Everyone Needs Backups
I have no backups.
Most people do not have any form of backup for their data. Many people do not see this as a necessity. This book covers:
- Understanding the importance of backups
- Knowing what you should (and should not) backup
- Making a backup plan
- Using the tools to execute that plan
Why do I need backups?
Every disk, every phone, every flash drive dies, and odds are they will die with unique data on them that you will suddenly miss very much. Recovery is a time consuming and often expensive process. Backups also make the re-installation process of an OS much smoother.
Drives do not always broadcast imminent death. Assume they will just die. Every time.
Think of where the following exist:
- Your first child’s baby pictures
- Your Wedding photos
- Your Résumé
- Your tax documents
- Your thesis
- All of that school work due at the end of the week
- Your Minecraft world that you have been working on for 6 months
- The assignments your students turned in this afternoon
We have seen all of these, and many more, come through the subreddit or our live chats. Often times the users are completely out of luck when it comes to recovering these lost memories or incredibly important documents.
Some are lucky enough to be able to recover themselves, others have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars for a professional to handle it.
How do I get started with backups?
Hopefully, you are interested in creating a backup plan now. If so keep reading as backups are not simply drag-dropping your files once and forgetting about them. It is an ongoing process that requires at least a little bit of planning.