World Backup Day: The golden 3-2-1 backup rule

Safeguarding valuable information is crucial, but with cyberthreats on the rise, it is becoming more difficult than ever. World Backup Day is an annual holiday that takes place on March 31 and serves as a reminder of the importance of data backup and protection. A global initiative, the holiday aims to raise awareness by encouraging people and organizations to take proactive measures to protect their valuable information.

In 2011, a Reddit poster recommended to others in the group that a new holiday be created to stress the importance of backing up data. Another poster in the thread recommended that the holiday be celebrated on March 31, the day before April 1 (April Fool’s Day), to avoid pranks.

Other posters in the group agreed. Within days, the user who proposed the holiday had purchased the domain worldbackupday.net and created the Twitter feed @WorldBackupDay.

The idea took off and resulted in partnerships with enthusiastic companies. Thirteen years later, World Backup Day is commemorated around the world. As part of the holiday, people are encouraged to take a pledge:

While data backup is widely associated with businesses that need to protect critical data, including data that must be accessed to continue business operations, backup isn’t just a business issue — it’s a personal issue. From important documents to personal photos, a person’s data holds a plethora of information and memories. Losing it might not cause business disruption violations, but the consequences could be equally painful.

Having one backup copy is not enough. For example, assume that you back up your computer to an external drive that you keep in your home office. If your computer crashes, you have the backup copy. However, if a fire breaks out in your home, it will destroy both your computer and the external drive.

The 3-2-1 backup strategy rule helps you to avoid this fate. By keeping backup copies locally, off-site and on external storage devices, you double the protection of your data in the event of any unforeseen event or disaster:

3-2-1 backup strategy

·       Create three copies of data, including the original and two copies.

·       Store data on different media storage types, such as external hard drive, USB or cloud storage.

·       Keep one backup copy in a geographically separate location.

Just as important as the 3-2-1 rule is the timetable you establish to back up your system ongoing. For example, if you back up your computer on March 31, and in July your hard drive fails, all your data from April through July will be lost.

For this reason, Acronis recommends that you establish a frequent backup schedule. You determine your backup schedule based on your assessment of how much data you are willing to lose. Many backup advocates back up on a daily or weekly basis, depending upon how often you use your computer. And while home users can back up their data monthly, businesses must be more aggressive. To give you peace of mind and to save you time and effort, you should use backup software that can automatically back up your system and files.

Acronis provides a variety of backup products and solutions for home users, SMBs, enterprises and MSPs, including:

·       Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office: An easy-to-use solution for home users that provides full image, local and cloud backups, as well as Microsoft 365 backup, ransomware protection, real-time cyber protection and automatic recovery.

·       Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud: A powerful solution for MSPs that features integrated backup and cybersecurity to empower MSPs to protect clients’ data, wherever it resides.

·       Acronis Cyber Protect: An enterprise and SMB-grade solution that streamlines cyber resilience with integrated, centrally managed backup and cybersecurity, as well as one-click disaster recovery.

World Backup Day serves as a reminder of the importance of data backup and protection, and Acronis offers comprehensive solutions to safeguard your valuable information from potential data loss and cyberthreats.