Back to Backing Up

Here’s a question I’m constantly asked: “What is the difference between backing up and syncing my data?”

And the question that follows next: “How do I get it back in the even that things go totally wrong?”

When I’m called and informed that a client’s computer has died or gotten lost/stolen, the first thing I ask, “Is the data backed up?” Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Well, that depends, whether the data was synced (via a cloud service such as iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) or if was backed up to local hard drive (a hard drive physically connected to the computer) or using a cloud-based backup service such as Carbonite or Backblaze.

So, let’s differentiate the two types of services, both of which have pros and cons: A service that SYNCS keeps your data consistent on two (or more) devices. So, if you have a desktop computer and a laptop (or iPad, iPhone, etc.), your data is same on all devices, assuming they’re connected to Wi-Fi. iCloud is Apple’s syncing service. The advantage of this: Changes made to your data on one device is reflected on the other.

However, the disadvantage of syncing is in the event you lose a document (or accidently save an older version), is that you can’t go back in time and recover the correct one. (For the most part.) For that, you need a backup. A local backup that uses Time Machine (Apple’s backup program that’s part of the macOS) enables you to recover documents from previous backups. As long as don’t forget to connect the external drive to the computer.

Similar to the local backup, using one of the aforementioned cloud backup services will also allow you to recover accidently deleted files, or older version of file. Again, as long as the backup is working. Those types of services can be flaky, and need babysitting.