To people who don't back up their data: why not?

[YoungBlade]

I see a lot of people on this forum who seem very concerned about data loss. Be it in a no POST situation, SMART data that's showing failures, a potential malware issue, etc. Whatever the reason, the biggest concern is for the data on the computer.

 

This always confuses me, because LTT and the rest of the tech space preaches unrelentingly about the importance of backing up important data. So this should not be news to anyone who has found these forums.

 

(And to many, it is not news at all. I actually think I see more posts with someone who says "I have a backup" in their post versus people freaking out about potential data loss.)

 

So to those that haven't, I'm curious: why haven't you?

 

This is not about judgment or anything of the sort. I'm just genuinely curious about why some folks haven't backed up their data, because I'd like to understand why this happens.

[da na]

I don't back up my C: drive since it has literally nothing except for my Windows install and a few MS store programs. Even Windows folders like desktop and documents I have mapped to one of my HDDs, which gets backed up every week. My programs are on another SSD which I don't back up because I'm very confident in its reliability and if it fails, big deal it'll take me an hour tops to find and redownload all that stuff. There's a HDD in my computer with just downloaded YouTube videos to watch, it's a HGST drive (aka it will never break), plus I can just download them again if it does fail. And the NVME with raw footage for my YouTube videos, data is only on it for probably a week max before it goes through my video editor and onto YT so it's pointless to back it up since nothing is permanently stored on it. So the only one I back up is the one with photos, videos, documents that I'm keeping for a while.

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

I guess it falls under "other reason", but I have a feeling that you may want to add "lazy" as an option.

[YoungBlade]

1 minute ago, Hairless Monkey Boy said:

I guess it falls under "other reason", but I have a feeling that you may want to add "lazy" as an option.

I sort of thought that would fall under "I intend to, but I haven't found the time," but I suppose you can be lazy about something without any intention of ever rectifying the situation...

 

I tried to write answers that didn't imply moral failings on the part of the respondant.

[Kazooduck]

17 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

I see a lot of people on this forum who seem very concerned about data loss. Be it in a no POST situation, SMART data that's showing failures, a potential malware issue, etc. Whatever the reason, the biggest concern is for the data on the computer.

 

This always confuses me, because LTT and the rest of the tech space preaches unrelentingly about the importance of backing up important data. So this should not be news to anyone who has found these forums.

 

(And to many, it is not news at all. I actually think I see more posts with someone who says "I have a backup" in their post versus people freaking out about potential data loss.)

 

So to those that haven't, I'm curious: why haven't you?

 

This is not about judgment or anything of the sort. I'm just genuinely curious about why some folks haven't backed up their data, because I'd like to understand why this happens.

I could care less about my Minecraft folder and all 260 apps, if my drive gets wiped them free space!

[Deadpool2onBlu-Ray]

25 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

I see a lot of people on this forum who seem very concerned about data loss. Be it in a no POST situation, SMART data that's showing failures, a potential malware issue, etc. Whatever the reason, the biggest concern is for the data on the computer.

 

This always confuses me, because LTT and the rest of the tech space preaches unrelentingly about the importance of backing up important data. So this should not be news to anyone who has found these forums.

 

(And to many, it is not news at all. I actually think I see more posts with someone who says "I have a backup" in their post versus people freaking out about potential data loss.)

 

So to those that haven't, I'm curious: why haven't you?

 

This is not about judgment or anything of the sort. I'm just genuinely curious about why some folks haven't backed up their data, because I'd like to understand why this happens.

I don't really have much data to back up lol 

 

[LTTFan16538228]

I don't find the time for it and also all of my crap is re-downloadable and my photos that I have on there are on my phone

[aDoomGuy]

Why would I back up Steam games?  

[worstalentscout]

On 4/11/2022 at 11:55 PM, Mel0nMan said:

I don't back up my C: drive since it has literally nothing except for my Windows install and a few MS store programs. Even Windows folders like desktop and documents I have mapped to one of my HDDs, which gets backed up every week. My programs are on another SSD which I don't back up because I'm very confident in its reliability and if it fails, big deal it'll take me an hour tops to find and redownload all that stuff. There's a HDD in my computer with just downloaded YouTube videos to watch, it's a HGST drive (aka it will never break), plus I can just download them again if it does fail. And the NVME with raw footage for my YouTube videos, data is only on it for probably a week max before it goes through my video editor and onto YT so it's pointless to back it up since nothing is permanently stored on it. So the only one I back up is the one with photos, videos, documents that I'm keeping for a while.

 

bro, mind sharing best way to download YouTube videos  ?

 

any way to edit them to make them shorter ?.............if not, can compress them to save space ?

[worstalentscout]

On 4/11/2022 at 11:50 PM, YoungBlade said:

I see a lot of people on this forum who seem very concerned about data loss. Be it in a no POST situation, SMART data that's showing failures, a potential malware issue, etc. Whatever the reason, the biggest concern is for the data on the computer.

 

This always confuses me, because LTT and the rest of the tech space preaches unrelentingly about the importance of backing up important data. So this should not be news to anyone who has found these forums.

 

(And to many, it is not news at all. I actually think I see more posts with someone who says "I have a backup" in their post versus people freaking out about potential data loss.)

 

So to those that haven't, I'm curious: why haven't you?

 

This is not about judgment or anything of the sort. I'm just genuinely curious about why some folks haven't backed up their data, because I'd like to understand why this happens.

 

i have my info like videos, photos and documents on an External HDD and External SSD................

 

but how do i make a copy of Windows10 in my boot SSD (no info saved there) ?.............i was thinking of cloning the boot SSD to another similar SSD so if the original SSD were to malfunction, i can pop the clone in and run the PC ?

[Chiyawa]

I do want to backup, but I couldn't afford the luxury. Even so, I have close to... 8.75TB of data to backup, which add lots of cost real quick. A 4TB drive is about 16% of my monthly salary, and that's just the drive alone. I'm hoping to get a 10TB disk but that'll cost me a little more than 1/3 of my salary. So, well, too bad...

[YoungBlade]

1 hour ago, worstalentscout said:

 

i have my info like videos, photos and documents on an External HDD and External SSD................

 

but how do i make a copy of Windows10 in my boot SSD (no info saved there) ?.............i was thinking of cloning the boot SSD to another similar SSD so if the original SSD were to malfunction, i can pop the clone in and run the PC ?

You can clone the boot SSD if you want to using any number of drive cloning utilities. I don't know that that's really necessary, as reinstalling Windows from a flash drive doesn't even take an hour, but if you have a spare drive, you can do that.

[da na]

2 hours ago, worstalentscout said:

 

bro, mind sharing best way to download YouTube videos  ?

 

any way to edit them to make them shorter ?.............if not, can compress them to save space ?

ClipGrab or some other YouTube-DL fork. And just edit them down with a video editor

[Mihle]

I do have an in house backup of important data, one copy on my desktop and one on my NAS, both is in the same house tho and both is online.

 

I have had the intention to have a system where I plug in an HDD to my NAS to make another copy to every two or three months automatically when plugged in, that I store outside my home somewhere in between those times. Not all data but the most important (2TB HDD)

It would be both off-site and offline except right when I update the copy.

I just haven't getting around completing the setup for that yet.