Don't be an April fool! Back up your data — and then back it up again.
In an effort to save innocent data everywhere, an initiative known as World Backup Day was started. The mission is simple: raise awareness of data loss, and have people worldwide back up their files and folders on March 31.
What would you do if you lost everything? Don't get caught out. Backup your data on #WorldBackupDay, March 31st... https://t.co/25ABVlyVSC
— World Backup Day (@WorldBackupDay) March 24, 2015
Data loss, when experienced first-hand, can be frustrating, devastating or even heartbreaking, depending on what you lost. Those vacation photos? Forgotten. Your novel five years in the making? Better start writing that prologue again. Important files from work? Start planning how you'll break it to the boss.
To avoid painful scenarios, all you have to do is back up your data. Yes, it's one more thing to do in an already busy day, but it's an invaluable step that can save you time in the future.
Windows Central takes data loss and backup procedures very seriously, and we created quite a few guides on creating proper backups in a wide range of scenarios.
General backup information
- Six easy and effective ways to back up your PC
- How to use Windows 10 File History to back up data
- How to back up your photos on Windows 10
- How to back up data in Outlook 2016 for Windows
- Best external hard drives
Hard drive imaging and cloning
- Hard drive imaging vs. cloning: What's the difference?
- How to make an image backup with Windows 10
- How to create an image of your hard drive using Macrium Reflect
- How to clone your hard drive using Macrium Reflect
Using a NAS for backups
- Why you should buy a NAS
- Everything you need to know to build your own NAS
- Three hard drives that pair perfectly with any NAS
- Best NAS for your home
Using cloud services
- How to make sure data you store in the cloud stays secure
- How to encrypt data before storing it in the cloud (and why you should)
- How to sync Windows 10 files with OneDrive
- Best Online Backup Service
Are you celebrating World Backup Day?
Have you been looking forward to World Backup Day to finally take the steps needed to safeguard your data, or are you already on top of things? (Did you even know there was a World Backup Day before you read this post?) Be sure to let us know in the comments.
Reader comments
Back up your PC and protect your data with these Windows resources
I saw this article too late. When a police officer pulled me over I learned World Backup Day did not mean driving in reverse everywhere.
Dad? Is that you?
Good backup practices should be implemented EVERY day, you can never be too safe with your data and personal files
Definitely. I would love to hear from other WC readers what you are using for System Image backups, or if you don't take those why you don't think they are worth doing etc.
What is everybody using for System Image backup? I'm struggling to find software that is affordable for multiple home systems. The Windows Image Backup is okay but not ideal and on my wife's Macbook it won't work for some reason and was never able to get to the bottom of it
Personally I use Macrium Reflect free version to make regular (Wednesdays and Sundays) image backups of my system drive. Personal files are on a separate partition which gets backed up twice weekly to two different external disks.
EaseUS Todo Backup Free 10.0
For Windows 10 I use AOMEI software to back up to NAS periodically. It detects system changes and only needs to back up what's needed after the initial backup.
For my Mac Mini I use Time Machine to back up to NAS. Although I've found TM to be flakey of late in actually performing backups. Mac gets used less than Windows in my household anyways.
Thanks I'll check it out - I assume you are using AOMEI Backupper pro? The $49.95 price includes 2 PC's which is pretty reasonable. Works fine with W10 and is it fairly slick and easy to use?
Using just the standard free version. I may buy Pro eventually. I only worry about a single Windows machine for backup and tend to swap SSDs more often in it. Works fine and is easy to use. Download the free version to try for yourself.
Yay for backups!! :)