Move it or lose it!

Anyone with regularly updated websites will tell you that the need to backup your data is very, very important. Technology is fickle, and every now and then part of it will decide that it longer wants to run without any problems and take itself either offline, or off the mortal coil completely. As I found out a few days ago, when my work computer decided that switching on was too much of a hassle, backups are invaluable, and vital to you and your clients. There are many ways of doing it, some of it more reliable than others, but if you want to be extra secure, do this:

• Backup onto a second internal hard drive
• Backup onto an external hard drive
• Keep a stack of DVDs with regressive backups, rewriting a DVD as you reach 30 days after the date of that backup
• Keep a constant backup on another machine

I do all of these things. Admittedly, I’m swimming in DVDs (using one is fine in theory but it very rarely works out that way!) and having so many copies of the same is slightly over the top, but at the end of the day, if there’s a freak accident that takes out 3 of the 4 backups I have, I’ve still got that all important backup of the backup of the backup of the backup!

I know it’s extreme, but this is data and computers we’re talking about. One is easily corrupted, and the other is prone to hissy fits at random. When it comes to important data, you’ve got to move it, or you’ll lose it.