BACKUPs

The 3-2-1 Backup Scheme

Having a back up of your data is vitally important and one in which you should take responsibility. DPS does backup and keep copies of items in your Google Drive for up to a year after you graduate or leave the district but in rare cases files could still be lost or damaged. It’s important to have other means to retrieve your data.


One of the more comprehensive backup schemes is the 3-2-1 Backup. It states that a safe

backup doesn't exist until the following conditions are met:



This triple redundancy is a safety measure in the event that should something affect one of your backup schemes it likely won’t affect them all.


Having 3 backups gives you the peace of mind that should something happen to 2 of your backups you’ll still have a third to recover from.


Storing your backups on at least 2 different media limits your exposure should an event happen that affects all of your backups. An example of this would be losing internet access depriving you of your files (those stored in the cloud) and online backups. A power surge, blackout or brownout may damage the physical media on network attached backups like NAS, flash drives or hard drives. Consider having copies of your data on a combination of hard drive, flash, Cloud, tape or DVDs.


Storing your files on google drive or iCloud drive satisfies having an offsite backup.


Finally, keeping 1 of your backups offsite insures that should the worst happen…your equipment is lost or stolen or damaged in a catastrophic event like fire or flood...this offsite backup can be used to restore your data. For offsite backups you could use Cloud services like BackBlaze, Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud Drive or create a backup that is on a physical hard drive that gets stored away from the backed up computer. It could be locked in a fire proof, water proof safe or stored at another location all together.


In summary, data is the most valuable item stored on the computer. It is the one thing that can't be replaced by insurance companies. Hardware and Software can. The memories you’ve saved; precious photos, videos and audio recordings can be invaluable to you. Documents you created for work, school or personal use can be difficult, time consuming or impossible to recreate from scratch.


Having some form of backup plan is key to peace of mind. If you don’t now, consider that there are two type of people: Those that don’t backup and those that will.