Data Protection: Drive/Disk Recovery Plans Recommended? Also, Cloud v. Local Backups?

[Mulder_s_UFO]

I’m upgrading my laptop’s storage, and on the site, Amazon offers a low-cost warranty ($15 for 3 years of coverage) on a drive that is about $120. I’ve been researching whether this is really worth it or not, since after tax the total cost rises to about $150 (I’m leaning towards yes. $15 lost is not a big deal, but it could really be worth it if hardware failure necessitates expensive recovery). However, the most common (and obvious) refrain is, well, if you’ve got a good backup, then your data is already guaranteed to be recovered. I’ve been more lax on backing up than I know I should (my antivirus has built in cloud backup, but the space is all used up), and it’s definitely time I did something about that anyway.

What’s the PC Help Forum-recommended solution for backing up data? Cloud services seem promising…until you realize it quickly becomes more economical to just buy your own backup drive. 2 TB hard drives sell for $60 usually, which is what EaseUS charge for lifetime access to their service. Cloud storage is vulnerable to hacks, but local drives can fail themselves, plus are vulnerable to acts of God.

What’s your goto choice for backing up data?

[veeg]

I use an external hdd to backup important info.. Also i keep an eye on my pc hdd’s health on a regular basics.

[jmarket]

I personally use multiple redundancies over various failovers in cloud providers

[PeterOz]

The trouble with cloud backup is YOUR data is at someone else’s place. You do not have control who can access it.
Also a company i did some work for went down the path of cloud backup when it first started. No other backup.
Company folded. Backed up data gone no redress. No company is to big to fail NO COMPANY.

However, the most common (and obvious) refrain is, well, if you’ve got a good backup, then your data is already guaranteed to be recovered

Who here ever checks a backup to make sure it is working. I mean a proper check as in deleting a file and making sure they can recover it from the backup

I could gone on but i think I better stop now before it becomes a rant.

[Bruce]

while no means the definitive solution, and no one single method will work all the time for others, but for me…

main backup - 2 bay Netgear NAS box. 2 x 2TB drives, set to RAID1, so full redundancy with a total of 2TB storage, which is all I need for docs, pics and movie library. files are sync’d daily to that via backup software called Vice Versa. had the unit for over 10 years, first had 500GB drive in it and have had about 3 drive failures - but as long as only one drive fails at any one time, it’s all good.

but, in case both drives do fail and to have some aces up the sleeve, I also use Vice Versa to backup (weekly) to a USB drive enclosure. there are actually two of these that get rotated every other week and kept in different locations. you don’t need to get fancy or expensive with fire proof safes or such, one of the drives is in the car, the other next door (good way to keep up to date with your neighbours, and an excuse to share a drink or two!).

and lastly, I use Macrium Reflect once a month to make a system image of my C:\ drive and keep those images on my secondary internal drive.

so I’m covered if Windows goes pear-shaped, a file is accidentally lost, the PC dies, or the house dies.
I’m not covered if the neighbourhood is destroyed and my car was at home, but if that happens, I’ve got bigger fish to fry!

[Rustys]

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