World Backup Day (31 March): Your Yearly Backup Checklist
World Backup Day is held every year on 31 March. It is a simple idea: one day a year, check that everything you care about is backed up, and that the backups actually work. Of course, every day should be a backup day, but a fixed date in the calendar is a useful nudge to do the checks that tend to slip.
Use the checklist below each year, at home or at work. It takes a little time, but far less than trying to rebuild lost files.
Why it matters
Data is lost in all sorts of ways: a drive that fails without warning, a phone dropped in water, a laptop stolen from a car, a folder deleted by mistake, or ransomware encrypting everything it can reach. Modern SSDs in particular can stop working suddenly, with none of the noises or slowdowns that sometimes warned of an older hard drive failing.
A good backup is far cheaper than any of the alternatives, and if ransomware strikes it means you aren’t left weighing up whether to pay criminals. The NCSC’s advice is straightforward: back up anything you value.
The World Backup Day checklist
1. Make a list of what matters
Photos, documents, email, accounts, work projects, phone contacts and messages. Has anything new appeared in the last year that isn’t covered, such as a new laptop, a new phone or a new folder outside your usual backup?
2. Check your backups are still running
Open your backup software or cloud backup account and look at the date of the last successful backup. Backups quietly stop more often than you’d think: a drive gets unplugged, a subscription lapses, storage fills up.
3. Restore something
Pick a few files, including an older one, and restore them to a different location. Open them to make sure they are intact. The NCSC recommends checking you can restore from your backups; it is the only way to be sure.
4. Check you have more than one copy
A widely used rule of thumb is 3-2-1: three copies, on two different types of storage, with one off-site. For most people that means an external drive or NAS plus a cloud backup.
5. Don’t rely on sync alone
iCloud Drive, OneDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox keep files in step across devices, but deletions and ransomware-encrypted files sync too. Make sure you also have a real backup that keeps older versions. Our home backup guide explains the difference.
6. Disconnect and protect backup drives
Unplug external backup drives when they aren’t in use, so ransomware or an accidental deletion can’t reach them, and password-protect them as the NCSC advises. Keep one copy away from your desk, ideally away from the building.
7. Secure the accounts
Turn on 2-step verification for your cloud storage, backup and email accounts, and check recovery details such as phone numbers are up to date.
8. Remember phones and tablets
Check that phone backups are switched on and completing, and that photos are included.
9. Look at ageing hardware
If a drive is clicking, very slow, disappearing and reappearing, or showing errors, copy what you can to safety and replace it. Don’t keep testing it. Our guide to getting data off a failing hard drive explains why.
10. For businesses: review the plan
Check who is responsible for backups, that at least one copy is offline or immutable, and that your written incident plan is current. Our business backup guide covers this in more detail.
If you find a gap too late
If a device has already failed and the backup isn’t there, stop using it and don’t try DIY fixes such as repair utilities, repeated restarts or the freezer trick. A professional laboratory can often recover data from failed hard drives, SSDs, phones and memory cards.
Data Retrieval Ltd offers a free initial assessment and a fixed, no-obligation quote before any recovery starts. Call 020 7064 4996 or book a case online.
Sources
- NCSC, Backing up your data