It happens all too frequently. A client comes to me for help with a computer emergency – maybe their hard drive died, or they got hit with ransomware, or they mistakenly deleted some files they later realized they still needed. One of the first questions I always ask is “do you have a backup?” All too often, the answer is something other than an unequivocal yes, and in those cases it’s usually difficult (if not impossible) to completely recover all of the client’s precious data.
Backing up your data helps to prevent data loss, by making a copy of the data and storing that copy in a location different from the original. If you have any files on your computer that you wouldn’t want to lose (whether documents, spreadsheets, financial data, photos, videos, music, or anything else) and you don’t have them properly backed up, you are tempting fate and courting disaster. Sooner or later (whether through hardware failure, malware, a simple mistake, laptop theft, fire, flood, or some other cause) you WILL suffer a data loss, and if you don’t have a backup then your files will likely be gone forever. Read on for what you need to know to set up a backup protocol that works for you.
Terminology
“Backing up” or “making a backup” is the process of making a copy of your data. The copy itself is then referred to as simply “a backup.” “Restoring” is the process of copying the data from the backup to the data’s original location (or possibly somewhere else) to recover from a data loss. To use an insurance analogy, making regular backups is like paying the premiums on your car insurance, and restoring from a backup is like the insurance company paying you for your medical bills or the damage to your car after you’ve had an accident. And a backup is just like car insurance in another important way: most of the time you don’t need it, but if you need it and don’t have it you’re in for a world of hurt.
Two Ways to Go
There are two general approaches to making backups, and each has its pros and cons. The newer one, which has become increasingly popular in recent years, is cloud backup. In this approach, you make arrangements with a cloud provider, which involves setting up a backup application on your computer and usually agreeing to pay a monthly or yearly fee. Once the setup is complete, your files are copied from your computer over the internet to the cloud provider’s servers. Either continuously or at specific intervals, the backup application looks for files that have been created or modified since the last backup and copies them to the cloud as it finds them, so that you have a backup of the latest version of all your files. The big advantage of a cloud backup is its “set it and forget it” nature. You don’t need to do anything (or even THINK about it) on an ongoing basis, because the backup application takes care of everything for you automatically.
There are several down sides to cloud backups. Although some providers offer it for free if you have relatively little data, and certain products (such as some versions of Norton 360) include a certain amount of cloud backup at no additional charge, you typically have to pay for it. And while the cost is usually modest, it does add up over time. Another disadvantage is the possibility of your files being caught up in a data breach. If your cloud provider’s servers are hacked your data could end up in the hands of criminals. That danger can be reduced if your data is encrypted before being stored on the provider’s servers, but not all services may offer that option. The scariest down side is what can happen if your computer is infected by ransomware, which is malware that silently encrypts your files and then demands a hefty ransom to decrypt them. If your cloud backup is set up to automatically copy all new or modified files on a continuous basis, each of your files will be copied to the cloud as soon as it is encrypted, and by the time you see the ransom message both the originals AND the cloud copies will have been encrypted, making recovery of your data impossible. If you elect to use a cloud backup service, you can avoid this nightmare scenario by using a service such as IDrive (http://idrive.com), which maintains up to 30 versions of each file.
The more traditional approach is local backup, in which files are copied to an external hard drive, a USB flash drive, or some other media either directly connected to the computer or at least on the same local network. The advantages and disadvantages of local backup are pretty much the mirror images of those for cloud backup. There are no ongoing fees, there is no danger of your data being exposed in a corporate data breach, and your risk of losing both the original files and the backup in a ransomware attack is greatly reduced. The one exception is if you leave the external hard drive, USB flash drive or other backup media connected to the computer at all times; ransomware is often sophisticated enough to detect the connected media and encrypt its files also. So if you use local backup, be sure to disconnect the backup media as soon as the backup is complete.
The main down side to local backup is that you have to supply your own backup media and, more significantly, you have to remember to actually do the backup at appropriate intervals.
For a variety of reasons, some users choose to use a combination of cloud and local backups. For example, they may like the convenience of cloud backup, but still want the added security of having an occasional local backup. So they might take a “belt and suspenders” approach and use a cloud service, but also do a monthly or quarterly local full backup just for added protection.
Types of Backups
There are three general types of backups. A full backup copies files regardless of when they were created or modified, and regardless of whether they were included in any previous backup. Because full backups are not selective, they typically take significantly longer (possibly hours) than the other types. A differential backup copies only files that were created or modified since the last full backup. An incremental backup copies only files that were created or modified since the last backup of any type.
