Think for a second about that Android device in your hand. Maybe it’s a smartphone, maybe it’s a tablet. Whether it’s a Samsung, Google, or Motorola, it still has Android in its DNA. But more important than its DNA is the data stored in its memory. 

You probably don’t think about how much irreplaceable data is in there—treasured photos, important documentation, passwords, bank information, the list goes on. But you might want to give it a few minutes of your time because, as smart as your phone is, it’s also remarkably fragile. A trip down the stairs or a dip in the toilet and your phone is toast, taking with it all of that important data. Opening one wrong email or clicking one wrong link could be all it takes for ransomware to infiltrate your data.

In cases like these, the best solution is an ounce of prevention: Getting all those important files backed up before disaster strikes. 

Before we get your Droid all backed up and ready to roll, it’s important to understand why you should back up, why syncing isn’t enough, how different phones offer different means of backup, and why a 3-2-1 backup strategy should be your ultimate goal.

And since we’re talking Androids, we’ll obviously be spending a little time in a galaxy far, far away.

“Important to Back Up Your Data, It Is.” – Master Yoda, Probably

In order to understand the importance of backing up your Android, it might help to picture perhaps two of the most famous droids in cinematic history, and in fact the characters who inspired your phone’s name: R2-D2 and C-3PO. 

(Seriously, Lucasfilm registered the trademark on the word “droid” in 1977 and has licensed it to both Motorola and Verizon. If you’re reading this, Disney, please don’t sue.)

If you recall the movie “The Force Awakens,” you’ll remember the sub-plot about the search for Luke Skywalker, who had gone into hiding. As the film opens, plucky little droid BB-8 obtained part of the map that could locate him. However, the rest of the map was locked away in R2-D2’s memory units, rendering BB-8’s map useless. Since R2-D2 was mysteriously shut down for purposes of advancing the movie’s plot, that data was unobtainable and thus required a whole film’s worth of daring adventure to restore.

• Protection against data loss: Maybe your phone gets dropped into a pond or maybe it gets blasted by TIE fighters. Either way, without a proper backup that data is deader than Greedo.
• Easy Upgrading: Jedi Master Qui-Gonn Jinn once said there’s always a bigger fish. Likewise, there’s always a shinier, newer Android device. When you upgrade, you can pull all your old data from your backup and get started with ease.
• Protecting against ransomware, malware, and viruses: Even your phone is susceptible to attacks from cybercriminals who can lock up your data and demand payment to restore it. Backing it up is like sending your vital data blasting out through an escape pod just as the Empire descends for retrieval later.

I Have a Syncing Feeling About This

Fortunately, Princess Leia and company seem to have learned their lesson about proper backups by the time of “Rise of Skywalker,” since they had a backup ready for C-3PO. After wiping his hard drive so that the protocol droid could bypass his programming and read the Sith language found on an ancient knife (yes, the plot was that ridiculous), 3PO was able to restore his memories thanks to a backup he’d entrusted to R2. 

Had they chosen to merely sync C-3PO’s internal data, he would have been stuck remembering nothing of the Star Wars saga except for “Rise of Skywalker,” which would be a tragic fate for anyone. 

With syncing, data is maintained in one form across devices or platforms. This has its usefulness, especially when you can edit something on your phone or tablet and see those changes on your laptop, for example, but also has drawbacks that make it a poor substitute for backing up. Among them:

• Limited coverage of what gets synced: Syncing will often focus on specific verticals within data, such as photos, contacts, or calendars. For example, when you make changes to a contact in your phone or device, Google will automatically update that contact in the cloud. But it won’t necessarily automatically update your call or text message history.
• Overwriting or deleting data: If C-3PO had been set to sync his data with R2-D2, once it was deleted in his shiny golden head it would be deleted across all backups, and all of the data would have been lost before you could say “Utini.” If you delete your data from your phone, it gets deleted from whatever service you’re using to sync devices. 
• Vulnerability to ransomware: If you click a malicious link and your device gets zapped with ransomware, your sync service will automatically synchronize the corrupted files. 

These Aren’t the Droids You’re Looking For

It’s all well and good to hear about backing up fictional droids, but what about the actual Android device in your hand? Thankfully, it’s somehow even simpler in our galaxy than it is in one where people have actual spaceships. 

Both Google and Samsung have backup programs for their respective devices, and we’ll explain a third option where you manage the backups. 

Google One

Native to Google’s Pixel devices, but also found on nearly every Android device since it was introduced in 2021, Google One offers a backup service analogous to iCloud, with 15GB of free storage tied to your Google account. 

Pros: Works automatically. Backs up apps, phone history, text messages, photos, contacts, and assorted calendar information associated with your account. It can also load data automatically onto a new device when you sign in with your Google account.

Cons: You have to pick and choose what gets backed up. Yes, this is a con. This level of control might seem nice, but again, we’d recommend you just back up everything. Honestly, the more granular you get with what gets backed up, the more likely you are to forget to back up something you might need. It also operates more like a sync than a backup, so accidental erasure is still a risk. To truly back up your data and keep it safe, you’ll need to keep a third copy of the data somewhere (we’ll explain that later). Also, if you get close to maxing out your storage, ready yourself for endless reminders to buy more storage across all of your devices. 

Samsung Smart Switch

As the heavy hitter in the Android space, Samsung wasn’t about to let its Galaxy devices go without a built-in backup solution. Samsung’s Smart Switch comes pre-loaded on every Galaxy device. While it’s designed for moving data from one Galaxy to another, it can also create a backup to your Mac or PC using the Smart Switch app.

Backing Up Through Your Mac or PC

Of course, one of the great advantages of the Android operating system is its ability to play nice with pretty much every other operating system, unlike its Apple counterpart. Simply plug your charging cable into an available USB slot and your phone will essentially act like an external hard drive. On a Windows machine, this will show up like a separate hard drive nested under your PC in file explorer. On a Mac, you’ll need to take the extra step of downloading Android File Transfer. 

Pros: Functions essentially like an external drive, meaning you can track down individual files or whole folders for targeted backup.

Cons: Android’s file structure can often make individual files difficult to track down. Transfer times can often drag on to the point of absurdity.

“Come On Buddy, We’re Not Out of This Yet.” – Han Solo, Shortly After Backing Up His Phone, Probably

Now that you have your data safely backed up and secured against any accidental destruction, loss, or damage to your Android, you might think you’re safe. But the cornerstone of any good backup strategy rests on not one, not two, but three pillars. 

