<p>I have continously talked about my drive to never lose a file again, after I lost my first file to a failed floppy disk drive in 1996. The fanatical backup approach has been used to work as follows:</p>

<ol>
  <li>Create a new version of whatever I am working on everyday - for files add the date, for web application development (create a new folder)</li>
  <li>For development create a separate folder for staging and production files adding to them as needed</li>
  <li>For files whenever I am to make a significant change I create a version too, even if it is for the same day so that I can track when I made made major pivots</li>
  <li>Backup to a shared magnetic backup drive (before 2010)</li>
  <li>Move backups to a cold storage hard drive which is only used for that purpose</li>
</ol>

<p>Overall I used to end up with 3 different copies of any file over time, and storage is cheap so duplication was not an issue.</p>

<p>The cloud came and all I had to do was adapt my workflow as the primary, secondary and cold storage are all cloud based</p>

<ol>
  <li>Primary work
    <ul>
      <li>Dropbox and Google for personal use, these are fast syncing for regular use. I have 13GB in Dropbox gained from various offers at the time of launch, and have a 200GB Google One subscription (the 2TB next package does not add value due to being higher for unused space)</li>
      <li>Box - for ofice use</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>Primary Backup - this is Google Drive, with a 200GB Google One subscription where I place archived projects, home photos and miscellaneous files that I need to maintain</li>
  <li>Cold Storage - Apple iCloud 50GB where I zip files that I do not expect to use for a long time</li>
</ol>

<p>What I have learnt:</p>

<ol>
  <li>I work directly in the cloud service folders, therefore do not need to remember to backup or synchronize the files</li>
  <li>All cloud services are set to automatically startup on machine reboot so are always active</li>
  <li>The primary cloud service you use depends on what you are comfortable with</li>
  <li>Most cloud service providers charge about $20 per year for 200GB then $99 per year for 2TB, I found the price jump not justifiable hence the move to iCloud for my cold storage</li>
  <li>The power and Internet services in Uganda are not very stable and consistent so the option for a NAS</li>
</ol>

<p>What’s your approach to backups, what tips and tricks have you learnt along your journey?</p>