It may sound like a cliché by now, but that doesn’t mean it’s not entirely true: we’re storing more and more files – information, photos, videos, etc. – on external hard drives or USB drives. And losing them is a big surprise; one that can even have legal repercussions if it’s confidential data related to the workplace. That’s why it’s essential to take some precautions to protect them. What can we do at the user level?
Organize the contents well
There is no point in taking protective measures if the files are scattered across different locations – computers, external drives, optical drives, etc. – and you don’t know where to find them. That’s why experts recommend organizing them well by folders and always on the same drive. The rest of the measures will be taken on that drive.
Make a backup
It is highly advisable to make regular backups of all files on a different drive than the one you normally use. This way, there will always be a backup copy. You can do this manually (copy and paste or drag the files to the new location) or use specific programs that work completely automatically once configured. In this sense, the tools that come pre-installed with some of the most popular external drives or USB drives on the market are very useful. For example, those from the WD firm include software that helps you schedule backups of photos, videos, music and documents, deciding the time and frequency of the same; something similar to what Toshiba does with Storage Backup Software.
In any case, there are also specific solutions that perform this task, compatible with hard drives and pendrives of any brand, and even free to use. Among the most popular are Uranium Backup (it encrypts the copies at the same time as it makes them), Cobian Backup (it consumes few resources) or EaseUS Todo Backup Free (characterized by its simple use).
Encrypt the files
It may seem complicated, but it is actually very simple. In fact, although there are many programs to encrypt files, operating systems themselves have pre-installed and ready-to-use utilities. Basically, what is done is to protect the files with a key that must be used to ‘unlock’ them.
In Windows, for example, this tool is called BitLocker and it password-protects the entire hard drive. And doing so is as easy as right-clicking on the drive you want to encrypt and clicking on ‘Turn on Bitlocker’. A screen will appear where you have to enter the chosen key and a recovery key will be generated in case you forget it; then, you can choose between encrypting only the space used (faster) or the entire disk. In turn, there is one more choice: an encryption mode for disks that are fixed in a computer, and another ‘compatible’ one to be able to connect the disk to different computers.
On Mac and GNU/Linux it is even faster. On Apple devices you just need to right-click on the disk, choose the “Encrypt” option and select the password; and on GNU/Linux the tool is included in the formatting tools, since it performs this task by directly applying the password encryption.
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