A quick chat in a Chiang Mai cafe that made me rethink my whole setup

I was working at a small coffee shop near the old city about two months ago when a guy at the next table saw my laptop open to a dozen tabs. He leaned over and said, 'You know, if that drive fails on a bus to Pai, you're done.' He showed me his own system: two small portable SSDs he backs up to every single day, and a cloud service as a third copy. He lost six months of client work in Hanoi because he only used his laptop's internal drive. I've been doing the dual backup method ever since. How many of you have a solid backup plan you actually stick to while moving around?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_mia5d ago

Man I was the same way for years, just trusting my laptop and a single external drive. Then my bag got soaked in a Bangkok downpour and both were fried. Lost all my photos from a month in Laos. Now I do the exact same thing, two portable SSDs and a cloud backup. One SSD stays in my room, the other goes with me. It's a pain sometimes but losing that trip was a bigger pain lol.

lewis.gray5d ago

Yeah @the_mia, I learned that lesson the hard way too (my backup drive fell in a puddle, because of course it did). Now I'm just as paranoid as you are.

grant.olivia4d ago

Ever think about putting one of those drives in a different building entirely?