What is World Backup Day?  Simply, it is a day to remind us of the responsibility we all have for keeping our important data backed up.  Most of us have a (painful) story of having lost a file or found one somehow corrupted.  Stuff happens.  The best way to protect ourselves from data loss is to make regular backups.  Fortunately, you have several resources available to help.

You can copy important files to Dropbox@CI, CI Docs (powered by Google Drive), or OneDrive, cloud services available for free to CI members.  Log a Solution Center request if you need help with these services.  You can also manually copy files to an external drive, knowing that storing that drive in a different physical location from your computer gives an extra level of protection.  For a more automated or structured approach, Microsoft includes File Recovery software with Windows 10 (or Backup and Restore if the computer is running Windows 7), while Apple’s Mac operating system has the Time Machine program for backup.

There’s more than one way to backup, and using multiple methods is good practice!  

Want to learn more?  Don’t forget that CSUCI members have free and unlimited access to some excellent tutorials that you can access via LinkedIn Learning service (formerly known as Lynda.com).  Tutorials run the gamut from mobile device, Mac and PC desktop backups, to large data set backup strategies often used by researchers and system administrators.  Take a look.

Good backups will give some peace of mind in the event of a natural disaster or when surprises  due to viruses, malware, ransomware, or human error occur.  Please, take a few minutes to celebrate World Backup Day on or before March 31 by doing at least one new thing to improve your personal backup strategy.