Backup! Backup! Backup! Do you have your documents, photos and Steem passwords stored only on your computer?
Although I concentrate more on businesses nowadays I have helped hundreds of consumers in the past with computer related problems or advice.
The amount of time I encountered people thinking they had a backup when in fact they had not is uncountable.
Plenty of times it was too late and I had to tell people that there family photo's and documents were all gone because of a crash.
And it could have been so easily avoided.
Why you lose your data, the simple version:
In your computer, there is a little piece of hardware. It's called the hard drive and it looks like this (or like the thing I'm holding in my hand):
On this little piece of hardware is all the data that is stored on your computer. Everything!
When this thing breaks and it happens pretty often, all the data becomes inaccessible.
There are companies that can restore the data for you (if you're lucky, there is no guarantee) but they are not cheap. Think hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
Much better to prevent all that and make a backup of your important files. (Example: copying to another hard drive or store your data in the cloud).
If you don't know how to make a good backup I would suggest hiring someone you trust to explain it to you.
Trust me, It's worth the money.
(I know this because after a crash an owner of a crashed laptop would have given me $500, right then and there, easy, just to have everything back the way it was. Losing all your data is a very painful experience.)
Rule of thumb: If you don't know where and how your data is stored you don't have a backup.
Backup your owner key on STEEM.
We are on STEEM after all and the owner key or master password is the most important password on here. If you lose it or forget it you won't be able to change your account anymore. And, you won't be able to ask for a new password like on other websites.
Please remember that.
Even if your account holds little Steem right now. It might be worth a lot more someday. Make sure you have the password stored somewhere safe.
I don't know where anyone else stores their master password. Maybe it's in the email you got when you registered. Maybe it's in your password manager. It's not my job to know, it's yours.
Question?
If your hard drive would fail today, would you still be able to find your master password? Give it a small think.
If the answer is no.
Make a backup today.
I know I might sound a bit doom and gloom today. I am not really. It's just something that worries me. Especially for new users. Steemit is a website that runs on the Steem blockchain.
The steem blockchain is decentralized, which means you are responsible for your passwords and no one else.
If you have any questions let me know.
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Thank you @exyle for such reminders. We normally don't care about it
Great article brother about a very important topic. This is one thing many new users don't really think about. Heck, most people period don't give it much thought until it's too late. I had a bad experience with this in my younger years and now back up all files on an external hard drive and keep a hard copy of all passwords.
Having a hard drive go down is one of the those things that you never think can happen until it does.
Great article again man. Resteemed. Have a great night!
Do you recommend any cloud service? I know safety is the key here. What about trezor ? ledger nano s?
Anything else from what you mention?
Thanks anyway.
I don't think i backed up my master password but it is save on google chrome. How do i back it up now?
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/manage-view-saved-passwords-chrome
Hopefully this will help.
If you can find your (master) password here, take a copy (to paper AT LEAST)!
Thank you very much. I appreciate it. You a life saver.
My pleasure man :D
Thanks for helping, Ash!
@exyle thank you too for making this post, if not i would have been lost has to what to do to recover my password.
A welcome reminder for backups in general , super important for this scenario, thanks Exyle.
@exyle once again just like @jerrybanfield a simple reminder to back UP your Computer. It will save you so much grief and headaches in the future............
Ditto @stokjockey and a ton of cash too. What I do is save on PC, cloud email, take a pic on my phone as well as a hard copy printed.. haha. Nice post @exyle Cheer$;)
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Totally agree with you @exyle, storing data on the hard disk has always been a risky business, because it can not only break down, but the computer can also be hacked by hackers. Since the password for Steemit is long, then remembering it is not realistic, so it's better to use the cloud, you can also throw it on a flash card and a very simple method, write it on a piece of paper and hide it somewhere.
fantastic post my friend and what a wonderful suggestion you gave to us, well to be honest i never think about it but after reading your post i think it's no doubt so important so it's time to backup my passwords and important information, you are right hard disk is a very sensitive even sometime a little shock destroy the hard disk and we loose all our work, so it is good to save important information outside to your pc, what your advice my friend if i write my data on dvd or usb and then hide it in a very safe place, is it works even if i use it after years or not, Stay blessed my friend and thanks for sharing
The way to backup up your data is all up to you and you can get as crazy as you want :). Extra USB drive and sticks, cloud, different physical locations, encrypted, non encrypted ect ect. I like the cloud because it gets my data offsite in case of a fire. I also use physical media. But they can indeed break down.
thanks a lot for your response my friend, yah i agree in order to stay 100% secure cloud storage is the best option, i should also try it soon.
Backups on DVD/CD are tricky. I think of them as pretty unreliable. If you got a bad batch or if it's exposed to sunlight it may deteriorate and data may get impossible to read.
I use combination of disks, flash drives and in some cases even printed out things.
Good discussion. :)
Thank you again for this post though i have kept all my backups but i haven't saved my master password anywhere but on my Laptop until now :D
Thank you reminded, I kept putting it off for later, and if anything happens I'll be very sorry. I have to do it immediately.