Staying Safe Online · Backups & Bad Days · Lesson 1 of 5

Why Backups Matter

Things go wrong with computers. A backup means your files survive it.

Bad days happen

Most days, your computer just works. But every computer can have a bad day. That is normal, and it is nobody's fault.

Here are some common ways people lose their files:

• The computer breaks. A part inside wears out, or the laptop gets dropped.
• Coffee or water spills on the keyboard.
• The laptop is lost or stolen.
• A file gets deleted by mistake, and the Recycle Bin was already emptied.
• Ransomware gets in. Ransomware is a harmful program that locks your files and asks for money. You will learn more about it later in this course.

A new computer can be bought. Your photos, letters and records often cannot. Think of wedding photos, a child's first drawings, or tax papers. Those are the things worth protecting.

The good news is that one simple habit protects you from all of these at once. That habit is keeping a backup.

A backup is a second copy of your files, kept somewhere other than your computer. If the computer has a bad day, the copy is still safe. You get a new computer, or fix the old one, and bring your files back.

People who have a backup usually treat a broken laptop as an annoyance. People without one can lose years of memories.

The 3-2-1 idea

A backup only helps if it is kept in a different place. A copy in another folder on the same computer is not a real backup. If the computer breaks, both copies are gone.

Many experts share a simple rule of thumb called 3-2-1. It is easy to remember:

• 3 copies of your important files. That is the original plus two backups.
• 2 different kinds of storage. For example, your computer and an external drive. An external drive is a small box that plugs into your computer with a cable and stores files.
• 1 copy in another place. That could be the cloud. The cloud means storage on a company's computers, reached over the internet. It could also be a drive kept at a family member's house.

Why another place? A fire, flood or burglary can take everything in one home. A copy somewhere else survives.

You don't have to do all of 3-2-1 on day one. Any backup is much better than none. Start with one, and add the second when you can.

One more tip: check your backup now and then. Open it and make sure you can see your files. A backup you have never checked might not be working.