System Backups - Prepare for the Worst

Sometimes it is important to get back to the basics when we plan for success.  One of the most basic tasks to address is the idea of system backups.  Many modern organizations build this into their daily processes.  However, we may not be able to take advantage of that for our personal work.  Moreover, side hustles need to include some of these standard processes to avoid data loss. Side Hustle System Backups A full backup is the most direct approach to solving this problem.  While we have more reliable systems today than in years past, there are still problems that can arrive.  You do not want to be one spilled coffee away from losing your life's work.  Therefore, we need to create a procedure that backs up our data regularly (weekly or more frequently) and stores it "off-site."  The other site can be the "cloud," and many services make this easy. Synchronize Your Work It is not uncommon for us to have different machines that we use for work and home.  We might even have multiple machines at home or work that we use regularly.  One of the benefits of a good strategy for system backups is that we can synchronize across environments.  When we do this, our turn around time after a system crash can be negligible.  All we have to do is move to another machine or environment. When you combine this concept with virtual machines and related automation, you may be able to suffer a system crash without missing a beat.  This benefit does not even require a full backup.  You can take advantage of services like box or DropBox to quickly synchronize data across many machines.  I personally have seen a substantial increase in productivity once I embraced these cloud services. Make The Most of Version Control