October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, so it’s the perfect time to make sure your important online data is backed up.
A backup is a copy of your important digital files (like documents, emails, photos and videos) that live on an additional network or a physical device so the data can be recovered if it is accidentally deleted or corrupted. With over 100 phones lost or stolen every minute, backing up your data helps keep another copy of your important and confidential information on hand so you aren’t without it.
Here are some tips to ensure your backups are done correctly and efficiently.
- Decide what to back up. Choose what files are most important.
- Choose how often to back up. Backing up daily or weekly is recommended based on how frequently your files are updated. Cloud backups can be done automatically if there is a strong and reliable internet connection during backup.
- Select the type of storage you need. Cloud storage allows you to access your backups anywhere online. Google and Apple both offer cloud storage. For items such as hard drives or USB drives, backups are made on a physical device in your possession.
- Test your backups. To ensure your backups are successful, occasionally test them by selecting and restoring files at the backup storage location.
- Upgrade your storage. If you start to run out of backup storage space, many cloud backup products allow you to buy or upgrade to larger storage plans. If you run out of space using external physical storage, upgrade to a larger physical storage device with plenty of space to add more data in the future.
- Store your backups. Don’t store all your data in 1 place. If a natural disaster strikes the only location where you keep your data, you risk losing your original and backed-up data. If you don’t use cloud backups, keep your physical backups in a safe location.