If you really need to be told why this is important, we’ve covered it here. But suffice to say, a 3-2-1 strategy relies on a trio of separate, redundant backups. One copy of your data stays on your Android device. Another copy of your data is stored on a separate on-premises device, such as your PC or an external hard drive (or, if available, a convenient R2-model astromech). Finally, a third copy stays off-premises—preferably in the cloud—to avoid the possibility of theft, fire, or total planetary destruction via Death Star. 

If you’re a Backblaze Computer Backup user, that last step is taken care of. Backblaze backs up your entire computer, including any Android backups you saved to your Mac or PC. (For more on this topic, feel free to also check out our Help article.)

By maintaining three redundant copies of important data—two on local devices and a third in a separate location—you are comprehensively protected against data loss. You may not be carrying around plans for the Empire’s new battle station, but the precious memories locked away on your Android device are just as important as protecting them.

May the force be with you (and again, Disney, please don’t sue).

The post How to Back Up Your Android appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

When you start thinking about backup strategies, it tends to get inside your head. Like Dustin Hoffman’s character in “Rain Man”, seeing equations float around him as he calculates his odds in Vegas, the mental exercise of ensuring your backups have backups of their own tends to manifest itself in the strangest places.

Take, for example, the finale of the Netflix show “Dead to Me” starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini. The show wrapped up a few months back and should definitely be moving toward the top of your “I’ve been meaning to watch that” list. And if you have already seen it, I can’t stress enough how much more you pick up on a second time around.

Anyway, to a certain segment of the audience, the climax of the show served as a fitting conclusion to a whole host of storyline threads whose dense weave kept viewers enthralled from the first episode to the last. But to those of us who tend to worry about things like a proper 3-2-1- backup strategy, the final few episodes concealed a subtle message about the importance of proper data backup procedures.

Let’s dig into what “Dead to Me” can teach us about the importance of a good backup strategy.

Defining a 3-2-1 Backup Strategy

As we’ve discussed at length before, a good 3-2-1- backup strategy involves three copies of your data:

• One: On-site storage on your home device. Your phone, your laptop, your tablet, whatever. If you can physically touch it and your files are in there somewhere, that’s your first copy.
• Two: On-site storage on a separate device. This can be an external hard drive, a thumb drive, or if you’re on a Mac, Time Machine. If it’s not physically in the device, but it’s still somewhere close by, that’s your second copy.
• Three: Off-site backup. This should automatically scan the files on your device and upload copies to the cloud for safe-keeping. (Pssst, we’re partial to Backblaze’s astonishingly simple cloud back up here).

Okay, So What Does That Have to Do With “Dead to Me”?

There’s kind of a long road ahead, so buckle up.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, or who binged it so long ago you need a refresher, “Dead to Me” follows the story of two friends, Jen (Applegate) and Judy (Cardellini). Jen is a recently widowed mom whose husband Ted had been killed in a hit and run shortly before the show started. Judy is a woman she meets during a group therapy session, who claims to have lost her husband as well.

Only, as it turns out, Judy didn’t lose her husband. They just split up—after an argument that started when they accidentally struck and killed Jen’s husband.

Intrigued yet? We’re only on the first episode.

By the end of the first season, Jen has discovered the truth about Judy (but they’re still friends), Judy is dating a police officer who is investigating the crime she committed, and her ex-husband Steve (James Marsden, playing against his usual type as a jerk) is desperately trying to cover up the crime while avoiding the Greek mafia, who have a contract out on him.

We cannot stress enough that all of this craziness happens in the first season, which ends with Jen accidentally murdering Steve by—of course—cracking him in the head with a wooden bird, which winds up as a critical plot point.

From there the plot twists around on itself, throwing every curveball imaginable at you from secret twin brothers to money laundering schemes to torrid affairs (and hey, we already mentioned the Greek mafia). But critical to our point is one plot thread that could have been avoided with a proper backup strategy.

Karen and the… Let’s Call It 2-1 Strategy

A minor character in the first few seasons, Karen is a neighbor of Jen’s who… well, can be kind of a Karen. You know that person in your neighborhood that you suspect reports you to the Homeowner’s Association whenever your grass gets a little too long? That’s her.

As the neighborhood Karen, she has a natural inclination to keep an eye on things. As such, her house is ringed by security cameras. And as we learned in the season two premiere, one of those cameras just happened to spy Steve on his way to Jen’s house the night he was murdered.

Plot twist, right?

Since this is a huge piece of evidence implicating them in the murder they’re actively covering up, Jen and Judy have to ensure that the incriminating footage is destroyed forever. That means deleting the footage, which they discover has been safely stored in the cloud. They first try to convince Jeff, Karen’s ex, to log on and do it (side note: this happens after they discovered he was having an affair with one of Judy’s ex-boyfriends, because this show is bonkers) but unfortunately Karen has changed the password to her cloud storage.

So they have to sweet-talk their way into Karen’s house (greasing the wheels with her favorite dish—Mexican lasagna with extra raisins) and get her to delete the footage off the cloud. It’s a wonderful moment of female camaraderie as they convince Karen that the data on the cloud represents too many painful memories of her time with her ex. And when Karen finally drags the folder to the trash, we cheer her for finding the strength to move on.

And then, the punchline.

“And if I ever want to see it again, I have it backed up on my hard drive,” she exclaims, holding up her external drive backup. Jen and Judy manage to steal that, and in doing so get away with their crime scot-free.

What Should Karen Have Done?

Look, we get that the show is trying to get us to root for Jen and Judy as our protagonists, but to be honest, murder is one of those things that is a little hard to look past.

Especially given that the FBI was looking into the crime at that point in the show, what Karen did could legally be considered obstruction of justice. Or at least unintended obstruction of justice, which we’re pretty sure is still a crime. (We on the blog team are definitely not lawyers, though.)

Had Karen utilized a proper 3-2-1 strategy, she should have had a third copy—the one on her local drive—even after she was tricked into deleting it from the cloud and handing over her external drive. And, if she was using Backblaze, she would have been able to access an earlier version of her backup with either our standard 30-day version history or Extended Version History. So, she could have pulled a copy even after she deleted it.

The Moral of the Story Is: 3-2-1 Backups Are Still the Best

Karen handed over all the incriminating evidence about the murder to the person who committed it. Which, true, made for a happy ending as far as the show is concerned. But for those of us who can’t seem to get 3-2-1 backup strategies out of our head, she committed a serious blunder. A 2-1 backup strategy just won’t cut it.

And that, folks, is how “Dead to Me” reminds us all once again that a 3-2-1 backup strategy is still the best way to keep your data safe and out of the hands of nefarious, if endearing, murderers.

