peripherals like hard drives and WiFi routers, and essential home appliances.
What About Cloud Storage for Backup?
For many consumers, cloud storage is convenient and affordable.
Free tiers for products like Google Drive and Microsoft One Drive offer generous storage capacity and reasonable subscription costs for when your off-site backup needs grow.
Power users and small businesses also have plenty of cloud backup service options like Acronis True Image and Backblaze.
While it may be tempting to sync a computer with Google Drive or OneDrive and consider yourself “fully backed up,” relying solely on third-party storage for your valuable or irreplaceable private data is risky and ill-considered.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take advantage of cloud storage, but it should be a component of your overall strategy that includes local backup, not a standalone solution.
Here are the main reasons why relying on cloud backup services alone can be a huge mistake.
- Internet Connectivity Dependence
By definition, cloud backup services rely on an internet connection to work.
The speed and reliability of your internet connection—and the policies of your internet service provider (ISP)—will largely determine the effectiveness of your cloud backup application.
If you have a significant amount of data to back up and a slow internet upload speed, your initial backup could take days, weeks, or months.
The longer the upload takes, the greater the likelihood that your data could be corrupted during the process.
If your connection is interrupted for any reason, you may be unable to resume, requiring you to start over.
Many ISPs cap bandwidth or throttle speed once you upload or download above a set threshold, further complicating the backup process and putting your data at risk.
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
It’s essential to recognize that all of the above also applies to restoring your data — ultimately, the reason for backing it up in the first place.
Depending on your cloud backup service, you may face additional challenges to restoring your data other than internet reliability or speed.
For example, if you sync a relatively large folder (50GB+) with several popular consumer cloud sync products, the full folder can only be retrieved using a proprietary app.
Many cloud solutions “chunk” larger data into smaller, more convenient pieces for storage and retrieval.
For example, a 1TB media folder synced to the cloud may only be downloadable as 20 x 50GB files — each dependent on the other for data restoration to complete.
You can download the files in their original format from the synced folder in small numbers, but that’s hardly a convenient option when you need to restore gigabytes of data (or more).
- Privacy and Security
Entrusting your private data to a third party — no matter how large — comes with risks.
- Government and law enforcement agencies may be able to access your data without your knowledge or consent.
- Any data stored in the cloud is vulnerable to breach, whether through malicious hacker and ransomware attacks or unintentional mistakes.
- Long Term Cost
Cloud backup is an ongoing expense.
Depending on how much data you need to store — and where you store it — the long-term subscription costs can really add up.
Consider storing easily replaceable program files and applications locally and only backing up essential data in the cloud.
- Data Ownership and Control
Any data you store in the cloud is subject to your vendor’s policies. Few users bother to read the Terms and Conditions, but you may end up being unpleasantly surprised at how your data is used.
What are the Different Data Backup Methods?
Whether you opt for local or cloud-based backup or (hopefully) both, numerous methods exist for keeping your data up-to-date and safe.
Here are the pros and cons of each.
Manual Backup
Until recently, manually backing up data to local storage, be it a floppy, hard, or compact disc, was standard operating procedure for most consumers.
Manual backup may be viable if you only need to secure a few folders…
But given the sheer amount of data most people generate and store today, it’s unlikely to be effective.
If you do elect to DIY, save a copy of your data to a local drive and a reliable cloud backup provider with a free tier, like Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox.
Pros
- Cheap
Cons
- Inconvenient
- Prone to human error (i.e., forgetting to regularly back up)
Full Backup
A full backup automatically copies all the data on your computer to an external storage device and/or the cloud.
If you use an image-based option, it will also copy the operating system.
Pros
- Fastest restore time with little to no configuration required
- Set it and forget it. Back up daily, weekly, monthly — whatever you prefer
Cons
- Extremely resource intensive
- Slow
- Requires the most storage space
Incremental Backup
Backs up only new or modified data since the last full, incremental, or differential backup.
Pros
- Fastest backup
- Least storage consumed
Cons
- Slowest restore time
- High risk of data corruption: Restoring an incremental backup requires the initial full backup and each subsequent incremental backup file to be intact. If one backup file in the chain is corrupted, partial or full data loss may occur.
Differential Backup
Only data modified or created since the last full backup is backed up.
Pros
- Faster than a full backup
- Less prone to data corruption than incremental backups: Only the last full and latest differential backup files are required to restore your data.
- Easier to restore than incremental backups
Cons
- Slower than incremental backups
- Uses more storage than incremental backups
Mirror Backup
Mirror backups clone your entire system in real-time, including all operating system and application files in addition to your data.
Pros
- Almost instantaneous recovery time during a primary system failure
- Unlike with scheduled full, incremental, or differential backups, all data from the primary system is preserved
- Offers robust protection against primary system hardware failure
Cons
- Cost: Since a mirror is a clone of the primary system, it requires the same amount of storage space.
- Vulnerability to malware, user errors, and other threats. Because all data is mirrored, any virus that attacks the primary system will be replicated in the clone. If data becomes corrupted on the primary system, it will also be corrupted on the mirror.
- Best deployed in conjunction with other backup methods that offer system restore points
Most intermediate to advanced users use a combination of full, incremental, and/or differential backups to maximize data storage capacity and minimize risk.
How Do I Choose a Backup Method and Schedule?
There are multiple factors to consider when determining which backup method and schedule is right for you, including:
- How quickly does your data change?
- How much data are you willing to lose if your primary drive fails? A day? A week? A month?
- How quickly do you need to be back up and running with your recovered data?
- How much money do you have to spend on local and cloud storage?
- What’s your budget for backup automation software that can help meet your goals?
Most intermediate to advanced users choose a combined schedule of full, incremental, and/or differential backups that balance cost vs. risk and convenience.
Common backup schedules include:
- Weekly Full / Daily Incremental
- Monthly Full / Weekly Differentials / Daily Incrementals
Only you can determine the ideal backup schedule and method based on your individual needs.
However, as a general rule, a hybrid of local backup and cloud storage is always the best choice.
3-2-1 Back Up Rules!
No matter what backup method and storage devices you choose, backup experts agree…
Follow the 3-2-1 rule.
In other words…
Keep 3 copies of your data on 2 different media and 1 copy offsite.
For most users, the best option is a hybrid backup solution in which your primary computer is backed up on a secondary local hard drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD) and a dedicated cloud backup service.
Rather than relying solely on cloud sync services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and One Drive for backup, consider a dedicated cloud backup provider like BackBlaze or iDrive for better protection against catastrophic data loss.
Sync services are better suited to collaboration and storing individual files, not backing up and recovering entire directories and systems.
Final Thoughts
Just like “Children’s Day,” every day is World Backup Day if you care about your precious data.
Still, the day before April Fools is as good a time as any to reevaluate your current backup system or put one in place.
Whether you’re storing family photos or sensitive documents, some data can’t be replaced.
Following the 3-2-1 rule with hybrid local and cloud backup puts you in a solid position when data corruption or system failure inevitably occurs.
EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus helps keep your local data storage bulletproof by providing reliable battery backup and >10ms UPS power.
EcoFlow offers a wide variety of portable power stations to meet your needs, from camping trips off-grid to whole-home backup.
Check out our selection today.