Church Admin Corner: Backing Up Digital Files

When was the last time you backed up your digital files? If it was more than a few days ago, or only at our last reminder (six months ago), or you cannot remember, it is time to make a plan for secure digital storage.

Here are some ways to make backups easier:

• External Hard Drive: Have an external hard drive that you back up all digital files to on a weekly or monthly basis. Ideally, such a drive would be housed offsite, but it is better to have it onsite and doing the backups than having it offsite and not doing them.
• Google Drive or Dropbox: Even better than an external drive is a cloud-based drive. For both Google Drive and Dropbox, you can set up desktop folders and then save directly to these drives. Online servers offer excellent security and multiple servers so your data remains accessible. Both of these options are reasonably priced and well worth the cost. One parish admin had a situation where their work computer fully crashed and the full hard drive was lost, but they were back to work in minutes as everything was in Dropbox.

When dealing with digital records, it is imperative to complete regular backups. So, do not delay, back up today (and every day!).