Everything on your hard drive could disappear anytime. This catastrophe might happen in five minutes, or five years from now. It?s difficult to know for sure, but sooner or later it will happen unless you transfer and back up your files. Doing this in three different places will help ensure your data stays safe?and it?s surprisingly easy to do!

Here are some computer backup tips to keep a smile on your face:

• Back up everything on two external drives: In case you haven?t noticed, computer storage is pretty inexpensive now. Purchase one external drive and perform a full backup periodically. Having another backup of your most recent files on a handy USB thumb drive is also a great idea. This combination provides ready access to your data with a healthy dose of redundancy in case you should misplace one or find the other nonresponsive.
• Store another set of backup files securely on the Cloud: If you already have two backups, why go for another? Again, the keyword is redundancy. It?s better that you have more backups than you really need rather than the opposite. Backing up to the Cloud prevents local disasters like fires, floods, and theft from taking your files. It can also provide a handy way to access your data away from home or the office. Just make sure the online storage is secure and activate two-factor authentication if it?s available.
• Set up automatic daily backups: Let?s face it, the one time you forget to back up your files manually is the day your main drive will choose to conk out on you. Setting up automatic backups will take care of this and free up some of your time. You don?t have to back up all four terabytes of your videos every day, just the most recent files you?ve touched so you?ll capture their changes.

Whether it?s an electrical surge, a fire, or maybe just old age, all hard drives will fail at some point. And which is easier to do, recreating that once-in-a-lifetime photo you managed to snap on vacation or setting up automatic backups? Rest easier at night by backing up your files today.