The post What “Dead to Me” Taught Us About 3-2-1 Backup appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

The sheer number of creative and unique ways our customers and partners utilize Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage never ceases to amaze us. Whether it’s pairing our storage with a streaming platform to deliver seamless video or protecting research data that is saving lives, we applaud their ingenuity. From time to time, we like to put the spotlight on one of these inspired customers, which brings us to the company we’re highlighting today: Monument, a photo management service with a strong focus on security and privacy.

The TL;DR

Situation: The Monument story started with a physical device where customers could securely save photos, but they saw the winds shifting to the cloud. They wanted to offer users the flexibility and automation that the cloud provides while maintaining their focus on privacy and security.

Solution: Monument launched their cloud-based offering, Monument Cloud, with Backblaze as its storage backbone. User photos are encrypted and stored in Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, and are accessible via the Monument Cloud app.

Result: Monument Cloud eliminates the need for users to maintain a physical device at their homes or offices. Users just install the Monument Cloud app on their devices and their photos and videos are automatically backed up, fully encrypted, organized, and shareable.

What Is Monument?

Monument was founded in 2016 by a group of engineers and designers who wanted an easy way to back up and organize their photos without giving up their privacy and security. Since smartphones saturated the market, the average person’s digital photo archive has grown exponentially. The average user has around 2,100 photos on their smartphone at any given time, and that’s not even counting the photos stashed away on various old laptops, hard drives, USBs, and devices.

Photo management services like Google Photos stepped in to help folks corral all of those memories. But, most photo management services are a black box—you don’t know how they’re using your data or your images. Monument wanted to give folks the same functionality as something like iCloud or Google Photos while also keeping their private data private.

“There are plenty of photo storage solutions right now, but they come with limitations and fail to offer transparency about their privacy policies—how photos are being used or processed” said Monument’s co-founder Ercan Erciyes. “At Monument, we reimagined how we store and access our photos and provided a clutter-free experience while keeping users in the center, not their personal data.”

They launched their first generation product in 2017—a physical storage device with advanced AI software that helps users manage photo libraries between devices and organize photos by faces, scenery, and other properties. The hardware side was fueled by two rounds of Kickstarter funding, each helping create new versions of the company’s smart storage device powered by a neural processing unit (NPU) that lived on-device and allowed access from anywhere.

An Eye for Secure Photo Storage

That emphasis on privacy fueled the software side of Monument’s offering, an AI-driven approach that allows easy searchability of photos without processing any of the metadata on Monument’s end. Advanced image recognition couples with slick de-duplication features for an experience that catalogs photos without exposing photographers’ data to algorithms that influence their choices. No ads, no profiling, no creepy trackers, and Monument doesn’t use or sell customers’ personal data.

We were getting a lot of questions along the lines of, “What happens if my house catches fire?” or “What if there is physical damage to the device?” so we could see there was a lot of interest in a cloud solution.”

—Ercan Erciyes, Co-Founder, Monument Labs, Inc.

The Gathering Cloud

With the rise of cloud storage, Monument saw their typical consumer shifting away from on-prem solutions. “We were getting a lot of questions along the lines of, ‘What happens if my house catches fire?’ or ‘What if there is physical damage to the device?’ so we could see there was a lot of interest in a cloud solution,” said Ercan. “Plus there were a lot of users that didn’t want a physical device in their home.”

Their answer: Offer the same privacy-first service through a comprehensive cloud solution.

Using Free Credits Wisely

Launching a cloud-based storage service built around their philosophy of privacy and security was a clear necessity for the company’s future. To kick off their move to the cloud, Monument utilized free startup credits from AWS. But, they knew free credits wouldn’t last forever. Rather than using the credits to build a minimum viable product as fast as humanly possible, they took a very measured approach. “The credits are sweet,” Ercan said, “But you need to pay attention to your long-term vision. You need to have a backup plan, so to speak.” (We think so, too.)

Ercan ran the numbers with success in mind and realized they’d ultimately lose money if they built the infrastructure for Monument Cloud on AWS. He also didn’t want to accumulate tech debt and become locked in to AWS.

They ended up using the credits to develop the AI model, but not to build their infrastructure. For that they turned to specialized cloud providers.

Integrating Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage

Monument created a lean tech stack that incorporated Backblaze B2 for long-term encrypted storage. They run their AI software on Vultr, a Backblaze compute partner that offers free egress fees between the two services. And, they use another specialized cloud provider to store thumbnails that are displayed in the Monument Cloud app. The cloud service has quickly become the company’s flagship offering, drawing 25,000 active users.

Group Photos: Serving New Customers

With infrastructure that will scale without cutting into their margins, Monument is poised to serve an increasing number of customers who care about what happens to their personal data. More and more, customers are seeking out alternatives to big name cloud providers, using services like DuckDuckGo instead of Google Search or WhatsApp instead of garden variety text messaging apps. With a distributed, multi-cloud system, they can serve these types of customers with a cloud option while keeping data privacy front and center. And the customers that gravitate to this value proposition are wide-ranging.

Of course, the first ones you might think of would be prolific photo takers or even amateur photographers, but Ercan pointed out some surprising use cases for their technology. “We are seeing a lot of different use cases coming up from schools, real estate companies, and even elder care systems,” he said. With Monument’s new cloud solution, classrooms are exploring new online frontiers in education, and families scattered around the world are able to share photos with their elderly relatives.

A Monument to Security

Challenging monster brands like Google is no small task as a small team of just five people. Monument does it by keeping a laser focus on their core values and their customers’ needs. “If you keep the user’s needs in the center, building a solution doesn’t require an army of engineers,” Ercan said. Without having to worry about how to use customer data to build algorithms that keep advertisers happy, Monument can focus on serving their customers what they actually need—a photo management solution that just works.

The post Shooting for the Clouds: How One Photo Storage Service Moved Beyond Physical Devices appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

For schools and universities, data storage is paramount. Staff, administrators, and educators, not to mention students, need a secure place to store files. Add to that the legacy accounts of alumni storing irreplaceable files from their education, and you have a massive need for storage.

For a long time, Google was happy to oblige. In 2006, the company launched Google Apps for Education (later G Suite for Education; now Google Workplace for Education), offering free unlimited storage for qualifying schools and districts. But when they’d reached market penetration—somewhere in the neighborhood of 83% of school districts according to EdWeek Research Center—they ended the unlimited storage policy many schools had come to rely on.

