Most backup software lets you schedule scans of your hard drive for new and changed files daily, weekly, monthly, or continually (or at least, say, every 15 minutes). Should you lose the files, either through disaster or simply by deleting them or overwriting them, you can just restore them from the saved copies.įor this to work, the copies of your files must be updated regularly. That storage can be another drive, an external drive, a NAS, a rewritable disc, or 'the cloud,' meaning someone else's servers. The concept behind backup software is pretty simple: Make a copy of your files on storage separate from your main hard drive. These are all well worth running, but they have some limitations, lacking some of the extra benefits you get from running standalone backup software. Both also offer some cloud backup, with iCloud and OneDrive, as well. Windows 10 and Windows 11 include a File History feature and a full disk backup feature, and macOS includes its Time Machine software. Backup software and services do just that.īoth Windows and macOS have beefed up their built-in backup tools in recent years. Your business assets-documents, plans, financial spreadsheets-as well as your personal assets-family photos, videos, and music-deserve to be protected.

Sometimes data loss happens for reasons beyond the technological, as in the case of theft or natural disasters. Hard drive failure is a common occurrence, and ransomware can make a computer's contents inaccessible. All technology, whether it's a brand-new iMac or a ten-year-old PC running Windows 7, can potentially take a sudden nosedive. If it can happen to a big corporation like Delta, don't think it can't happen to you. Several years ago Delta Airlines had to cancel more than 1,300 flights, at a cost of $100 million, not because of weather or mechanical problems, but because the company's computer systems went down.

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Personal backup software