A risk not worth taking.

There are some risks in life that are worth taking. One risk that isn't is: risking losing all of your documents, files and images because you didn't back them up. Now, if you're one of those ultra-sensible people who regularly back up to content of their electronic devices to secondary electronic devices for storage purposes or to the Cloud, then this post is probably not for you. However, if you're like me and when you're prompted to back up files you relegate it to the all-elusive later, then heed my warning and BACK YOUR THINGS UP. NOW. OR AT YOUR EARLIEST POSSIBLE MOMENT.

Trust me on this - it is absolutely worth the few extra moments it'll take to regularly do so because the risk you run in not doing so is much more annoying. My laptop gave up on me a couple of days ago (it was quite old in PC years - it was coming up to its fourth birthday) and it took with it the majority of my files. And to make matters worse, this wasn't the first time it had happened. I had to reset it to factory settings a couple of months ago losing a lot of files along the way and I still didn't get into the habit of backing up documents. And its not just with my PC - I've had multiple scares about losing everything on my phone after its had a misshap with tea, andyet I didn't back them up regularly.

I have learnt my lesson now though as I realise that losing all of my documents, photos and files isn't a risk I have to take. Here's what I'm currently using to minimise this risk:

An external hardrive || This is old-school but it works. The fact that I own an external hardrive shows that I have good intentions...that I never put into practise. I recently swapped out my old external hard-drive that weighed more than my laptop for a smaller Toshiba Canvio 1TB model. It's well-worth the investment, and once I get my hands on a new laptop, you can be sure I'll be setting an alarm to back things up on a weekly basis. 

Dropbox || Dropbox and I are en route to becoming very good friends. Dropbox is a cloud storage system that provides you with 2GB of storage (that can be upgraded to 1TB if you subscribe). What I like is that you can access it from all your devices, and their Carousel app, which is specifically designed for phone photos, allows me to back up all my pictures and access them without having to go through iTunes (which is very useful when you don't have a laptop).

Microsoft One Drive || I have a Microsoft Surface 2 which means that most of everything I do is connected to my Outlook account. Whilst this has a great deal of disadvantages, the advantage is that my files on there are easily saved to the Microsoft One Drive. One Drive is similar to Dropbox but gives you 15GB instead. Google Drive would be a great alternative if you're not an Outlook person, also offering 15GB of space for free.

Evernote || The only lesson I learnt from the first time my laptop went AWOL was that writing blog posts on a cloud-based program would be much safer than writing down ideas in Word Documents. As a result I started writing my blog posts in Evernote. Their new interface makes it much easier to use, and they even have a distraction-free full screen which is great for any type of writing. What I really like is that because you can get the Evernote app on your phone, when I'm on the go and get a sudden flash of inspiration, I can write it directly into the app, and I'll be able to consult it on a laptop later or on my tablet. You get a 60 MB monthly allowance, and it's comparatively much cheaper to upgrade to Premium at just €40 a year. 

I cannot stress the importance of backing up your things as someone who has spent the past couple of days despondently wondering why I didn't shift over to the Cloud or regularly back up everything up earlier.

How do you back up your work or avoid the risk of losing everything on your laptop or phone?