You may want to use different types of backups at different times. For example, you might choose to do a full backup only once a month, but do an incremental backup every day. That way, your backup would only take a long time once per month when you did the full backup, while the quick incremental backups would ensure that newly created or modified files would be backed up every day.
If you use cloud backup, you may never need to choose which type of backup to do at a particular time, as all that is typically automated by the software. As a practical matter, cloud backup services typically do an initial full backup, and then do incremental backups as needed to ensure that all files are backed up.
What to Backup
When you set up your backups, whether cloud or local, you need to specify what files will be copied. At a minimum, you should include your Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music folders. If you keep important downloaded files in your Downloads folder (which is the default destination for downloads) then include that folder too. If you use Quicken, depending on the version you have it may store its data in your Documents folder OR elsewhere. If you have important data in QuickBooks, or in any other financial, business, professional or other specialized software, you’ll need to investigate where each application stores its data. The bottom line is that you need to identify every folder where important data is stored, and make sure each such folder is included in your backups.
As a general rule, you should NOT attempt to backup Windows itself or the other software installed on the computer. Doing so would take a long time and consume huge amounts of space. And even if you were to copy all the software, it would be unlikely to do you any good. If Windows or any application becomes corrupted or deleted, you cannot use simple copies of its files to reinstall it; software can generally be installed only from special installation files that are either downloaded or supplied to you on CDs or other media.
The only type of software files you may want to include in your backups are downloaded installation files. If it becomes necessary to reinstall a downloaded application, having the original installation file will save you the time and trouble of downloading it all over again. It can also allow you to reinstall an application (or an earlier version of it) that the software vendor is no longer making available.
Conversely, if you downloaded the installation file for an application a while ago and the installed application subsequently received updates, if you later use the old installation file to reinstall the application, you’ll need to re-apply the updates to end up with a current version (fortunately, that’s usually not difficult to do).
When to Backup
People sometimes ask me how often they should do a backup. The short answer to that question is another question: what’s the maximum amount of work you’re willing to have to reconstruct from scratch? If that’s a day’s worth of work, you need to back up at least once a day. If it’s an hour’s worth of work, you need to do hourly backups. Keep in mind that the appropriate backup frequency can vary with your circumstances and workload. For example, a daily backup might be sufficient most of the time, but if you’re spending the entire day grinding out an important report that’s due the next morning, you probably want to backup that file at least hourly, if not more frequently.
Backup frequency is also related to backup type. Many individuals and organizations do full backups only occasionally (weekly, monthly, or even less frequently), but also do incremental or differential backups often enough to minimize the work that must be reconstructed after a data loss (typically at least daily, and often more frequently).
Where to Store Your Backups
Cloud backup services typically have robust backup protocols themselves, so that even if one of their servers fails they have at least one (and often more) backup copies of it. But if you rely wholly or partly on local backup, you need to consider the risk of losing both your original data and your backups from a single mishap. If you backup your laptop to USB flash drives and both the laptop and the USB flash drives are stored in the same bag, if that bag is stolen your data is gone. If you backup your desktop machine to an external hard drive that you keep on your desk, and your office is destroyed by fire or flood, you’re out of luck. In both those cases you’ll be hit with a double whammy: you will have lost your computer (which can be replaced, but it will cost you) AND your data (which cannot be replaced because you lost the backup too).
The way to minimize this risk is to at least occasionally do a full backup, and then store the backup media offsite, i.e., at a safe location OTHER than the location of your computer. That location could be a safe deposit box, your home (if you’re backing up data from your work or business), your workplace (if you’re backing up your data from home), or the home of a trusted relative or friend.
How to Backup
If you use cloud backup, the cloud provider will provide backup software and usually give you instructions for downloading and setting it up. In the case of OneDrive (Microsoft’s cloud service), the software is built into Windows itself, which is convenient. However, since OneDrive is enabled by default on new computers, many of my clients aren’t even aware they’re using it until they see a message saying their storage is full and they need to pay for more space. For that and other reasons I have very mixed feelings about OneDrive.
Local backups can be done in several ways. You can use the backup tools built into Windows itself. Dedicated backup software is also available from multiple vendors in both free and paid versions. My personal favorite is ASCOMP BackUp Maker (https://www.ascompsoftware.com/en/products/backupmaker/tab/description). It has free and paid versions, both of which use the industry standard .zip file format and offer optional data encryption. Finally, Windows command files (similar to the “batch files” used decades ago on MS-DOS computers) can be easily crafted to perform simple backup operations.
One of the services I provide for clients is devising and setting up appropriate backup solutions.