Although setting up a backup system on your computer can sometime appear intimidating and time-consuming, failure to backup your data can also mean all the difference between the survival and the demise of your business.

Computer backup is actually a simple task that many people often take it for granted – to their detriment! So, let us start by asking ourselves some questions, either as lay users of computers or ICT professionals.

When was the last time you seriously thought about storing your data in a safe location? Do you always provide an alternative to data loss? Which type of data storage do you prefer or use regularly?

Important Questions about Data Backup

These and other similar questions beg immediate answers especially during this era of digitalism. What does not come as a surprise, though, is the fact that whereas it takes very little time to set up a backup system for your data, very few people ever give this all too important task more than a cursory attention.

But in whichever language or whatever perspective you choose to view this simple fact, the bottom line is that it can only spell doom to whatever it is that computers assist you to do, which I dare say, is almost everything in modern-day life.

So why must you take such a grave chance with your life? Here is how you can use cloud computing to safeguard the integrity of your data at all times. If for any reason you are not up to the challenge of maintaining your data integrity, then you can resort to using any of the various insurance document management software that are available.

Well, even before you speak up, I can already see your next perplexing question. Where and how does one get such software? Hang on in here! We are coming to that in a short while. Let us see about how you can maintain your data on the cloud.

What Is A Good Backup and How Can You Set It Up?

The rule almost all ICT experts recommend for data backup is the 3-2-1 sequence. What this means is that you need to make three copies of any data you have. You can store two sets locally, on different storage devices, and a final copy off-site. In simple language what this means is that you can retain your original data on your computing device, set up a backup externally on a different drive, and store the last copy on a cloud backup system.

With such a storage system in place, you stand no chance of losing all your data at once, even if your house or office burns down, all your hard drives crash, and your laptop gets stolen. Or if the unimaginable happens – the internet ceases to be! However, in the likelihood of all these catastrophes striking at once then what must surely follow is that the world itself will come to an end!

The Automatic Incremental Backup

An incremental backup is one that is capable of backing up only the files that have changed since your last backup. This type of system is what many vendors of cloud computing provide. It is perfect for you because once you set it up, you don’t have to worry or think about it again. Following the 3-2-1 rule, the cloud computing system will automatically initiate a backup of all your past and future data.

And contrary to the popular practice, the act of merely transferring all the important files you have to a flash or a hard drive does not constitute a safe backup routine. Since all hard drives fail, it only becomes a question of when but not if that happens. Besides, SD cards, flash drives or any other portable storage devices are not just small, but they are also easy to lose! That is why a perfect backup system obeys the rule of redundancy where storage of your vital data takes place in multiple locations. And that is what cloud storage does.

So don’t wait around. Isn’t it time to take off with all your valuable data to the clouds?