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Backing up your valuable data is critical

• Your laptop is stolen laptop, which contains your data.
• Your hard drive fails. It's not a question of "if", only a question of "when":
  
  • https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-reliability-update-september-2014/
• Stolen laptop, with your data
If

KEY TAKE-HOME: If particular data is important to you, you must have it in more than

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one place. No single location you own can be considered sufficient.

• Secured copies of your valuable data in different locations keeps your data safe!

Doing personal backups can usually be easy

1. Establish an automatic method for backups.
   • See below for Cornell-funded services good for doing this.
   • If you have to think about copying files, such as manually copying files to a USB drive when you think of it, "it's not backup".
2. Verify your backups, perhaps with calendar entry reminders to check.
   
   1. Often, with cloud-based sync services such as the Cornell-funded services below, this is easy.

Examples using Cornell-funded services

These are loudcloud-based, sync client-enabled services, similar to Dropbox.com.

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• OneDrive for Business (as of Dec 2015, not ideal for Mac users)
  
  • About:
    • http://www.it.cornell.edu/services/onedrive/
  • Login:
    
    • http://outlook.cornell.edu/
• Box (good for Macs or Windows)
  • About:
    
    • http://www.it.cornell.edu/services/box/
  • Login:
    
    • http://cornell.box.com/

Information for those who no longer have access to Cornell-funded services

Examples some folks have had experience with

• CrashPlan
• Do you have one you'd recommend? Notify Chemistry IT to add it to this list!

Other examples we'd like to hear others have had experience with

• https://www.backblaze.com/best-online-backup-service.html

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