World Wide Backup Day is coming on March 31st. We all know that more than half of our lives is stored on our computers/phones/tablets. And as digital scrapbookers and photographers, most of our memories are stored digitally as well. So what would you do if you woke up one morning and all of your data, your photos, your scrapbook pages, your supplies were...GONE!

What would you do if you lost everything? from Sam Mularczyk on Vimeo.

I think the first thing I would do is break down and cry. Probably a deep gut wrenching ugly cry. In fact, I could cry right now just thinking about it! So instead of turning to the tissues, why not turn to a real solution. Join the movement and take the pledge today to back up that data!

What is a Backup?

A backup is an additional copy of your data, a snapshot in time just in case there is data loss or corruption.

Generally, it is wise to have an offsite storage (in case something happens to your home - robbery, flood, etc) and a nearby backup for easy file retrieval.

I would recommend you backup at least your photos and your personal documents. Digital supplies are nice to have backed up, but not irreplaceable!

Online Backup Services

There are a lot of offsite services to use for backing up your data. Here are a couple of our favorites.

• Monica: Back Blaze - $5.00 per month, unlimited space and external hard drive support, recovery via downloading your files or you can order your files on a flash or USB drive for a fee. While I have never needed to recover from an offsite backup, I'm so glad I have the peace of mind that everything is protected.
• Melissa: Crash Plan – Free up to $120 per year with 4 different plans, unlimited space on some plans, external hard drive support, no deleted files no matter how long your external is unplugged, seeded back up option and recovery to your door. I have been using Crash Plan for years now and love it! I used the seeded backup, so they sent me a 3Tb external hard drive and I used their program to load all my data onto it. I sent the EHD back to Sydney and voilà! All my files were backed up. Crash Plan also has an app so you can access ALL your files from your phone or tablet.
• Melissa: Forever - Free for up to 2 Gb. Payment plans from $19/m or pay outright. I use Forever as permanent online storage for my photos. They are guaranteed for life (plus 100 years!) so your family can pass the photos down to future generations. I upload my favourite photos from my computer and with their iPhone app. You can photos from as many computers, cameras and phones as you own! Plus I can access my photos from anywhere with their website and apps.

Onsite Backup

As digital scrapbookers, we have A LOT of photos and supplies. Which means you are probably in need of some hard drive space. I recommend using a cloud backup for your photos (like Back Blaze or CrashPlan) as well as a local hard drive (I recommend the 4Tb Western Digital or the 4Tb Seagate). That way you can keep all your data on hand and, in case of emergency, you can just grab it and go!

Sometimes you need to quickly access that data and don't want to wait for a reboot from an offsite location. That's what the back up hard drive is for!

Need Help Backing Up Supplies?

Are your digital scrapbooking supplies taking over your computer? In Melissa's class Organizing for Absolute Beginners, she will help you not only organize those supplies, but show you how to back them up as well. There are so many valuable tips and tricks in this class! Protect and organize your supplies today!

Don't Delay Back Up Today!

Now is the time. Today is the day. World Backup Day is the perfect opportunity to protect your peace of mind and make sure your data, memories, photos, layouts are here for years to come! Will you join Melissa and I and BACK. IT. UP?!!