[ikk157]

I'm interested in Members' way of backing up their data.  On their computers, laptops, tablets, smart phones or any other devices.  How do you back up your data and how often do you do your backups?  How do you maintain your backups?

I have an unconventional probably not as efficient way of backing up my data, but it has worked for me for a long while now.  I do backups sporadically, like every few months or so. For important information that I never want to lose, like logins etc and special files, I have a system of copying them to external disks on an ongoing basis. I also have a note book with me at my computer where I jot down important information and copy and paste info to PM drafts in some of my Forum accounts. However for all other materials I do a Windows backup to an external hard disk every third month or so.  I keep the external hard disk in a different place to where my computer is. In addition to the Windows backup to a hard disk, I also copy all of the individual data folders of my computer to a second external hard disk. I also copy some of the core folders that are very valuable to me to a second flash disk in case of emergency that I can carry in a pocket with me.  So in essence I'm using two external hard disks, a 64 GB flash disk, a note book and draft PMs.  I don't have that much data to back up though.  All of my videos and images are kept permanently on external disks.  As I only have 500GB storage space on my computer. I prefer to occupy less space as I've always had the belief, rightly or wrongly, that the more space available on the computer, the faster it will operate. I'm only using 300GB out of 500GB space. 

I do have cloud for backups available, but rarely use it.  I realize one can't trust anything including Windows backups, but I'm still skeptical of cloud storage and have more trust in my external hard disks.  I only use cloud clients like Mega.nz when I transfer bulk files to someone else of a size that can't be sent in an e-mail.

For me it really depends from device to device:

For all of my Apple devices:

I simply use iCloud backups which occur automatically. And iCloud storage isn’t an issue since I have the 2TB plan which is $9.99/mo (luckily, I can buy iTunes gift cards here... so no credit card needed!)

For my PlayStation 4 (PS4):

I have a playstation plus subscription (again, I use gift cards so no credit card is needed... I have the annual plan which is $60/year).

And one of the perks of ps plus is automatic online backups of your save games! So in case of any data loss, you just need to re-download the game (no, I don’t use CDs... not a fan of those) and simply re-download your save games from ps plus.

For my VPS:

I simply take a zip backup of anything important and upload it to iCloud.

For my laptop:

I don’t take any backups on it simply because there’s nothing important on it... I never use it for any of my daily tasks... the only thing I use it for is if I come across a windows-only program which i need to use. Otherwise, my iOS/iPadOS devices are what I use for everything.