In the last weeks, I have heard several times, “My hard drive broke down, and I lost all data.” I know that was a time when the hard drive was expensive, and there was no space in the cloud to back up data from the hard drive, but today, we have plenty of possibilities to keep our data safe. In this post, I write about several ways to make hard drive data backup.
In this article, you’ll read about:
Why does the hard drive fail?
It depends on the hard drive type. We have an HDD (hard disk drive), with keeps data using magnetic rotating platters. These kinds of disks are sensitive to physical shocks. When an HDD falls on the ground, there’s a high possibility that it will crash. They are also sensitive to rapidly shut down. For example, when electricity unexpectedly disappears. Turned off of HDD in this way will not crash but could cause some damage to it. More about HDD you can find here: Wikipedia.
The newest version of a hard drive is SDD (solid-state drive). This kind of hard drive doesn’t have magnetic platters. In this type of hard drive flash memory is used to store data. There is quicker and more resistance to physical shock than HDD, but they also have one disadvantage: fewer cycles of writing are available in this kind of hard drive. So finally, when you reach maximum cycles of writing, this hard drive will crash. More about SDD you can find here: Wikipedia.
How you can save data from your hard drive in the cloud?
There are several ways to do these. Let’s start with the simplest. You can use cloud storage like Google Drive, iCloud, or Microsoft OneDrive. These services cost, but on the other hand, you will get an easy way to keep your data safe.
If you use Microsoft Windows, there is easy integration with Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. You just download software and point folders that you want to back up in the cloud, and that is all. The software takes care of keeping the newest version of the document in the cloud.
It works the same way with iCloud, but I don’t have MacOS, so I’m not 100% sure. If you have MacOS, you can write in comments how it works.
When you use Linux, there is no easy integration with Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. For example, Google gives you documentation on how to use Google Drive backup software on Linux, but I have tried several times, and it’s never worked fine.
Can I save data on another hard drive?
This is another way to keep your data safe. You need to buy an external hard drive and just use the “copy-paste” method to make a backup. But there is one disadvantage about it: when your external drive fails, you lose everything. But when you back up data regularly, there is a high possibility that you will know earlier that something is wrong with your external disk, and of course, you have a working copy of the data on your computer.
Several types of software are available to make backups on an external drive, but these days, you don’t need them.
In Windows 10 in menu settings, you have “Backup” options. Choose it, add drive and that’s all. Windows will make a backup copy.
On a Linux system, you can use “rsync” to make a backup copy. To do these, you need to use a simple command in a terminal, in which you point the directory to the backup and the directory where you want to store the backup.
rsync -a /source/ /destination/On macOS, you have a tool called Time Machine. You can choose a hard drive to store backup files and then let MacOS make a backup for you.
Why you should make a backup?
I agree that there are two types of people: one who lost their data and another who hasn’t lost it yet. When you lose your data, several things will happen. First of all, you will be frustrated. Secondly, you will be angry; and lastly, but not least, you will be forced to pay cash to restore your data or move on without it.
This is not a comfortable situation, and you can prevent it very easily. Just try it. Perhaps you have some questions, so please put them in the comment section.
And if you want to know why I swapped Google’s services for Microsoft’s, I invite you here: Why I Changed Google To Microsoft
