Family photos, tax records, client files, years of email. Most of us keep things on our computers that we’d never want to lose. Computers fail, phones get dropped, and ransomware can lock up every file in minutes. A good backup turns any of those from a disaster into an inconvenience. Here’s how to make sure you have one.
The 3-2-1 rule
The simplest way to think about backups is the 3-2-1 rule, which the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recommends for businesses:
- 3 copies of anything important: the original plus two backups.
- 2 different types of storage, such as an external drive and the cloud.
- 1 copy kept somewhere else, so a fire, flood or theft can’t take everything at once.
You don’t need anything fancy to follow it. An external drive at home or the office plus a cloud backup covers all three.
Syncing isn’t the same as backing up
This is the part that surprises people. Services like OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and iCloud are great, but they’re designed to keep your files the same everywhere. That means if a file is deleted, overwritten or scrambled by ransomware on your computer, the change can copy to the cloud too.
These services do have safety nets. OneDrive keeps deleted files in its recycle bin for 30 days on personal accounts and up to 93 days on work accounts, and Microsoft 365 subscribers can roll their whole OneDrive back to any point in the last 30 days. That helps with recent mistakes, but if you don’t notice a problem for a few months, or it’s something outside those folders, you need a real backup.
For home computers
- Make sure your Documents, Desktop and Pictures folders are being saved to the cloud, such as OneDrive.
- Add a second copy on an external drive using the backup tool built into Windows or your Mac.
- Don’t forget your phone. Turn on photo backup so your pictures are saved automatically.
- Every so often, open your backup and make sure you can actually find and open your files.
For businesses
A business has more at stake, and more places where important data lives.
- Back up shared files, your server and accounting data automatically, every day.
- Keep at least one copy that ransomware can’t reach, such as a copy that’s offline or that can’t be changed once it’s saved.
- Microsoft 365 email, OneDrive and SharePoint benefit from their own backup too. Microsoft keeps the service running, but protecting your data long term is up to you.
- Test a restore regularly. CISA recommends making sure you can roll data back at least seven days.
The backup you can’t restore isn’t a backup
The most common problem we see isn’t a missing backup. It’s a backup that quietly stopped working months ago, or one nobody has ever tried to restore from. A backup that runs automatically, sends an alert when something goes wrong and gets tested now and then is the one that’s there when you need it.
We can help
We can set up backups for your home or business computers, check that the ones you have are actually working, and restore files when something goes wrong. If we manage your computers, we keep an eye on your backups every day. Call us at (856) 566-1300 or send us a message to make sure your files are protected.