Losing your family or business data in a natural disaster can be one catastrophe on top of another. Learn the how and why of comprehensive data backup.
The continuous technological advances we have enjoyed can lull us into a false sense of security when it comes to data protection. After all, if our phones keep getting smarter, our computers keep getting faster, and more and more data is handled by something we just call “the cloud,” what do we have to worry about? Isn’t that blue screen of death a thing of the past by now?
Unfortunately, it’s not, and just as computers can keep failing, external conditions can fail us as well. Natural disasters like fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes can destroy your data no matter how smart your phone is. There’s a lot that insurance can replace, but if your data isn’t backed up, it’s gone for good. That can be heartbreaking for families and backbreaking for businesses. Knowing why data backup is important should allow you to prepare comprehensively. As always, you’re better safe than sorry.
For Families
The family photo album in 2020 isn’t just pictures you took digitally—it’s also the scans of all the old photographs your family took on film, preserved for all time, or so you think. If your paper copies have been lost and newer photos never had physical copies to begin with, a failed hard drive could cost your family its memories. When it comes to family pictures, music collections, and all your personal documents, consider pairing cloud storage with an external hard drive at home.
This is an affordable, convenient, and prudent solution for personal data. Keeping everything on an external drive means it’s less likely that you will lose documents due to mechanical failure, as would be the case on a laptop. Cloud storage protects you against worst-case scenarios, such as fires and floods, that would damage your computers and your photos, too.
For Small Businesses
If you’re a small business owner, you can’t afford to lose all your client information, human resources, and your full archive of work in one fell swoop. Such a blow to your company could put you out of business. Hard offsite backup and cloud backup together should be a foolproof solution against digital and physical damage at your office. While the cloud is reliable in most cases, it can sometimes be better to store all information on a dedicated off-premises hard drive, as well.
For Clubs and Social Groups
Even among longstanding community clubs in small towns, paper record-keeping has become a thing of the past. Whether you’re the club secretary, historian, or simply a member who cares about preserving the legacy of your civic group, digitizing and backing up your archives is a necessary step. Consider storing info on the cloud or back data up on multiple external hard drives to be distributed among select club members. A voluminous archive of achievements and undertakings is important to continuing a civic group’s long legacy. Don’t discover why data backup is important the hard way.
