How to properly back up your data
In this article, you will learn how to automatically back up important data from your computer, how to back up photos from your mobile phone, and what backup programs you can use.
If you don't back up your data regularly, it's only a matter of time before you lose it.
General guidelines for data backup
If your data in stored in only one location (on one storage device, e.g. on a computer), then if this storage device fails (mechanical, electrical, or software failure), your data will be inaccessible, and if the damage is severe, it may not be possible to restore it even in our professional data recovery laboratory.
You should back up your data regularly and to multiple storage devices in different locations. This will prevent data loss in case of events like floods, fires or theft.
It is also necessary to ensure that backups are not immediately overwritten in all locations, because, for example, if the file system is damaged or a ransomware virus attack encrypts the data, this unusable data would immediately end up in all backups. For the same reason, the backup location should not be constantly accessible for writing, as ransomware tries to encrypt all available data even in network locations.
We also recommend that, in addition to full backups, incremental backups are also performed. That is, only the changed files are backed up and these backups are kept for a certain period. This will allow you to return to older versions of files, for example, if you accidentally delete part of the text in a document and only find out about it after a week.
In addition to user data, it is also possible to back up the operating system, so that if it is damaged, you do not have to reinstall the entire system and all programs. However, this is a smaller problem than data loss, as some of your data can no longer be recovered.
It is also advisable to regularly back up data (such as photos) from your mobile phone. Although the mobile operating system (Android, iOS) includes the option to automatically back up data to the cloud, this has several disadvantages. For example, photos are backed up in a lower resolution to save space, storage is limited, and since the data is not encrypted, there is a risk that someone unauthorized can access them.
Data backup should be done automatically, because from my own experience I know that otherwise people tend to forget over time and only remember when data is lost, and they need a backup and find out that it is several years old. At the same time, it is advisable to regularly check whether backups are being made. Automatic backups should also report failures during backups, e.g. by email.
Data backup programs
Several programs can be used to automatically back up data. Some are free, others are paid, and they differ in features and ease of use. To avoid forgetting to back up data, you can set them to perform a backup every time you turn off your computer (if it hasn't already been done that day). A frequently used backup program is FreeFileSync. It has a somewhat confusing interface, but it has lots of features and is free (open source). A paid software option is SmartSync, for example.
Example of a more complex data backup setup
To back up photos (and other data) from a mobile phone, the phone is set so that if it is connected to a given Wi-Fi network and is plugged into a charger (and it is, for example, after 8 pm), new photos are backed up to a network storage (NAS).
To back up files from a computer, the computer is set to perform an incremental backup of all new files every day (if it is running) and upload it to the NAS. These daily backups are kept for 1 month, after which older backups are replaced by newer ones.
Another incremental backup is performed once a week, and weekly backups are kept for 3 months. Another backup is performed once a month, and monthly backups are kept for 1 year.
For an incremental backup, of course, a full backup must first be performed, from which only the increments (differences) are then saved. Incremental backups are stored in a folder where files cannot be deleted, so these backups will be available even in the event of a ransomware attack. In addition to incremental backups, a full backup (mirroring) of all data on the NAS is also performed, which is then synchronized to another NAS in a different location.
