Your computer contains thousands of files of important data, ranging from sensitive financial information to personal documents that are important to your daily life. Imaging that, one night, in the midst of a major thunderstorm, the power goes out in your house. After a few minutes, the power is restored and you go back to working on your laptop. The only problem is that the computer now won’t start – ensuring that you will have access to important data no matter the circumstance is the core principle behind backing up your data.

Why you should backup?

Just as you likely couldn’t anticipate the storms that may ruin your current hard drive, it’s nearly impossible to anticipate all of the possible sources of data loss. Backing up your data to a remote server or disk on a regular basis will ensure continuity in the case of an unexpected emergency. Often times, data cannot be fully recovered without a backup, potentially causing problems with meeting professional and personal deadlines related to these records.

No matter what type of data you have or what type of machine it is stored on, it’s a best practice to make sure you have complete access to a remote backup to recover and restore your information. In many cases, you may have to replace your hardware (or at least have it repaired off site.) To ensure limited down time, it’s a best practice to have a backup of your data at all times. Additionally, there may be minor incidents, such as accidental file deletions or virus infections, which require you to have a backup copy of your files. By taking precautions with regards to your computer’s security as well as ensuring a remote backup, you can safely recover from nearly any problem that might arise.

What Data should you backup?

Most backup services today can provide a compressed backup of your entire hard drive, ensuring that you can fully recover any software, documents or files that may be lost. Many backup services provide full, automated hard drive backup which is configured on a regular basis. With advanced compression techniques, it’s easier than ever to ensure a full, complete backup of all of your data.

If you are limited to a manual backup and are constrained for space, consider backing up only the most important files: your financial records, important documents and work records are important to backup on a regular basis. If you’re running an automated backup, make sure to set it at the directory level and always save important files there.

How often should you backup?

Depending on your needs, a nightly backup will provide a high enough level of security for most users. Having a nightly backup provides you access to recover and restore data from the previous day, allowing you to safely recover anything needed to get on with your day.

For power users who frequently update files and data during the day, as well as for businesses that rely upon important daily updates, it is beneficial to provide multiple backups each and every day. By having an hourly backup running in the background, you can be assured that most major changes will be catalogued for recovery, if necessary.