The 3-2-1 Backup Rule

What Is the 3-2-1 Backup Rule?

 

The 3-2-1 backup rule is a simple, effective strategy for keeping your data safe. It advises that you keep three copies of your data on two different media with one copy off-site. Let’s break that down:

 

Three copies of your data: Your three copies include your original or production data plus two more copies.​

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On two different media: You should store your data on two different forms of media. This means something different today than it did in the late 2000s. I’ll talk a little more about this in a bit.

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One copy off-site: You should keep one copy of your data off-site in a remote location, ideally more than a few miles away from your other two copies.​

 

If you want to protect your personal information, photos, work files, or other important data, the 3-2-1 backup strategy is the way to go. It helps you avoid having a single point of failure that’s vulnerable to human error, hard drive crashes, theft, natural disasters, or ransomware. 

 

How Does the 3-2-1 Backup Rule Work?

 

Let’s say you took a picture of your social security card for your tax accountant years ago—that file is called “socialsecurity.jpg” and it lives on your computer at home. That’s the first “copy” of your data.

You also have an external hard drive at home, used to back up your Mac or PC. That external hard drive will back up as part of its backup process. That’s a second copy on a different device or medium.

In addition to that external hard drive, you also need an online backup solution (we have recommendations). The online backup continuously scans your computer and uploads your data to the cloud (which, in layman’s terms, is an off-site data center). That’s your third copy! Hopefully, you also have the actual paper copy.