Backup

A backup is a separate copy of your photos, contacts and files kept safely, so you can recover them if a phone is lost, broken, locked or infected.

Backup: A backup is a copy of your important data stored somewhere other than the original device, such as a cloud account or an external drive. If the phone is stolen, damaged, locked by ransomware or wiped, you can restore your photos, contacts and chats from the copy.

Many people in India keep years of photos, family videos and documents on a single phone. A fall into water, a theft or a malware infection then wipes it all. Ransomware is far less scary when you have a recent copy, because you can reset the device and restore rather than pay. It also helps when you move to a new phone, since your chats and contacts come back in minutes.

A good backup is recent, separate and protected. Turn on automatic phone backup to your Google account and do a copy of key files to a drive now and then. Protect the backup account with two-factor authentication, and test a restore once, because an untested backup may not work. Do the first backup today, rather than waiting for a reason.

Tips

• Switch on automatic Google backup and photo backup, and check the last backup date.
• Copy your most important files to a drive or second account every month.
• Protect your backup account with a strong password and two-factor authentication.

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