Encrypt your backups

Backups often contain sensitive information, sometimes enough to be used to steal your identity. Therefore, once the backup falls into the hands of others, the consequences can be very serious and it is crucial to take protective measures.

Since I often switch between multiple computers and different operating systems, I am used to encrypting before backing up data leaves the system. This way, even if I just quickly copy the files to the USB flash drive, I can ensure that the data is relatively safe. I usually use VeraCrypt to do this, of course any reliable encryption tool can achieve similar results.

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Posts You can also choose to package files into password-protected encrypted packages (such as ZIP or RAR formats). This method is not absolutely safe, but as long as you set a strong password, it is enough to block most potential attackers.

Three backups are the bottom line

I roughly follow the "3-2-1" backup principle: that is, keep three copies of the data, use two different storage media, and store them in at least two different physical locations. In my actual operation, I used a combination of mechanical hard drives (HDDs) and cloud storage services, including Google Drive, OneDrive, external hard drives, and several hard drives connected to NAS devices in the home network.

I do not recommend using SSDs or flash devices for long-term offline storage—though this is not absolute, they may have less reliability in long-term storage when powered off than traditional mechanical hard drives.

How do I back up my computer with an open source tool

After sorting out the files and selecting the storage method, it is time to actually perform the backup.

For automated and reliable synchronization, I chose FreeFileSync. It may not be the most space-saving solution, but the stability is excellent.

In my case, I would sync a folder to three different locations. I copied the original folder where all the important documents are located to two cloud services to avoid conflicts caused by OneDrive and Google Drive monitoring the same directory at the same time, and the third copy is saved on the mobile hard drive connected to the computer.

You may want Google Drive and OneDrive to monitor the same folder at the same time to achieve dual cloud synchronization. But in my experience, this approach can often end up causing problems with OneDrive and even causing data loss.

After installing FreeFileSync, click the gear icon next to "Sync" and select "Mirror" mode. This means we want to completely copy the contents of the source folder.

Once set to mirror mode, just specify the source folder and the destination path.

I need to generate three copies, so clicking the green plus button on the left creates three identical tasks, each pointing to the same source folder. On the right, three different target paths are filled in separately.

Now, every time you need to backup, just click the Sync (Mirror) button to complete the operation.

If you want to be more efficient, you can click File > Save As Batch Task, and then you can automatically perform the backup by just double-clicking the generated batch file. Alternatively, you can also cooperate with the Windows Task Scheduler to set the backup tasks to automatically run in fixed cycles.

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Posts In fact, you are not limited to setting up only three backup paths. You can use this feature to design complex backup strategies, such as syncing specific folders to different cloud services.

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FreeFileSync requires more manual operations than other synchronization tools, but the granular control it provides is totally worth it to me.

An additional benefit is that it also supports Linux and macOS systems. This means that once you are familiar with this process, you can easily build the same backup system on other devices without having to re-learning new software.

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