How many backups of our important files do we need?

[Alexandoy]

In my former office, I had implemented the 2 backups for safety. When the computer's files get corrupted then we have 2 hard disks where the files were backed up. Just 1 hard disk is not a guarantee since it can also be malfunctioning when you try to access it. Now I am asking if it is already safe to have just 2 backups. I guess that would be for good measure already.

 

[PGen98]

I backup in triplicate, once to an external, once to a secondary internal, and once to a NAS. Can never be too careful!

 

[LEADTECH]

I have always backup double on 2 hard drives. I have too many files to be back up every week.

 

[Alexandoy]

Thank you for the comments. That is encouraging to know that we need more than 1 backup to an external storage. Some people say that having the files on the computer and 1 backup is enough. The computer's hard disk and the external backup disk will not be broken at the same time. That's what they say against my policy of having 2 backup disks. For my personal files I am also working on my 2nd backup. I was able to have extra hard disks.

 

[Anuj Dhawan]

There is a computer network rule, I read recently in AWS (Amazon Web Services) Forums - that you keep at least 3 backups of your data. Or in other words, once you store anything in AWS, they store it at 3 places. Going by that, having 3 backups of your data should be your choice.

Hope this helps.

 

[Hova]

I did not know that. To be honest, I don't even have one backup. This is something I need to look into.

 

[sliara]

I just save my files in my memory card or flash drive, they're not that many anyway. I do intend to buy a portable hard drive though so that I have a larger storage for my files.

 

[Nocturnal Thinker]

I think it's SOP among big companies to have several backup disks for their business files on their day-to-day transactions which are very important. I know they've a paid virtual cloud for storage of such files. In case their computers will bog down, they are will assure that their files won't go somewhere or get lost.

Well for personal usage, it depends for the person's needs. If he has so many to secure like his important documents, photos and videos, therefore he needs a better storage disks to hold those large files. So it's well recommended to have an external harddrive as a backup for the said files.

 

[Creaky]

A minimum of 2, one to a NAS and important stuff is backed up to portable hard drive.

 

[Claraviolet]

I believe it's safe to go with two copies.
If something goes bad, then we will have at least one backup with us. The possibility of two copies getting corrupted can be pretty rare after all. If you want everything to be perfect, then it's better to go with cloud storage for backup.

Then you wouldn't have to worry about too many copies at all. As for me, I go with two backup copies and it's just my personal preference.