Computer Essentials: Files, Folders and Working Faster Backups: The 3-2-1 Rule
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Backups: The 3-2-1 Rule ~15min

There are two kinds of people

Those who back up, and those who have not lost anything YET. Laptops get stolen, drives fail without warning, and a spilled cup ends a machine in seconds.

3-2-1

  • 3 copies of anything you care about
  • 2 different kinds of storage, laptop and external drive
  • 1 off-site. Cloud, or a drive kept somewhere else

Off-site is the part people skip, and it is the part that matters when the laptop and the backup drive are stolen from the same bag.

Cloud sync is not a backup

Delete a file in a synced folder and it deletes everywhere within seconds. Ransomware encrypts the synced copy too. Sync gives you availability; a backup gives you HISTORY. The ability to get back what something was last Tuesday.

Untested backups fail

Restore one file, today. A backup nobody has ever restored from is a hope, not a plan.

For code specifically

Git plus a remote repository is a backup with complete history. Commit and push, and your work survives the machine, which is the real reason to learn it early.

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