Backing up the important information which you keep on your computer is essential. You never know what might happen to your computer and in the event of a hardware failure or other unplanned file deletion, you’ll need to know that you still have access to them. There are a number of options which you can choose in order to keep the data on your computer backed up.

You should ensure that you backup your files on a regular basis to avoid losing anything important. There’s often a setting for doing a full computer backup to your hard drive which will take care of everything which is saved onto your device. However, this won’t protect against theft of your computer – you’ll need to have backed up externally. Doing this is easy with an external hard drive. You can plug it into your computer via the USB port and save a copy of all your important files onto it. They’re not particularly expensive so you may even want to buy two to be on the safe side.

The problem with an external hard drive is that it can also go missing. You may lose it or it may be stolen along with your laptop or PC during a burglary, so it’s never going to give you 100% protection. The best way to mitigate this risk is to use a cloud backup. This is an online backup tool which allows you to store your data and access it from anywhere. It doesn’t involve any hardware so is a very safe and reliable method of storage.