If you already know about Google’s policy change and are looking for a solution to save your data and your budget, getting started with Backblaze B2 is easy. Otherwise, read on to learn more about the change, what it may mean for you in the long-term, and a Backblaze partnership with Carahsoft that eases purchasing through local, state, and federal buying programs.

Office Hours Are Over—Google Ends Unlimited Storage for Educational Institutions

Google’s policy change took effect in July 2022, and many schools and universities had to find alternative storage solutions or change their internal storage policies to stay within the new limits. Under the terms of the new policy, Google offers a baseline of 100TB of pooled storage shared across all users.

The policy shift was spurred, Google says, because “as we’ve grown to serve more schools and universities each year, storage consumption has also rapidly accelerated. Storage is not being consumed equitably across—nor within—institutions, and school leaders often don’t have the tools they need to manage this.”

For some school districts, colleges, and universities, this policy shift meant having to reach out to alumni with the request that they back up all their own data. It also hit some already-strapped IT budgets particularly hard. Estimates vary, but depending on the size of the school and their data needs, they could be looking at anywhere up to an extra $70,000 a year in storage costs.

That’s a non-negligible fee for a service that has become increasingly vital for schools. We’ve written about how important cloud storage is for schools, but it’s worth reiterating here.

School is in Session

Not only will a secure cloud storage solution help protect school districts from threats of ransomware, it can also help maintain predictable operating expenses and create opportunities for collaboration through remote learning. In cases like Kansas’ Pittsburg State University, it helped keep data safe from natural disasters that abound in places like Tornado Alley. Pittsburg State implemented Backblaze B2 as their off-site backup in the event of disaster and used Object Lock functionality to safeguard data from ransomware.

The academic world is still adjusting to Google’s policy change. Stories have emerged of schools simply dropping Google and being forced to move data out of thousands of alumni accounts. A quick-fix solution to avoid Google’s new fee structure, this strategy is being undertaken without a clear answer to the question of how alumni can access their own data after the move. After all, how up to date are those alumni email lists?

A Google Alternative for Schools

School districts, colleges, and universities need to find a new, budget-friendly way forward. If you’re still struggling to find an alternative storage solution now that the bell has rung and Google has dismissed its free storage, Backblaze can help you find a new home on the cloud.

Backblaze B2 offers schools unlimited, pay-as-you-go storage at a fraction of the price of Google, enabling you to continue offering students and alumni the storage space they’ve come to expect. For colleges, universities, and school districts not buying through government purchasing programs, you can sign up for Backblaze B2 directly. We offer 10TB of storage free so that you can see if it works for you, but if you want to do a larger or customized proof of concept, reach out to our Sales team.

Accessing Backblaze Through Your Local, State, or Federal Buying Program

As we revealed during this year’s Educause conference, Backblaze has recently rolled out a partnership with Carahsoft aimed squarely at budget-conscious educational institutions. The partnership brings Backblaze services to educational institutions with a capacity-based pricing model that’s a fraction of the price of traditional cloud providers like Google. And it can be purchased through local, state, or federal buying programs. If you buy IT services for your district through a distributor, this solution could work for you. Visit the partnership announcement to learn more.

The post Education Unplugged: Google Ends Unlimited Storage for Schools appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

A lot of people are talking about ensuring their social data on Twitter is protected for posterity at the moment. So, we thought we’d re-share our guide to backing up and archiving Twitter content for anyone who is interested.

Save your treasured Twitter memories in just a few easy steps. Here’s how.

Downloading Your Twitter Data

The first step is to log in to your Twitter account on a web browser. Once logged in, click on the “More” section in the navigation bar. From there, a new navigation bar will appear. You should select the “Settings and Support” dropdown, followed by the “Settings and Privacy” tab to progress.

Under the “Your Account” section, you will find an area labeled “Download an archive of your data.” The function of this is pretty self-explanatory, but does lead to a further menu that allows you to request an archive of your Twitter data or Periscope data.

After requesting your archive you will receive a notification with a link when your archive is ready for download. This archive will consist of a ZIP file with data that Twitter has deemed most relevant or useful to you, including DMs, moments, profile media and any media you may have used in your Tweets such as gifs, photos, and videos.

Archive Your Twitter Data for Free

Once you download your Twitter data, you can then save a full archive copy in the cloud on Backblaze B2—for free if it’s under 10GB.

Click here to get started with Backblaze B2 Storage Cloud today.

Back Up Your Twitter Data (Not Free, But Super Easy)

In addition to an archive copy, it’s important to use a secure backup strategy so all of those Tweets and memories will be preserved and kept safe from accidental deletion, equipment failure, or disasters. This is where a 3-2-1 backup strategy comes in handy. Using a 3-2-1 approach means keeping one copy of your data locally, one copy on a different type of media like an external hard drive, and one off-site (the cloud is a great place to keep it!).

You’ll need to manually download your Twitter data periodically, but once you have it on your machine, you can ensure it’s backed up with Backblaze Computer Backup—it automatically backs up all of your files, including documents, photos, music, movies, and, yes, all of that Twitter data you downloaded.

Click here to sign up for a 15-day trial of Backblaze Computer Backup, and save those Tweets.

The post How to Download and Back Up Your Twitter Account appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

By 2025, the world will generate 463 exabytes of data every day. That’s more or less as much data as one million storage pods. This alone should underscore why being savvy about your online data storage will only become more important in coming years.

To the uninitiated, archiving may sound like another form of data storage: by backing up your files, you are also archiving them. Surprisingly, that’s not the case. Here’s the short story on the difference between these two concepts.

Backups provide for recovering data from hardware failure, data corruption, or other loss.

Archive helps you manage space limitations and long-term data retention.

So, if you are eyeing your own ever-expanding data footprint and wondering where and how to securely store it all, we have a few things to tell you about the difference between archiving and backup functions.

In this blog post, we cover how each of these data storage methods help to ensure that data is:

• Retained for the period you require.
• Protected from loss or unauthorized access.
• Able to be restored or retrieved when needed.
• Structured or tagged for locating specific data.
• Kept current according to your requirements.

Why Back Up Your Data?

The goal of a backup is to make a copy of any file that you currently use and cannot afford to lose. Typically, backups are made regularly or when the original data changes. The original file is preserved, while older backups (iterations) are deleted in favor of newer backups.

Any machine that stores valuable data—like computers, servers, VMs, and mobile devices—should be backed up. Backups can include data, operating systems (OS), and application files, or a combination of these depending on your backup approach.

Backup Uses

A backup of a desktop or mobile device might include just the user data so that a previous version of a file is recoverable if necessary, while the OS and applications can quickly be restored from original sources if necessary (although you should know that restoring an OS to a new device could lead to significant corruption issues).

