In a 2012 paper for US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team), Carnegie Mellon recommended the 3-2-1 method in their publication titled: Data Backup Options. Even the United States Government recommends this approach. A continuously updated copy of your data that’s not in the same physical location as the other two is paramount in protecting your files. Most often, if the two devices you have as your local copies are close together, they’ll both be affected if the unfortunate should happen.
Onsite backups are easy to set up, but unfortunately having a backup near the device that it’s backing up (for example, having a desktop PC or Mac and an external hard drive on the same desk), means that both of those copies of your data are susceptible to loss in case of fire, theft, water damage, or other unforeseen occurrences.
Having an onsite backup is a great start, but having an offsite backup is a key component to completing a backup strategy. If you use an automatic backup program, the exposure for data loss is fairly minimal. If your laptop or desktop’s hard drive crashes, and you have been regularly backing up to an external hard drive or NAS, you can quickly get the majority of your data back (or use the external drive on another computer while yours gets fixed or replaced). Whichever kind of computer you are using, an onsite backup is a simple way of having quick access to your data should anything happen to your computer. Why Two Onsite Copies and One Offsite Copy? Landscape.cr2 is included in this upload, and that becomes the third copy of your data. The backup program continuously scans your computer and uploads your data to a data center (aka the cloud). In addition to that external hard drive, you also have an online backup solution that makes another copy of your data. That’s the second copy on a different device or medium. Your backup program runs on a regular schedule, or whenever a file is added to your system, and backs up landscape.cr2 to your external drive(s). You also have an external hard drive or Network-Attached Storage (NAS) that you use for backing up your computer.
Landscape.cr2 lives on your primary computer.
Let’s use Landscape.cr2 as an example file for this scenario. The 3-2-1 Backup StrategyĪ 3-2-1 strategy means having at least three total copies of your data, two of which are local but on different media, and at least one copy that is offsite. Let’s first do a quick review of 3-2-1 backup strategy. If you’re not yet using the cloud, or are still getting familiar with the cloud for data backup and archiving, I’d like to go over some ways in which the cloud can make managing your data easier and provide you with a number of benefits you might not currently enjoy.
Maybe you’re currently using the cloud as part of your backup or archive strategy, or perhaps you’re still juggling hard disk drives between your workstations, a storage closet, and an offsite location. Most photographers and videographers are aware of the necessity to backup their data, but, like a lot of things that are good for us, like eating kale and exercising regularly, putting good habits into practice can be challenging. A good backup strategy can protect you from accidental or incidental data loss and make sure your working or archived files are available when you need them.
Whether you’re a hobbyist or a professional photographer or videographer, employing a 3-2-1 backup strategy for your valuable photos and videos is critical. You can see the first of our articles on their blog as well.
This is the first article in the three-part series on data management and protection. So in order to help our users develop a secure workflow for their data, we’ve teamed up with Backblaze on a series of articles discussing the importance of data management. Editorial Note: While we’re most notably known for our passion in gear, we also share the same passion in keeping your data safe.