Mobile Backup - How to Protect Windows Devices

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Mobile devices are an integral part of people's lives. They allow us to stay connected with friends, family, and colleagues, keep up with what's going on around the corner and across the world, and share our thoughts, photos, and videos. It's important to protect that data in case your phone is lost or stolen.

BYOD in the Workplace

The rise of mobile devices has made "Bring your own device" (BYOD) an inevitable part of every business's IT environment. Employees don't want to carry two devices just to check work email, but employers need to ensure their corporate data is protected on mobile devices, just like any other device in the company. Mobile device data–like emails, notes, and particularly custom data from specialized apps–should be backed up.

Cloud backup services provides an excellent offsite protection for Windows devices. However, it has two significant limitations for businesses. First, it's owned by the employee. The employer doesn't have access to it, unless the employee hands over their credentials. Second, it's not on-site. Offsite protection is a critical part of any backup strategy, but on-site storage is as well. With on-site backup storage, employers know they have a local copy of their business that they can restore quickly to reduce any downtime.

Why Local Backup?

Having a local backup through your computer, in addition to a remote backup through a cloud service, ensures your mobile life is protected in two places and that one backup is immediately available. In data protection, we have a backup strategy called the "3-2-1 Rule":

• 3: Keep three copies of all of your data.
• 2: Use two different storage media.
• 1: Store one of the copies offsite.

Following the "3-2-1 Rule" ensures your data is spread across three devices, on multiple media, in different places.

Protected by Retrospect

As long as you perform a local backup of your Windows device, Retrospect ensures that those backups are protected on your media of choice, along with the rest of your digital life. Let’s walk through how to achieve that.

Windows Devices

• Local Backup: Microsoft provides a tool called Windows Phone Companion, available for free through the Microsoft Store. It allows you to synchronize your data between your computer and your device. (It even supports Android and iOS devices.) Note that Windows Phone Companion is included in Windows 10, but you'll need to download it for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. For Windows XP and Vista, you'll need to use Windows Explorer. See step-by-step instructions for more details.
• Cloud Backup: Using a Microsoft account, you can back up your device's settings to Microsoft's cloud storage. See their step-by-step instructions for more information.

Last Update: March 23, 2016