In a virtual server environment, a backup could include .VMDK files that contain data and the OS as well as both structured (database) and unstructured data (files). This way, the system can be put back into service as quickly as possible if something happens to the original VM in a VMware, Hyper-V, or another virtual machine environment.

In the case of a ransomware attack, a solid backup strategy is critical for restoring a compromised system rather than paying a ransom in hopes of getting a decryption key to obtain access to your own files (and we do mean hopes because decryption keys aren’t always delivered after ransoms are paid, and even when they are, they don’t always work).

Backups can have other uses, too. You can retrieve an earlier file version because it contains something no longer in the current file or, as is possible with some backup services, share that specific version of that file with a colleague or client.

What Is an Archive?

An archive is also a copy of data specifically made for long-term storage and reference. The original data may or may not be deleted from the source system after the archive copy is made and stored, though it’s common for the archive to be the only copy of the data.

Archive Uses

In contrast to a backup, whose purpose is to be able to return a computer or file system to a state it existed in previously, an archive can have multiple purposes.

For those with requirements for easily searching through volumes of media, an archive provides simple queries through metadata attached to each file, which can be applied manually or using AI. For some businesses, an archive provides a permanent record of legal documents, film, photos, directories and more to satisfy the information retention and deletion compliance required for HIPAA, SSAE-18/SOC 2 data centers and service level agreements (SLAs).

An archive is frequently used to ease the burden on faster and more frequently accessed data storage systems. In addition, archival storage systems are usually less expensive, creating a strong motivation to move historical files elsewhere to save money on data storage.

Archives are often created based on these criteria:

• The age of the data.
• The amount of time since data was last accessed.
• Whether or not the main user is still with the organization.
• Whether the associated project has been completed or closed.

The structure of an archive is important for retrieval. Archives can use metadata describing the project and can automatically add relevant metadata, or the user can tag data manually for easier retrieval. Common metadata can include business information describing the data, or in the case of photos and videos, the equipment, camera settings, and geographical location where the media was created.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can identify and catalog subject matter in data such as photos and videos to make it easier to find. AI tools will become increasingly important as growing businesses archive more data and need to be able to find it based on parameters that might not be known at the time the data was archived.

Backup	Archive
Enables rapid recovery of live, changing data	Stores unchanging data no longer in use but must be retained
One of multiple copies of data	Usually only remaining copy of data
Restore speed: crucial	Retrieval speed: not crucial
Short Term Retention	Long Term Retention
Retained for as long as data is in active use	Retained for a required period or indefinitely
Duplicate copies are periodically overwritten	Data cannot be altered or deleted

What’s the Difference Between Restore and Retrieve?

In general, backup systems restore, and archive systems retrieve. The tools needed to perform these functions are different.

If you are interested in restoring something from a backup, it usually is a single file, a server, or structured data such as a database that needs to be restored to a specific point in time. You need to know a lot about the data:

• The last backup date.
• The database or folder.
• The filename.
• Its date.
• Data type.
• Owner’s name.

When you retrieve data from an archive, the data is connected in some manner, such as date, email recipient, period of time, or another set of parameters that can be specified in a search. A typical retrieval query might be to obtain all files related to all emails sent by a person during a specific date range. It can seem like searching for a needle in a haystack, but in this case you at least know approximately where in the haystack you dropped this specific needle.

Retrieving a backup would be like searching for a pin that has changed over time in a haystack. You’d need to keep rigorous records of where and when the files were backed up, what medium they were backed up to, and myriad other pieces of information that would need to be recorded at the time of backup.

By definition, backup systems keep copies of data currently in use, so maintaining backups for lengthy periods of time goes beyond the capabilities of backup systems and would require manual management.

The bottom line is don’t use a backup for an archive.

Why You Need Both Backup and Archive

It’s clear that a backup and an archive serve different purposes. Do you need both?

If you’re a storage-heavy business, the wise choice is yes. Consider the business reasons for choosing both data storage methods:

• Ease of Use. Reliable, remote access, and secure backup and archive make it easier to provide archived data or help you to overcome issues and meet the budget and timeline your clients desire.
• Resources. Automated and supported archives and backups keep your resources focused on business, not on technological infrastructure problems that could cause costly reboots and replication failure.
• Cost. A robust, secure archive and backup solution that is affordable and offers transparent pricing will help you to make better financial decisions related to your data production and protection.
• Compliance. Backups and archives help you to meet SLAs and industry best practices and reassure your customers.
• Protection. An archive and backup system will keep your proprietary data safe, secure, and accessible as needed so you never fall behind because of lost or corrupted data.

Backblaze for Backup and Archiving

In the Backblaze product line, Backblaze Personal Backup and Backblaze Business Backup include unlimited backups for Windows and macOS for a flat fee. Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage is general purpose, pay-as-you-go object cloud storage. It is ideal for archiving, backing up servers, VMs, NAS, Linux, Macs, and PCs, and storing general object data using one of the many integrations available from Backblaze’s partners. See our pricing page for details about Backblaze B2 costs.

The task of backing up your data will only become larger as the amount of data you produce grows each year. For a backup and archiving service that won’t eat up your cash flow with the next data-heavy project—or 10—let Backblaze handle migrating everything to our B2 Cloud Storage for free. Scale up with the right tool and service for your growing storage needs.

The post What’s the Diff: Backup vs Archive appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

How many different adapters do you use to connect your computer to peripheral devices? There’s USB 3, USB-A, USB-C, HDMI… I could go on. Some of these ports and interfaces look alike, but they perform differently. We’ll tackle the two most common peripheral devices today—the USB-C and Thunderbolt 3.

Are you unsure what the differences between interfaces are and how they affect your backup plans? This installment of “What’s the Diff” is here to help!

What Is USB?

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is the most common peripheral interface used to link one device to another and connect to a power source. It’s been a standard on most Macs and PCs since the late 1990s and has been updated several times since then.

USB comes in many different size variants, but you’ll most likely find it on your computer in that familiar rectangular port. USB connects everything from external hard drives to keyboards, game controllers, network adapters, and more.

USB has been through a number of revisions over the years to be compatible with smaller devices. Each new version featured a higher data transfer speed:

• USB 2 tops out at 480 Mb/s.
• USB 3.0 has a data signaling rate of up to 5 Gb/s.
• USB 3.1 achieved a super speed of 10 Gb/s.
• USB 3.2 doubled up to reach 20 Gb/s.
• USB 4.0 uses the Thunderbolt 3 protocol for data and image transfer speeds of 40 Gb/s.

