Backup Plan Builder
The Backup Plan Builder clarifies where your data sit and how often they need backing up, and draws up a backup outline you can actually follow.
Data loss looks like a remote possibility to everyone until it happens; and yet a backup is the only real insurance against a failing disk, a stolen phone or a folder deleted by mistake. This tool turns the intention of “I will back things up one day” into a concrete plan: which data, how many copies, on which media and in what order. The outline it produces is not a perfect system but an arrangement you can start today.
Tool
Frequently asked questions
Does cloud sync count as a backup?
Not on its own. Syncing carries deletions and corruption across to every copy; a file you delete by mistake can be deleted from the cloud as well. Services offering version history close part of that gap but do not take the place of a separate backup copy.
How do I know how much storage space I will need?
You can estimate roughly from the current size of your data and the rate at which they grow; for archives dominated by photographs and video, the <a href="/en/tools/storage-needs/">Storage Needs Calculator</a> offers a practical starting point.
External disk or cloud?
The two meet different risks: an external disk is fast and costs once, but it shares the risks of fire or theft at home; the cloud provides a remote copy but requires a subscription and an internet connection. The 3-2-1 approach recommends using both.
Should I encrypt my backups?
Encryption is a sensible layer for backups containing personal data, particularly on portable disks and in the cloud. Remember that if you lose the encryption password, access to the backup is lost with it; keeping that password somewhere safe should be part of the plan.
Method and formula
You tick the types of data you want to back up — photographs, documents, working files, contacts, email, password vault — and the tool produces a plan outline from that selection. The outline is framed by the widely accepted 3-2-1 approach: important data should exist in at least 3 copies, those copies should be kept on at least 2 different types of medium, and 1 copy should sit physically elsewhere, in the cloud for example. The outline also gives an order of work: first list where the data sit, then switch on automatic cloud backup, take an external copy once a month, and rehearse a restore once a year. When you save it, the plan is stored in your browser alone; it is not sent to a server.
How to read the result
You do not have to set up every line of the outline on the same day; starting with the most valuable and most vulnerable data is the right order, and for most people that means the photographs whose only copy sits on a phone. What really decides whether a plan works is automation: a backup made by hand gets forgotten, a scheduled one does not. Trying a file restore from your backup now and then is the quiet but critical part of the plan; a backup that does not come back is not a backup.
Limits
- The tool produces a plan outline; it does not perform the backup itself and does not carry out any setup on your behalf.
- Storage costs and service options vary; the outline does not recommend a particular product.
- The 3-2-1 approach is a strong general framework, but it does not meet every scenario, such as very large archives, with the same ease.
- The saved outline is deleted when browser data are cleared.
Calculator and tool methodology · Nothing you type is sent to a server; results stay in your browser.