Every day, millions of terabytes of information are created by people across the world on laptops and personal computers. Our data has become one of our most important possessions, and if you work in media, or create your own media, some of the files you make are valuable economically as well as personally.

If you are podcasting, you will be creating huge audio files when you record your podcasts that may be an important part of your income and cannot be replaced if lost. Computer hard drives can often fail or suffer from errors, especially when dealing with large files, so it is incredibly important to back up your data to avoid missing deadlines or losing income opportunities.

This quick guide should give you a few ideas that could save you the frustration of losing you data for good and having to start your work all over again.

Create a Physical Copy

One of the simplest ways to secure precious files is to make a physical copy right away. A tried and tested method for decades, making a copy of a file onto a disk gives you peace of mind and a copy of the file you can always go back to if something goes wrong later.

Long gone are the floppy disks of the 80s, and the CD-ROMs of the 90s; everyone has USB thumb drives or flash-memory cards nowadays. Audio files for podcasts can be very large, so you might want to invest in a large USB hard drive to back up all your hours of broadcasts.

Use a Cloud Service

There are many cloud services available online, often with quite a large amount of space available for free. Cloud services usually come with software to install on your computer that will back your files up as they are created, which can be a very useful feature for backing up your files with little effort.

What if the Worst Happens?

Even when you are properly backing up your data, it is possible that a virus or broken hard drive can rob you of your hard work before you have a chance to make a copy. Fortunately, all may not be lost, as there are services that can help you recover data that you think you may be gone forever. With the help of a company like Secure Data Recovery, you can bring files back from the dead with their specialist software that can find and repair data locked in hard drives that have stopped working or been contaminated with a virus.

Podcasting can be a lot of fun, and a good podcast can be incredibly lucrative. Losing your data can be devastating and waste hours of hard work and preparation. Protecting your data may be protecting your livelihood, so make sure you are backing up your data physically and to a cloud, and have a plan in place if you lose your data to a corrupt hard drive or a virus.