In practical terms, though, most hard drives work much slower than the latest USB versions. Thankfully, USB is backward compatible, so your faster bus will still connect (though it may limit transfer speeds, so it’s best to use the fastest device your computer can support).

Faster data transfer speeds are great, but with every new USB interface iteration, there’s a new port shape. And, a new port means that we need a new adapter.

For example, the USB 2 used mini and micro connectors to sync with non-Apple mobile phones, and you’ll find them on flash drives, webcams, and printers.

Next in line, the USB 3 sports a lightning bolt symbol indicating its super speed. The USB 3.1 is backward compatible with USB 2 and USB 1 (at slower speeds). Depending on the device, you may need a USB-A, USB-C, or MicroUSB adapter to connect.

Things get even trickier with USB 3.2 Gen 1 and USB 3.2 Gen 2. Both work with USB-C ports, but the USB 3.2 Gen 2 also plugs into USB-A and MicroUSB ports.

Are you confused yet?

In recognition of the dizzying array of options for connecting all of our digital devices and peripherals, the USB interface that is becoming the most common is the USB-C.

The USB-C will soon be the only interface for data or power connection accepted for digital devices in European Union countries. In 2021, the European Parliament’s Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection proposed that the USB-C would be the standard for all devices—mobile phones, digital cameras, tablets, gaming controllers, and computers. The law effectively unbundles the sale of digital devices from chargers in Europe.

It’s worth mentioning that Apple made this move back in 2015. That year, the MacBook model sported a USB-C connector as its only interface (using it for both battery charging and data transfer). But Apple is now on the line to transition all of its other devices from the Lightning charging port to the USB-C.

Aside from the USB-C connector being reversible (you can plug it in any way you like, and it fits the port), it’s also smaller with a more robust data signal. Additionally, the USB-C transfers data and powers devices. The USB-C interface is used by both Mac and PC and most peripherals on the market today. So, when the USB 4 came out in 2019, it also used the USB-C port shape.

What’s the difference between USB 4 and earlier bus? The USB 4 follows the Thunderbolt 3 protocol.

What Is Thunderbolt?

Thunderbolt is a high-speed peripheral interface developed by Intel and Apple. It has been the standard-issue on the MacBook since 2011. (Thunderbolt was formerly known as Light Peak.)

The Thunderbolt protocol brought super speed data transfer to the world. The original Thunderbolt supported up to 10 Gb/s, just like the USB 3.1 Gen 1. Thunderbolt 2 doubled that, and Thunderbolt 3 doubled that again to 40 Gb/s. In addition, the Thunderbolt 3 can signal data and transfer power to connected devices. It’s easy to see that the Thunderbolt standard is faster and more efficient than the USB.

What’s more, Thunderbolt can handle video files using the same cord. Products exist to output video over USB, as well, but it requires software trickery you don’t need for Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt’s support of video is a fundamental part of the physical standard. And, with Thunderbolt 3, you won’t need a Mini DisplayPort connector to transfer video.

It’s possible to transmit up to 4K video over Thunderbolt and still have capacity left over for your hard drives. Thunderbolt’s superior bandwidth makes it a better choice if you are moving lots of data. Looking for the fastest-possible external storage for your computer? Consider a Thunderbolt SSD. They’re out there, and they’re fast as blazes!

Thunderbolt 4 was released in the summer of 2020 by Intel. It’s yet another game changer for people with lots of data to move across many devices. Thunderbolt 4 uses the USB-C interface, has a 40 Gb/s bandwidth and 15W of power for peripherals. What’s more, the Thunderbolt 2, Thunderbolt 3, and FireWire peripherals all run on the latest iteration of the protocol (with an adapter).

Here are other notable advantages of the Thunderbolt 4:

• Thunderbolt dock connects multiple high-speed monitors and devices using a single (Thunderbolt) cable.
• It connects to data externally through the PCIe bus for the highest speed access without installing software.
• Thunderbolt SSDs and docks (with integrated storage) can hold large graphic files and data files.
• It interfaces with an external capture device to improve video streaming quality.

The Thunderbolt is fast and flexible, but it’s not cheap. You’ll pay a lot more for a Thunderbolt-equipped drive than you will for a USB 3-equipped drive, but the performance can be worth it, depending on what you’re doing. Your mileage, as in all things, may vary.

What Should I Use for Backing Up?

Now that we’ve laid out the differences between USB and Thunderbolt, let’s bring the conversation around to backing up because that’s how Backblaze can help. While Backblaze Computer Backup works over your computer’s network connection, you should be using a local backup system as well.

Unless you’re backing up to a Time Capsule or another network-based backup system on your local network, chances are, your local backup system is going to be an external hard drive connected to your computer.

If you’re fortunate enough to have a computer with either a USB 3 or Thunderbolt interface, figure out your needs and budget to determine which protocol will serve you best. If you plan to move a lot of files or archive huge volumes, the difference in speed might make Thunderbolt a better choice. Otherwise, you can save a lot of money by buying a USB 3 drive instead.

Are you still confused? Have a question? Let us know in the comments. And if you have ideas for things you’d like to see featured in future installments of our “What’s the Diff” series, please let us know!

The post What’s the Diff: Thunderbolt and USB appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

On the surface, outlining the difference between digital asset management (DAM) and media asset management (MAM) might seem like splitting hairs. After all, you’re working with digital media, so what’s the difference between focusing on the “digital” vs. focusing on the “media?”

There are plenty of reasons these two terms are often used interchangeably—both exist to give organizations a central repository of digital assets from video and images to text documents. They both help manage those assets from initial raw source files, to finished production, to archive. And they both make managing and collaborating on those files much simpler for larger teams.

So, what’s the difference? Put it this way: Not all DAM systems are MAM systems, but all MAM systemss are DAM systems.

In essence, MAM is just DAM that offers more capability when it comes to video. While DAM can manage video files, it’s more of a general-purpose tool. There are a lot of nuances that get glossed over in the simplified answer, so it’s worth taking a closer look at the differences between them.

What to Expect From Any Asset Manager

Explaining the difference between a DAM system and a MAM system requires a basic understanding of what an asset manager is, so before we begin, a brief primer. The first thing you need to understand is that any given asset a team might want to work with—a video clip, a document, an image—is usually presented by the asset manager as a single item to the user. Behind the scenes, however, it is composed of three elements:

• The master source file.
• A thumbnail or proxy that’s displayed.
• Metadata about the object itself.

