Pre-COVID, when I'd speak with my coworkers, the concept of backing up their computer was a fleeting thing, or something they'd only ever do every once and a while-- or, they'd only back up documents they deemed most important. Since I've taken a remote-work role, I've come to realize the importance of having a recent backup of my work computer (and how inexpensively I can do it) when my company's technical support team is quite literally hundreds of miles away.
Before this existence most of us are in now of rolling out of bed, grabbing a cup of coffee, and starting the day, there was this sense of togetherness that being at an office brought. Included in that feeling was the peace of mind that should anything go wrong, the technical support team would be (quite literally) right down the hall.
Sometimes our computers fail to boot, we spill something on them, the operating system becomes corrupted and it needs a restore. The bottom line is simply that we never expect it to happen to us. But then it does.
Since I started working from home, the realization that I'm left to my own devices should anything really go wrong has started to sink in. To take matters into my own hands, I went out and bought a cheapo external hard drive on Amazon Prime. Nothing crazy, 120GB, and it's actually not even the same amount of storage that my MacBook itself has. So, what's the point? I came to the conclusion that should I lose access to my computer, as long as I had a recent Time Machine backup, I could restore my work computer. In the case that the worst comes to fruition I can just load that Time Machine backup onto my personal Mac. Boom. It's as simple as that. On top of that, I don't even need a massive hard drive to hold all of my work files from the beginning of time-- I just need my most recent files available, such as the ones I may have deleted last month in which it turns out I actually do still need. Oh, and for security of the drive? Simple as checking the encryption box in Time Machine. Done and done.
Making a backup is an underthought predicament, for sure. I know it because I've asked my coworkers. Many brush it off worried company policy may not allow it. Others would rather take the chance and not spill a few bills out of their own pockets over it. For me, I'd much rather do what I can to ensure my ability to still be able to do my best work, no matter what should happen.
What do you think? Do you always keep a recent backup? Has work post-COVID complicated or changed your view?
ty!! my company got me a hard drive after i read this!
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