This March 31 we not only finish the third part of the year. International Backup Day is also celebrated, date on which the technology industry reminds us of the importance of having backup copies.
technically backup is any copy of a file stored on a different device to the one in which it was originally stored.
En la web where the celebration is promoted, the following statistics are cited:
- 30% of people do not make backup copies.
- 113 mobile phones are stolen per minute.
- Every month 10% of all computers are infected with a virus.
- 29% of data losses are accidental.
To reinforce commitment, those responsible for the campaign nThey propose you to take an oath that we can share on social networks.
I solemnly swear to make a backup copy of my important documents as well as my most precious memories every March 31st.
I will also tell my friends and family about World Backup Day – one friend doesn't let another go without backing up.
There are different reasons for losing important data. Some of them are:
- Problems with the storage device: This mainly happens with pen drives, external drives or memory cards. The most common causes of problems are leaks, rbors or breakage.
- Malicious software attacks or computer viruses. Although your risk can be mitigated by using protective programs and installing programs from trusted sources, security specialists can't always keep up with threats.
- Hardware failures: The rise or fall of electrical voltage, wear, insects or lack of maintenance can cause failures and prevent access to data in our work device.
- Operating system problems: An operating system is made up of hundreds of thousands of lines of code written by humans. Although they are tested, they are not always enough to cover the possible contingencies of their use in the real world. There are always problems, and those problems may require reformatting the drive and reinstalling.
- Third-party software issues: Although self-contained package formats and app stores were born with the intention of eliminating dependency conflicts and security concerns, many packages are still installed manually.
- Business policy changes: In the case of cloud storage services, companies can increase the price, reduce benefits, discontinue the service or suffer computer attacks or accidents.
Linux backup tools
There is a somewhat underrated but still relevant backup tool, paper. It is particularly useful in the case of emails or faculty work, although it is not recommended to use it for passwords.
Modern browsers include the ability to store passwords, bookmarks, and credit card data. and sync it with other devices. Both Firefox and Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi have versions for Linux, Windows, Mac and mobile devices.
Another way to store passwords and card data is password managers. These allow you to export your database so that they can be read on other devices. An excellent alternative is KeePassXC
In the case of files and folders, there are many tools for Linux that allow us to schedule copies of all or part of our disc. Distributions based on the GNOME desktop usually come with Déjà Dup. KDE does not seem to have an official application but the repositories have several titles that do the job.
For book collections the Caliber manager allows you to create and share our collection of ebooks.
Both Brasero (Gnome) and K3B (KDE) allow us to burn our favorite songs on cd. If what you want to create are DVDs of videos, you can try DeVeDe.
You already know, one cannot avoid data loss, but you can reduce the consequences of those losses by taking the necessary precautions. All the mentioned programs are in the repositories.