The Best Times to Backup your Smart Phone

Backing up a smart phone is important in order to protect all the data on it, but if you asked 10 people when they back up their phones, you would likely get 10 different answers. Most people start out strategically, running backups at regular intervals. Over time, people often find themselves going months without one. Not only do backups preserve our information, but they are also the best way to transition to a newer phone in the least amount of time. 

With time it gets easy to think nothing bad will happen. Emails can be downloaded again, many applications are not affected as their data is not stored locally. The most common things people lose are photos, videos and messages. Many people have suffered from a catastrophic phone loss, in which case if they had a backup it was a lifesaver!

From backing up regularly to losing a phone, the best times to backup a smart phone are clear.

The Best Times to Backup your Smart Phone

Backing up a smart phone on a regular basis will always be best. Whether it is every month, every quarter, or even every week, regular backups are the best way to go if at all possible. For some people, backing up their phones regularly might not be a task they are willing to take on. While this post is for those people, it is in no way meant to undermine the benefits gained by having regular backups!

One of the most important steps during any backup is to be sure the backup date listed in whichever software you use shows the correct date when finished. This ensures you captured a full and complete backup.

In this post we are assuming backups are going to be to a local computer because the bigger smart phone storage becomes, the more expensive it can be to backup to the cloud. While local backups do not protect from every event, they are certainly better than not having a backup at all. If you find yourself unable to manage regular backups, there still is a best time to backup your phone, in fact there are two best times. 

Those times are:

1. Right before leaving on a vacation, trip, or other excursion
2. Upon return of said vacation, trip, or excursion

This might sound silly, but it can be very effective. Theft, loss, or other breakage, etc., are highly common when people travel. It is easy to accidentally drop a phone when taking the perfect beach picture. To set your phone down in a restroom only to forget it when you walk out. In other words, your smart phone is at greater risk when you travel. 

This means making a backup of your phone before leaving is critical!

Second, when you return from travelling, do another backup. Why? Because when you travel you are more likely to take photos, notes, videos, download videos, applications or music, and other such actions that could be lost if you did not perform another backup. If the local device where backups are stored does not have lots of storage, simply remove the previous backup after an updated backup runs successfully.

Ultimately, nothing can replace regular backups. In the absence of regular backups, backing up smart phones before and after travel is the next best plan. After running a backup always be sure to verify the most recent backup date is correct. If you ever suffer from a catastrophic failure, having a backup, however old, will be better than none. Still, if you ever take photos or videos, the more recent the backup the less you will lose.

As always, what works for you might be different than what is best for another. Knowing what tolerance you have will drive the way you protect your data.

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