And unlike typical files stored on your own computer, the metadata in asset management files is far more robust than just a simple “date modified” or “file size.” It’s a broader set of attributes, including details about the actual content of the file which we will explain in further detail later on. So, with all of that said, here are the basics of what an asset manager should offer to teams:

• Collaboration: Members of content creation teams should all have direct access to assets in the asset management system from their own workstations.
• Access control: Access to specific assets or groups of assets should be allowed or restricted based on the user’s rights and permission settings. These permissions let you isolate certain files for use by a particular department, or allow external clients to view files without making changes.
• Browse: Assets should be easily identifiable by more than their file name, such as thumbnails or proxies for videos, and browsable in the asset manager’s graphical interface.
• Metadata search: Assets should be searchable by the attributes used to describe them in the file’s metadata. Metadata assignment capabilities should be flexible and extensible over time.
• Preview: For larger or archived assets, a preview or quick review capability should be provided, such as playing video proxies or mouse-over zoom for thumbnails.
• Versions: Based on permissions, team members should be able to add new versions of existing assets or add new assets so that material can be easily repurposed for future projects.

Why Metadata Matters So Much

Metadata matters because it is essentially the biggest difference between organizing content in an asset manager and just chucking it in a folder somewhere. Sure, there are ways to organize files without metadata, but it usually results in letter salad file names like 20190118-gbudman-broll-01-lv-0001.mp4, which strings together a shoot date, subject, camera number, clip number, and who knows what else. Structured file naming might be a “good enough for government work” fix, but it doesn’t scale easily to larger teams of contributors and creators. And metadata is not used only to search for assets, it can be fed into other workflow applications integrated with the asset manager for use there.

If you’re working with images and video (which you probably are if you’re using an asset manager) then metadata is vital. Because unlike text-based documents, images and video can’t be searched for keywords. Metadata can describe in detail what’s in the image or video. In the example below, we see a video of a BMW M635CSi which has been tagged with metadata like “car,” “vehicle,” and “driving” to help it be more easily searchable. If you look further down in the metadata, you’ll see where tags have been added to describe elements at precise moments or ranges of time in the video, known as timecodes. That way, someone searching for a particular moment within the video will be able to hone in on the exact segment they need with a simple search of the asset manager.

Workflow Integration and Archive Support

Whether you’re using a DAM system or a MAM system, the more robust it is in terms of features, the more efficient it is going to make your workflow. These are the features that simplify every step of the process including features for editorial review, automated metadata extraction (e.g., transcription or facial recognition), multilingual support, automated transcode, and much more. This is where different asset management solutions diverge the most and show their customization for a particular type of workflow or industry.

Maybe you need all of these flashy features for your unique set of needs, maybe you don’t. But you should know that over time, any content library is going to grow to the point where at the bare minimum, you’re going to need storage management features, starting with archiving.

Archiving completed projects and assets that are infrequently used can conserve disk space on your server by moving them off to less expensive storage, such as cloud storage or digital tape. Images and video are infamous for hogging storage, a reputation which has only become more pronounced as resolution has increased, making these files balloon in size. Regular archiving can keep costs down and keep you from having to upgrade your expensive storage server every year.

While there are a slew of different features that vary between asset managers, integrated automatic archiving might be one of the most important to look for. Asset managers with this feature will let you access these files from the graphical interface just like any other file in its system. After archiving, the thumbnails or proxies of the archived assets continue to appear as before, with a visual indication that they have been archived (like a graphic callout on the thumbnail—think of the notification widget letting you know you have an email). Users can retrieve the asset as before, albeit with some time delay that depends on the archive storage and network connection chosen.

A good asset manager will offer multiple choices for archive storage—from cloud storage, to LTO tape, to inexpensive disk—and from different vendors. An excellent one will let you automatically make multiple copies to different archive storage for added data protection.

What Is MAM?

With all of that said, we can now answer the question you came here asking: What is the difference between DAM and MAM?

While they have much in common, the crucial difference is that MAM systems are designed from the ground up for video production. There is some crossover—DAM systems can generally manage video assets, and MAM systems can manage images and documents—but MAM systems offer more tools for video production and are geared towards the particular needs of a video workflow. That means metadata creation and management, application integrations, and workflow orchestration are all video-oriented.

Both, for example, will be able to track a photo or video from the metadata created the moment that content is captured, e.g., data about the camera, the settings, and the few notes the photographer or videographer will add after. But a MAM system will allow you to add more detailed metadata to make that photo or video more easily searchable. Nearly all MAM systems offer some type of manual logging to create timecode-based metadata. MAM systems built for live broadcast events like sports provide shortcut buttons for key events, such as a face-off or slap shot in a hockey game.

More advanced systems offer additional tools for automated metadata extraction. For example, some will use facial recognition to automatically identify actors or public figures.

You can even add metadata that shows where that asset has been used, how many times it has been used, and what sorts of edits have been made to it. There’s no end to what you can describe and categorize with metadata. Defining it for a content library of any reasonable size can be a major undertaking.

MAM Systems Integrate Video Production Applications

Another huge difference between a DAM system and a MAM system, particularly for those working with video, is that a MAM system will integrate tools built specifically for video production. These widely ranging integrated applications include ingest tools, video editing suites, visual effects, graphics tools, transcode, quality assurance, file transport, specific distribution systems, and much more.

Modern MAM solutions integrate cloud storage throughout the workflow, and not just for archive, but also for creating content through proxy editing. Proxy editing gives editors a greater amount of flexibility by letting them work on a lower-resolution copy of the video stored locally. When the final cut is rendered, those edits will be applied to the full-resolution version stored in the cloud.

MAM Systems May Be Tailored for Specific Industry Niches and Workflows

To sum up, the longer explanation for DAM vs. MAM is that MAM focuses on video production, with better MAM systems offering all the integrations needed for complex video workflows. And because specific niches within the industry have wildly different needs and workflows, you’ll find MAM systems that are tailored specifically for sports, film, news, and more. The size of the organization or team matters, too. To stay within budget, a small postproduction house might want to choose a more affordable MAM system that lacks some of the more advanced features they wouldn’t need anyway.

This wide variety of needs is a large part of the reason there are so many MAM systems on the market, and why choosing one can be a daunting task with a long evaluation process. Despite the length of that process, it’s actually fairly common for a group to migrate from one asset manager to another as their needs shift.

Pro tip: Working with a trusted system integrator that serves your industry niche can save you a lot of heartache and money in the long run.

