Backing up your files can be a lifesaver when data gets corrupted, or in the case of total drive failure. But it must be done right. Too often I hear stories of well-meaning people trying to back up their data only to still lose that data because they’ve made mistakes along the way. Here are the main backup pitfalls you want to avoid, and some suggestions for what to do instead.

1. Storing backups in one place

Backing up to just one drive or flash drive means that if anything happens to that one backup, which is not a stretch to imagine, you’ve lost all your data.

Instead of having a single point of failure, you need to have more backups. When deciding how many copies of the data to back up I recommend you go by the 3-2-1 rule. That is, have 3 copies of your data, two on different media

See Full Page