Today is World Backup Day. This is a friendly reminder to backup your important files.
Do You Play Backup Chicken?
Which of these emojis best represents you and how you feel about your data?
Do you play backup chicken by telling yourself that you’ll back it up NEXT TIME and hoping that nothing goes wrong until then?
When did you last save and backup your important documents? Do you have a back up plan?
I know from experience how hard a data loss can be. The good news: it’s never too late to take care of important documents and data and start good backup habits.
Backup Habits I’ve Started
- autosave to iCloud and OneDrive depending on the type of data
- send important documents to myself through email when I make major changes to a document
- keep final copies in cloud storage
- keep a copy on an external hard drive
Useful Resources to Fight the Overwhelm
Sometimes the problem with backing up data is the overwhelm from sheer clutter. Two things have made a big difference for me. The first is Digital Declutter: The BIG Checklist to Obtain Digital Minimalism by D.M. Elliot. She breaks the tasks down to manageable chunks.
The second is MacPaw’s Clean My Mac to keep my hard drive organized. I resisted Clean My Mac for so long and I wish I hadn’t. It helped me clear up 80GB of wasted space on my hard drive.
Digital Declutter Habits I’ve Started
- Setting up a file naming procedure
- Drew a chart of how I want to organize my file tree
- Keep the same file tree on hard drives, external hard drives and cloud storage
- Have a set day for checking backups
- Have a set day for running Clean My Mac
- Have a set day for digital declutter
- Delete photos off my phone while I’m commuting on the train
- MULTIPLE REMINDERS
Perfection or Tenacity?
But the battle for space vs my data is never ending. I’ve started some good habits but I’m not perfect. Setting up as many automations and reminders to do these things help immensely. The key is continuing to do them. Late is better than never. You don’t have to be perfect, just as consistent as you can.
How do you manage your data backups?