It’s worth noting that, for legacy reasons, sometimes what’s marketed as a DAM system will have all the video capabilities you’d expect from a MAM system. So, don’t let the name throw you off. Whether it’s billed as MAM or DAM, look for a solution that fits your workflow with the features and integrated tools you need today, while also providing the flexibility you need as your business changes in the future.

FAQs About Differences Between DAM and MAM

The post What’s the Diff: DAM vs. MAM appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Some of your most valuable digital assets are memories, scattered across the digital ether. For a lot of us, these mementoes of our meta life are tied up in one of Meta’s most popular apps, WhatsApp. The last group chat you had with old college friends. An inspiring note from a loved one. A funny meme that proves your weird uncle does, in fact, have a sense of humor. They’re all out there, drifting through the cloud.

These are treasured memories, and worth preserving, especially in the always uncertain world online. You might find yourself gravitating towards a new messaging app as the technology changes. You might get locked out of your account. It might even be that your country winds up banning the app. (So far, it’s only happened in places like Cuba and Uganda, and while those were temporary, the app was “temporarily” blocked in China in 2017 and is still blocked. The point being, you never know which way the wind is going to blow).

So obviously, it’s worth it to make sure you have some kind of backup for these treasured memories. Now it’s just a matter of creating those backups, and finding somewhere (or, more accurately, several somewheres) to securely store them.

How to Create Backups of Your WhatsApp Data

Back Up Individual Messages and Group Chats

By default, WhatsApp automatically archives your chats every day onto your device, with the option to back them up to Google Drive. As you’ll see, this is not quite sufficient if you really want to preserve those memories. To create a backup that you can preserve elsewhere, use the following steps:

1. Tap the three vertical dots within an individual message or group chat.
2. Tap More, and then Export Chat.
3. You can then choose whether to export with or without media, with the most recent media being added as attachments.
4. From here, you can choose how to share the attachments, which will consist of a .txt file as well as individual attachments for each piece of media in the chat.

Choose Your Backup Destination

We suggest downloading your backup to your device at this point. This step creates a local backup on your phone. From here, you can either download the attachment onto your computer from that same email, or connect your phone and make a copy from local storage onto your desktop. This will create two copies, but we’re just getting started.

Initiating Backup in 3…2…1…

As with anything you back up, the best strategy to employ is the classic 3-2-1 backup strategy. In essence, this is creating a trio of redundant copies, giving your backups their own backups in case anything should go wrong. Typically, you’ll want two copies stored on two different local devices and a third in the cloud.

Is this a little bit of overkill? Absolutely, and we mean that in the best possible way. You’ll thank us when a spilled cup of coffee doesn’t wipe out some of your favorite WhatsApp chats.

Backup #1: Local Storage (i.e., PC)

If you’ve followed the directions so far, you’ll now have a copy of your chats on your phone as well as on your desktop. This constitutes your first local copy.

Backup #2: Options

For your second local copy, you have a few options:

1. Flash drive: Your computer is prone to any number of breakdowns, outages, or viruses that a flash drive simply isn’t, providing a safe, secondary, local place to store those all-important chats. As anyone who has ever accidentally sat on, stepped on, lost, or otherwise accidentally mutilated a flash drive can tell you, it’s not the end-all-be-all solution. However, having this redundant safety measure could be the thing that saves you from losing your data forever.
2. External hard drive: An external hard drive is another good option to house a second copy of your data, and we know a little bit about them—we monitor 203,168 hard drives used to store data in our data centers. If you’re new to using an external hard drive, check out this handy guide.
3. SSD: Like flash and hard drives, external SSDs are another form of external storage you can use to keep backup copies of your data. If you really want to get into the weeds on external storage, check out our guide on the difference between SSD vs. NVMe vs. M.2 drives.

Backup #3: Cloud Storage

We’ll admit to being a bit biased here, but for true peace of mind that your backups will survive any number of disasters and mishaps, you have to incorporate cloud storage into your 3-2-1 solution. (If for no other reason than without it, you have a 2-1 situation which doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. But believe us, there are plenty of other reasons, mainly so you don’t lose your data when your computer suddenly dies or you drop your flash drive down the sewer.)

If you are one of the millions of extraordinarily clever people who use Backblaze Personal Backup, this might just be the easiest step in the process because it’s all done automatically. Simply by having your WhatsApp backups on your computer, you’ll rest easy knowing that the software is one step ahead of you, storing your chats and online memories safely in the cloud.

If space is limited locally, and you don’t necessarily need the WhatsApp files on your own computer, Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage gives you plenty of space in the cloud to stash them until they’re needed. Paired with local copies elsewhere, you could also use this method to achieve a 3-2-1 strategy without taking up a huge amount of space locally on your machine.

Bonus Pro Tips: Transferring Your WhatsApp Data to a New Phone

While it’s all well and good to have your data securely tucked away using the 3-2-1 strategy, what happens when you get a new phone and want to have easy access through the app to all of your old chats? When that happens, you’re going to be glad you squirreled it away, and thrilled that we’ve outlined step-by-step how to get your new phone up and running with all of your old memories intact.

How to Restore Your Backup to an Android Phone

Restoring your WhatsApp backup to an Android phone takes a few steps. In these steps, we will assume you have reinstalled WhatsApp on your new phone.

1. Install a file manager app on your Android phone.
2. Copy the backup file to your Android phone.
3. Open the file manager app.
4. Copy the backup file to WhatsApp > Databases.
5. Remember to restore the most recently created backup file to the device’s Databases folder.
6. Restore your WhatsApp backup from local storage.

How to Restore Your Backup to an iPhone

The restore process for WhatsApp on an iPhone is similar. We will assume you do not have WhatsApp installed with the Android steps.

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer.
2. Open iTunes.
3. Back up your iPhone using iTunes. This step will create a WhatsApp backup (along with your other phone data) to your computer.
4. Back up your iTunes backup to the cloud. Backing up your iTunes data to a cloud storage service is advisable because your PC’s local storage might fail. For detailed guidance, see our post: “A Quick Guide to iCloud and iTunes Backups for Your iPhone and iPad.”
5. Restore data to your iPhone using iTunes. Restoring your WhatsApp data to your iPhone is simple. Connect your iPhone to the computer where you ran the backup. Open iTunes and use the “restore a backup” feature.

Keep Your WhatsApp Archive Safe

When it comes to your digital assets, backups matter. Even the most mundane conversations you engage in on WhatsApp now might end up being a treasured memory of old friends later on. Preserving them is important, and if you’ve followed these steps and backed up your memories to your computer and to the cloud, you’ll have those memories available at a moment’s notice wherever you are.

The post How to Back Up and Restore WhatsApp Messages and Files appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.