Twenty years ago people would have given you a confused look if you asked how they were protecting their personal data. But in today’s world of personal computer, tablets, mobile phones, and more, we have a lot of data that we store on hard drives and in files. If you’re not backing up that data, you could lose years of vacation photos, family pictures, health information, files, and more. Here are the options you have for backing up that data.
Option 1: Do Nothing
Okay, this isn’t really an option for backing up your data, but it is unfortunately the path that millions of people are on right now. Even with the threat of data loss, there are still a lot of people who don’t think about backing up their files and photos, and only come to realize how important that is when they lose everything. Don’t be this person.
Option 2: Free Solutions that Require Manual Backup
There are a lot of cloud-based solutions that have free storage available, such as Dropbox or Google Drive. While these solutions can work for some things, they often fall short of what people need to store all their personal data online. They also have limits on how much data you can actually store, and while it may seem like a lot at first, it may surprise you how quickly your photos and videos can push you over the 2 GB limit (Google Drive’s is the most generous with 15 GB) of free data. You’d be surprised at how quickly you can hit 2 GB of data.
If it’s the only thing you’re doing to back up your data, it’s probably better than nothing, but it’s not ideal because as you hit the limit of free storage you will have to decide what is important and what you can delete, unless you want to start paying for storage space.
Option 3: Paid Solutions that Require Manual Backup
The next step up is to pay for more storage. While this does allow you to back up anything and everything—including the 700,000 pictures you took of your child before their first birthday and the 3,000 hours of video you have from the same year—it has two major drawbacks. Most companies charge you for the amount of information you store, so more photos, videos, and large files means a higher cost. These platforms also require that you manually backup all your files, which requires you to remember to do that. Most of the time you will remember that you didn’t do it right around the time your computer crashes or your phone gets stolen.
Option 4: Automatic and Affordable Cloud Storage Provider
The best option for personal data storage backups is a cloud-based solution that offers unlimited storage for an affordable price and easy automatic backups. This takes all the pressure off of you to remember to back it up, and allows you to store every picture and video, plus all your other important documents and files, in a single, secure location.
Find out how Storage Whale’s personal data solutions can provide you with peace of mind through our cloud-based storage.