What data can you live without?

Your hardware, your software (and probably your music collection) can all be replaced at an acceptable cost. Technology really isn't all that expensive. On the other hand, your personal data is not replaceable. Your photos, documents, tax information, videos, and anything else that you have created is not replaceable.

Option #1: Cloud-Based Backup
This option is less cumbersome and allows for your data to be safe in the event of theft, fire, or other disaster. The drawback is that cloud-based backups can fail to back up your most important large files and the TCO (total cost of ownership) can be somewhat worse.

Option #2: Local Backup
This option is the one we recommend between the two. You can use an external hard drive or a large flash drive, depending on how much data you are backing up. Since local storage is upwards of a million times faster than online storage, this method doesn't balk at large files like cloud-based backups can.