The threat of hacking is constant. You need to be backing up your device. Your photos. Your files! Anything you don’t want to lose.
Backing up your device is easy! It’s also one of the easiest ways to save yourself from ransomware and all sorts of other nasty things, because it enables you to simply completely wipe the computer and start over without fearing the loss of your necessary files.
Now that digital storage is cheaper than it’s ever been, it’s a great time to learn. Windows will actually walk you through the process of backing up your personal device, and the only real pitfall is making sure you’ve got enough space on the drive you’re backing it up to. Using other apps, such as OneDrive, are also an option! This article goes over the choices available for PCs running recent versions of Windows: https://allthings.how/how-to-back-up-your-windows-11-pc/
And Mac: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102307
Aside from hacking or sudden hardware failure, there are other reasons you should be backing up your files regularly, and other places that need backing up as well. Google’s free account runs out at 15 GB. If you take a lot of photos or have a lot of Google Docs, that’s not that much space – and your emails will start bouncing if your mailbox fills up. However, backing up your photos offline will remove the need to store them in Google’s online backup, without cluttering your device! Windows 11 devices will even offer to import photos for you if you’re running Android. If not, the process is still relatively simple on the other major OS! On Mac, using something like iCloud makes things easier (as does OneDrive) but may involve using software you don’t like. This guide offers alternatives: https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-back-up-and-organize-photos-from-your-iphone-or-ipad to using iCloud.
If you don’t want to use a cloud-based backup (for reasons of privacy, convenience, price, et cetera), simply saving it to the computer’s hard drive or a jump drive with enough storage space will also do the job of providing a backup. The one caveat is that physical backups must be manually maintained, and ideally monitored for signs of failure to prevent the worst-case of a system and backup failure.
Want to discuss backups? Get in touch here: https://elixistechnology.com/contact/
