There is nothing worse in our computer integrated society than experiencing a hard drive crash or having your device stolen. It is a traumatic enough experience to have the loss of your physical device but it is down-right traumatic when you lose your files and data! Yet, sadly, so few people have a backup plan. We all ahve good intentions but many fail miserably in taking the time to create and implement a system that is safe, secure, and reliable.
So, today I thought I would share my current system. It is not perfect but it is better than nothing…it works, it was relatively simple and required only a minimal amount of time and cost to put into place. Here are my current backup tools:
1) Dropbox: All my currently active client files (the files I need access to every day) are in Dropbox (cloud storage). I have (over the years) invited enough people to join Dropbox that I have received 21GB of free space (the max they give away for free) in my Dropbox account so that is usually enough for my day-today files.
2) Google Drive: This is essentially the exact same type of service as Dropbox – it is what is called Cloud-Storage or Cloud File Sharing. Google Drive gives you 5GB of space for free and you can upgrade to some cheap monthly paid plans (as you also can with Dropbox). I currently pay $5.00 per month and for that I get 100GB of additional storage and this is where I archive all my past client files from the past 5 years as well as a backup of all of my wife’s pictures (she has 30GB of pics alone 
Cloud Storage Rationale: The main reason I use these two cloud storage tools is that it affords me access to every client file I could possibly need – from anywhere. As long as I have a computer and an Internet connection I can get a file and if I am working on a file on my desktop and then go meet a client in a coffee shop I can have the most recent version of that file at my fingertips to show them. Plus Dropbox and Google Drive allows me to always have collaboration tools/files in place with all my subcontractors and clients.
3) Backup Drive: I also bough a 4 Terabyte backup drive from Costco – I think it was about $150 which is ridiculously cheap for that much space but it essentially is auto-backing up everything I am working on every minute of the day. It is a Western Digital “My Book” external hard drive. It also backs up all my Dropbox and Google Drive folders as well. It is my “physical” solution….just because I don’t want to put 100% faith in Google and Dropbox. These types of backup drives are easy to set up (I think it took me 20 minutes) and provide a physical/digital copy of every file on my desktop/laptop and cloud storage.
Double Up: So, essentially I have everything backed up twice. What this does is it gives me mobility with the “cloud” and gives me security of the physical drive. I am covered both ways. If my house burns down or someone bvreaks in and steals my backup drive most of my key files are in the cloud. If Google or Dropbox is unaccessable or I cannot get on the web, I have everything on my backup drive.
That’s my process This may evoke more questions – so please feel free to fire away in the comments section below!
You might also have your own backup tools and I welcome you to share your solutions in the comments below.