Have you ever lost data that was really important to you? There is a moment of panic when you realize you don’t have a copy of that data. Maybe it was all your contacts in your email account, images for your presentations, all your prayer letters or maybe all of your Quarterly Reports. Okay that last one is a stretch, but most people have data that is not just valuable to them, it’s too valuable to lose. In today’s data-driven world, backing up your files is of the utmost importance.

Computer failure, accidental deletion, ransomware/virus/malware, or natural disasters are just some of the ways you can lose data. The only way to prepare for the unexpected is to have a backup strategy in place. There are several different ways to backup your data and having multiple options in place will help minimize the risk of losing that valuable information.

Typical backup options include CD/DVDs, flash drives, external hard drives, remote hard drives, online storage service and online cloud backup services. Most people start with external USB drives like a flash drive or an external hard drive to save their data. While using flash drives can be a viable backup solution, there might be a few reasons why you should shy away from that being your only form of backup. Number one, they are smaller than your typical external hard drives. Meaning they would be easier to misplace or lose. Number two, flash drives are less dense than external hard drives which means not as much data can fit on one drive. This could lead to needing multiple flash drives to complete a backup.

Remote hard drives are used when you have more than one computer you need to backup. They sit on a network and specialized software is used on the computer to backup to the remote drive. This doesn’t require another hard drive to be attached to your computer like the option above would. It will utilize your internet connection to backup data so take that into consideration when looking at this solution.

Online Storage services such as Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive and so on are a good option to consider when you don’t want to have to purchase extra hardware. Just remember that these services are designed for file syncing more than file backup. If you accidentally delete a file on one location, it will be deleted on the synced location as well.

Online Cloud Backup Services are the best protection against theft or natural disasters since they aren’t stored locally. Data that is sent to the cloud backup providers is automatically encrypted for an extra layer of security. Cloud Backup vendors also store your data on multiple drives for more redundancy. The downfall of this type of backup is your data connection. You must upload everything you want to backup via your internet connection. This could take days depending on your connection speed and the amount of data you plan to backup. Once the upload is complete, the backup process can be set to run automatically on your downtimes which can be a nice convenience.

As you can see there are several different ways to backup your data and each one will have its own set of procedures. Having data backed up to multiple places is going to be your safest bet when it comes to data loss. Don’t feel like you need to limit yourself to only one backup option. Deciding what data you want backed up should be a first step when configuring your backup plan. Whatever you do decide, do something rather than nothing. Don’t let data loss be a regret that can be prevented.