Now that you’re ready to backup online, let’s talk about the files you should backup. Depending on the storage space available, you will need to pick and choose which files are the most important to you.
Here’s the usual file types you should backup online.
- Documents: “The dog ate my homework” doesn’t fly anymore in today’s digital world. Important documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and data files should all be considered. Everything from your kid’s homework to that important work presentation you brought home last weekend.
- Pictures: Pictures capture the memories we wish we could rewind the clock and go back to enjoy. Birthdays, weddings, holidays, baby’s first steps, kid’s graduation – you get the idea. These are all memories you want to cherish for a long, long time. Keep these tucked away in a safe place as they are irreplaceable.
- Music: If you’re a music lover like me, you’ve probably invested your whole lifetime building a music library of 1000s of songs. Imagine if you lost it all and had to start over from scratch. Even at $1 per song, iTunes would cost you a fortune to reclaim them all. If you look to “alternative” download sources, you’d be spending hours and hours trying to remember all the songs you lost. Is your time really worth it?
- Movies: You may have your home videos still stuck on VHS or DVD, so this one may not be a problem for some people. But, if you are big into downloading movies, especially ones you purchased and have no way of retrieving them, you’ll want to consider backing up your movies.
- Program, Application Files: Not many people think about this one, but consider all the programs or applications you’ve installed over the years. Each of these include many different settings or preferences. I know I can’t remember them all, so why leave it to chance?
Now that we’ve established which files to backup online, you’ll want to think about how often you should backup your files. Most online backup services will let you automatically schedule your backup on a regular basis, so you don’t have to worry about it.
Here’s a few recommended timelines of when to backup your files.
| File Type | Schedule |
|---|---|
| Documents | Daily |
| Music | Weekly |
| Pictures | Weekly |
| Movies | Weekly |
| Programs & Applications | Monthly |
These schedules are merely a guide for you to follow. Feel free to modify them as you see fit to meet your online backup needs.
What files do you backup online? How often do you back them up? Share your online backup tips in the comments below.
