After you back up your files, test that you can restore them.
(There's at least one manufacturer of external hard drives out there that bundles free backup software with their hardware. However, the restore software is not included, and will cost you. I won't name them here; the scheme is described - in small type - on the side of the store box.)
An unusable backup is worse than useless, because it gives you a false sense of security. If you don't have any backup, you know you're one bad sector away from losing everything. If you have a bad backup, you think you aren't... but you are.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
(There's at least one manufacturer of external hard drives out there that bundles free backup software with their hardware. However, the restore software is not included, and will cost you. I won't name them here; the scheme is described - in small type - on the side of the store box.)
An unusable backup is worse than useless, because it gives you a false sense of security. If you don't have any backup, you know you're one bad sector away from losing everything. If you have a bad backup, you think you aren't... but you are.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012