Every hard drive fails eventually. If it’s not a hard drive failure today, it could be a faulty system update, a stolen computer, or a corrupted file that results in a lot of stress and lost files. Most people know that data backups would save them a lot of time and trouble down the road, but they don’t take the time now to set up a system to protect the digital records of their lives. Waiting to backup your files until something goes wrong won’t help you. With the plethora of affordable options for both cloud and physical backups, there’s no reason to not be backing up your data. With that, let’s talk about the two most common ways of backing up data and two options for doing so.
Cloud backups (recommended): This is the most common and the easiest way to backup your data. Cloud backups are reliable and easy to set up. Most cloud backup services work by having the user identify the files and documents to be backed up, followed by a backup schedule. This means that if there is ever a hard drive failure or other data issue, all important files will be up-to-date and safe in the cloud and able to be downloaded and restored quickly.
One of the well-reviewed cloud backup services, and my personal favorite, is Backblaze. Backblaze provides unlimited storage for one computer and external USB devices for $5 a month or $50 a year, which is one of the cheapest options. Backblaze also allows files of any size to be backed up, so advanced users could back up a clone of their computer in order to preserve their file structure and current operating system before a system update, for example. Additionally, Backblaze provides several different file recovery options and file encryption. Backblaze is reliable, affordable, easy to setup and use, and has great support, so it’s a great choice for anyone looking to backup their data.
Two other cloud backup options that I can recommend, having tried them, are Crashplan and Carbonite, two of the other most popular backup services. However, Crashplan recently announced that they are ending their consumer cloud backup in order to focus on enterprise backups. Crashplan now recommends Carbonite for consumers. Personally, the factors that drove my switch from Carbonite to Backblaze were price, data storage, and USB device backup. Back when I first started using Carbonite, storage was not unlimited. It was also crucial for me to be able to backup my external hard drives as they store a lot of my video and Illustrator files. Lastly, Carbonite’s Basic plan costs $59.99 per year, compared to $50 for Backblaze. If I wanted to back up my external hard drives with Carbonite, it would cost me $74.99 per year. As such, it was not a hard decision to switch to Backblaze, and so far the service has been fast and reliable.
Ultimately, with Crashplan leaving the consumer backup business, Carbonite and Backblaze are left as the two most popular choices for consumer cloud backup. If you decide to purchase a cloud backup plan, I would start by looking at those services.
External backups: Data can also be backed up to external media, such as external hard drives. While this is a good option for keeping an extra copy of important files, external hard drives can fail just as the internal hard drives of computers can. That is part of why it’s important to pick a cloud backup service that provides USB device backup. However, if you feel an external hard drive is the best backup option for you, consider viewing Backblaze’s data on hard drive reliability and then use either the built-in Mac or Windows backup utilities.
Prices have dropped dramatically on hard drives in recent years, with a 1TB drive usually running around $50. For most users, 1TB would be more than enough storage to backup any files and photos needed, though I would recommend 2TB to be safe. Media students and professionals will want to look at 3TB+ drives. However, although larger capacity hard drives are reliable, they are not cheap, which is another reason cloud backup could be a better option. As for drive reliability, HGST, Western Digital, and Seagate generally make reliable drives.
For the price of a latte a month, protecting your resume, photos, and important documents is more than worth it. Besides the options outlined here, there are plenty of ways to backup your data and prevent a catastrophe born from a lack of planning. If you just want to back up a few documents at a time, look into services such as Google Drive, One Drive, or iCloud. For more information, CNET and Gizmodo provide great guides on backing up your data.