Here’s How You Can Celebrate World Backup Day ?

World Backup Day is celebrated worldwide every year on March 31. This important day serves as a reminder to every technology-reliant person to protect all their precious digital documents. World Backup Day is a day for the masses to learn about the ever-increasing role of data and the significance of regular backups. 

Today’s world is fortunate enough to have access to the most powerful computers to date, but what if everything on the computer gets lost? Crashes happen more often than people think, and data recovery can cost one a fortune. On top of that, full recovery isn’t a guarantee either. It’s always better to be safe than sorry, so let’s find out how to celebrate World Backup Day in 2021!

But first, we need to learn the history of World Backup Day

Founded in 2011 by Youngstown State University student Ismail Jadun, World Backup Day came to existence after Jadun and his “Redditor” friends discussed the pressing need for backups. Ismail then came up with the genius idea of celebrating the day before April Fool’s Day as the World Backup Day. This day is now observed every year to spread awareness about the cruciality of backup, data protection, and recovery.

Some essential dates in the World Backup Day timeline

September 13, 1956: Reynold B. Johnson, an IBM engineer, conceived the idea of an external hard drive and came out with the first external hard drive – the IBM 350 Disk File – on this exact date.

1960: Computer Scientist Dr. Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider, throughout a series of memos produced in the 1960s, discussed the concept of an “Intergalactic Computer Network.” He visualized a network where anyone worldwide could quickly access data and programs at any given time.  

2011: After discussing backups with fellow “Redditors,” Ismail Jadun, a college student, jokingly creates World Backup Day, eventually legitimizing it.

What is a Backup? 

Backup is the process of creating and storing copies of data to protect companies against data loss. A proper backup copy is stored in a separate system or medium. This backup copy can then be restored in the event of a primary data failure. To achieve the best results, backup copies are made regularly to minimize the amount of data lost between backups. 

Enterprises backup their crucial data regularly if the software they are using has bugs, data corruption, hardware failure, user error, malicious hacking, or other unprecedented events. Backups capture and synchronize a point-in-time-snapshot used to return data to its original state. 

Data backups have quickly become one of the most crucial infrastructure components in any organization as they help protect against data loss. Backups also offer a method of restoring deleted files or recovering a file when accidentally overwritten. 

When talking about the importance of backup, it is not easy to forget one of the biggest operational goofs by Pixar Animation Studios. As the studio was nearing the end of production on Toy Story 2 in 1998, a Pixar employee accidentally entered a delete command for one of the film’s files. The blunder was that the employee failed to specify which file in the folder to delete, so the Linux system just began deleting all the movie files! By the time the staff could find out and shut down the system, 90% of the digital assets for Toy Story 2 were already wiped out. 

This horror story went on to highlight the need for data backup. Such a blunder made it known that businesses require complete, end-to-end offsite data protection services. 

How to Backup Crucial Data?

There are essentially three ways to protect the computer, laptop, or smartphone data, whether through syncing, copying, or backing up. 

1. Removable Media: Based on their preference, one can backup to tape, optical, thumb drive, or memory card. Although the capacity may be limited, such media still have the edge over other technologies because of the portability aspect. A significant advantage of removable media is that it is cheap, and its disadvantage stands at its limited storage capacity.

2. Hard Disk Media: One can also choose to backup or sync to either a local hard drive or even a solid-state drive (SSD) which is most of the time faster in comparison to removal media. It can be automated through backup software or system software like Windows Backup and Restore Center or Apple’s TimeMachine. Although, unless it is a mini-drive, it’s most probably permanently attached to the computer and can rarely be taken offsite. Greater capacity is a major pro when it comes to hard disk media, which comes with the territory of a more expensive price tag.

3. Cloud Backup: The latest one in the data backup space is cloud backup. BaaS (Backup as a Service) is an increasingly accessible and effortless way of backing up data. Using consumer services such as Mozy, iDrive, or Carbonite, one can send their data across the internet to a Data Center, where the information is stored in the storage arrays. On a positive note, this form of data backup is very inexpensive and doesn’t require one to buy any hardware. The bad news is, it can take up to weeks to initially back up all the data into the “cloud.”

World Backup Day Activities to Do This Year

• Set aside 15 minutes to an hour to backup all the existing files on your personal computer or laptop. Purchase a hard drive of your choice (preferably 1TB drive) and copy all your important files to the drive. 

• If you don’t have a hard drive, worry not! Many companies like Egnyte, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc., efficiently store your documents online. The best way to go about it is, doing your thorough research and finding out which service works best. 

• Spread the wisdom, invite all the employees on your team to back up their files. Such a step will create a safer culture among your staff and prevent any critical projects from slipping through the crack. As a business entity, the last thing you want is a customer asking for a wrongfully discarded file!

Other Ways in Which you can Celebrate This Day

• Test your current backup solution. Is it working? Are the backups latest? Are you backing up all of your critical data? 

• Ponder upon the most common ways you might lose data. Ensure your data is protected from malicious theft attacks, hardware failures, user error, and natural disasters.

• If you do not have a data protection strategy for your business this year, take the necessary steps to create one!

The Sum and The Substance

With every passing day, people become more data reliant, making it an absolute necessity to secure storage and backup data. In today’s digital economy, data is the core currency and planning for the worst can help your business achieve its best, even during difficult times. 

A failed hard drive or storage device can happen at random. Simple user errors have the capacity of moving, corrupting, or deleting your precious data for good. Your data is the backbone of your business, so this World Backup Day, take a pledge to backup!