19 May 2026 · 7 min read
Backups: the one thing everybody skips
Almost every household we visit has "a backup". Most of them would not survive the thing they are meant to protect against.
We recover data for a living, and the pattern is remarkably consistent. Almost everyone says they have a backup. Very few have one that would actually work at the moment it was needed — and the reasons are the same handful, over and over.
Sync is not backup
This is the most common and the most expensive misunderstanding.
OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and iCloud synchronise. They make the cloud match your computer, faithfully and quickly. That is genuinely useful — it protects you against losing a laptop, and it puts your files on your phone.
It does not protect you against the thing going wrong on the computer. If ransomware encrypts your files, sync dutifully uploads the encrypted versions over the good ones. If you delete a folder by mistake, sync deletes it in the cloud too. It copies your disasters as efficiently as your work.
A permanently connected drive is not much better
The second most common setup is an external drive left plugged into the computer, with backup software copying to it on a schedule.
That protects you against a drive failure, which is worth something. It does not protect you against ransomware, because anything encrypting your files encrypts everything the computer can write to — including the backup drive sitting there permanently attached.
It also does not protect against fire, flood or theft, since the copy is in the same room as the original.
What a real backup looks like
The rule that has survived decades of changing technology is 3-2-1, and it is simpler than it sounds.
- 3 copies
- The working copy on your computer, plus two backups.
- 2 different media
- For example an external drive and a cloud service — so one type of failure cannot take both.
- 1 kept offsite
- Somewhere other than your house. Cloud counts. So does a drive at a relative's place.
For a household that usually means: your files on the computer, a cloud backup running automatically, and an external drive you connect occasionally and then unplug. The unplugging is the point — a disconnected drive cannot be encrypted.
Backup versus sync, in one table
- Sync (OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud)
- Protects against: lost or broken device. Does not protect against: ransomware, accidental deletion beyond the version window, corruption.
- Connected external drive
- Protects against: drive failure. Does not protect against: ransomware, fire, theft.
- Disconnected external drive
- Protects against: drive failure, ransomware. Does not protect against: fire, theft, and forgetting to plug it in.
- Proper cloud backup with versions
- Protects against: nearly everything, including ransomware, provided version history is long enough.
The test almost nobody performs
A backup you have never restored from is a hope rather than a plan. We have seen backup software reporting success for two years while writing nothing usable, and nobody found out until the day it mattered.
- Pick a file you would hate to lose
- Delete it from your computer, or rename it
- Restore it from your backup
- Confirm it opens properly and the contents are right
Do that once when you set the backup up, and once a year afterwards. It takes ten minutes and it is the only thing that turns a backup from a belief into a fact.
What to back up
Not everything. Programs can be reinstalled and the operating system can be replaced. What cannot be recreated is what matters:
- Photos and video — usually the largest and the most irreplaceable
- Documents, spreadsheets and anything for tax or business
- Email, if you use a mail program rather than webmail
- Saved passwords, if they are not already in a synced manager
- Anything creative — projects, music, writing, design files
A setup that works and is not much trouble
For most households this is enough, and it is largely automatic once configured:
- Cloud backup with version history, running continuously in the background
- An external drive connected monthly for a full copy, then unplugged and put in a drawer
- A restore test when you set it up, and once a year after that
For a small business, add one thing: a copy that lives offsite and that nobody on the network can delete. That is the difference between a ransomware incident costing an afternoon and costing the business.
We set this up as a normal job — typically $90–160 including testing a restore before we leave, because an untested backup is not one. If you have already lost something, our data recovery service starts with a free assessment.