Keeping Your Data Safe – Cloud, Drives, and Redundancy

 

Keeping Your Data Safe – Cloud, Drives, and Redundancy

Data security isn’t just for banks and big companies. For anyone creating media, running a business, or teaching online, it’s essential. At Philip M Russell Ltd, we handle thousands of files — from tuition videos and science footage to sailing archives and organ recordings — and keeping that data safe is as important as creating it.

The Golden Rule – Redundancy

No single storage method is perfect. Hard drives fail, clouds get hacked, and mistakes happen. That’s why we use the 3-2-1 principle:

• 3 copies of everything,

• 2 different media types, and

• 1 stored off-site.

Cloud or Physical Drives?

Cloud storage offers instant backup and remote access, ideal for collaborative work and quick retrieval. But it also means trusting a third party with your data — and if your account is compromised, everything could be at risk.

External drives, on the other hand, give you total control. We use labelled drives stored offline in secure boxes. They’re disconnected from the network, safe from hacking, and regularly rotated so that the oldest drives can act as deep backups.

Storing Across Locations

One local fire, flood, or theft shouldn’t wipe out your work. We keep additional drives at separate physical sites, ensuring that even in a worst-case scenario, the data remains recoverable.

The Takeaway

The best backup strategy combines convenience with caution — fast cloud access for working files, and offline copies for long-term safety.
Protecting your data isn’t about paranoia; it’s about professionalism. After all, your archive is your history — keep it secure, and it will keep working for you.