A Guide to Not Losing Every Treasured File on Your Computer
Just minutes ago I got news that my precious 1tb internal SSD does not have any of the files on it that it once did. You can imagine or directly relate to my misery. Most of us have gone through the turmoil that is losing hundreds of gigabytes of data at any random moment for only god knows what reason. It hits you like a bus especially if you know you will never see those files again. Lucky for me, most of my important files were backed up some place else. Not all of us are so lucky, I have been there before as well.
If you are looking for a list of automatic back up software, this is not the place. I like to play god on my computer with my files and I am a Virgo rising so this is a task I feel is my responsibility alone.
1. Have a back up drive.
This is the most obvious and essential point… if you do not have a back up drive you can’t have a back up! Now you’re wondering, “But which one should I invest in?” Well, you have every right to ask, there are so many options out there! And it all depends on your intentions.
For the Regular Joe with a laptop and .pages files to the moon: You don’t ask for much, you are admirably low maintenance. People like this about you, but that’s not the point… all you need is a Google Drive subscription. You save so much money by being a simpleton when it comes to storage… so much money. I hope you buy nice shoes with that money.
For the work from home parent with way too many pictures of their kid: If you lost those pictures of Tucker as a baby, we don’t even want to imagine how you would react. You need more space for all those family photos, and Facebook wont keep high res shots at their best. A portable 2tb external HD will be perfect for you. When you’re not using it keep the cable detached, as the connection between the HD and wire often become faulty over time.
Seagate Backup Plus Slim External Hard Drive
For the young artist with a MacBook Pro: You’ve gotten a lot of work done and you’ll want to reflect on it some day when your older and wiser. Plus you need your finished project files for your cripplingly predictable Squarespace portfolio. Please don’t lose all those files. Upload your completed works to your Google Drive, and back up your array of very organized Adobe, MaxMSP, Unity, and .OBJ files to a >4tb External HD.
Seagate Expansion Desktop External Hard Drive
For the Gamer, Streamer, 4k Film Editor with a custom build desktop computer: Gamers, Editors… why do we do this to ourselves? Every single one of us has had a nearly full drive fail on us, and we’ve had enough experience with file loss not to cry about it anymore, at least not on the outside. Not to mention that data recovery is not in the budget.
If you’ve got a custom desktop computer, use it to its full potential. Personally, I have a 4tb HDD for my main drive, a 1tb SSD (which recently failed…RIP), and a 6tb HDD for back ups. I suggest you follow suit, and adjust the #tb as you see fit for your practice and budget. 7200 RPM is a bonus.
WD Blue Desktop Hard Disk Drive
WD Blue SN550 NVMe SSD
Samsung 860 EVO SATA 2.5" Internal SSD
Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 Internal SSD
All WD Internal Drives
2. Keep your files organized.
I know, when you’re in the middle of a project your documents are scattered all over the place. But you will never regret taking a few minutes after you work to organize your files and back them up. If your files are a mess and not backed up right now then stop reading, go get that done, and then continue reading this. Organize your files in a way that aesthetically pleases you! Update your desktop background, give some of your folders funny names, I don’t know, whatever helps you have fun.
3. Keep your drives as empty as possible.
Drives don’t like to do a lot of work, unless their RPM is jacked, but even then we can never trust them to survive. If they are over worked they will quit on you, it’s worse than being ghosted on a dating app. Their work ethic is about equal to Paris Hilton in The Simple Life. Make sure to stay on top of purging/cleaning up unnecessary files (PC / Mac).
4. Get a warranty
Warranties should just come with a drive because anyone who doesn’t get a warranty for their drive will regret it. Trust me, just spend the extra 20, 30, 70, 100 bucks. Repairs can be upwards of $300 CAD, choose your battles.
5. Don’t Cry
Your drive will fail some day. Maybe even a year, month, or day after you buy it. Failing drives are like Pandemics, experts will never know how to predict them. Try not to cry, he wasn’t good enough for you anyway.
Thanks for reading or skimming my first article.
What was your favorite part?
