Everyone means to back up until the drive dies or the phone is lost. This builds a real system on the 3-2-1 rule — three copies, two media, one off-site — sized to your actual data and devices, automated so it happens on its own, and (the step everyone skips) tested by doing a restore, because an untested backup is just a hope.
What This Skill Produces
- A 3-2-1 plan — three copies, on two types of media, with one off-site/cloud, mapped to your devices
- Priorities — what to back up first (irreplaceable photos/documents) vs. what's re-downloadable
- Automation — how to make backups run automatically so they don't depend on remembering
- A restore test — actually recovering a file to prove the backup works
- Resilience — protecting backups from ransomware/accidental-deletion and sync tools propagating a deletion to every copy (versioning, offline copy)
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not provided:
- Devices & OS — computers, phones, and what platform each is
- What matters most — photos, documents, work files, and roughly how much data
- Current backups — what (if anything) exists now, and whether it's tested
- Budget & comfort — external drives, cloud services, willingness to pay/automate
- Threats of concern — device loss/theft, hardware failure, ransomware, accidental deletion
Framework: 3-2-1, Automated, Tested
- Apply 3-2-1. Three copies, two different media (e.g. local drive + cloud), one off-site — so no single event (fire, theft, ransomware) takes everything.
- Prioritize the irreplaceable. Photos, personal documents, and unique work first; apps and media you can re-download come later.
- Automate it. Scheduled/continuous backup beats manual — the ones you have to remember are the ones that lapse.
- Protect the backups themselves. Keep at least one copy offline or versioned, so ransomware or a bad sync-delete can't wipe every copy at once.
- Test the restore. Recover a real file (and ideally a full-system test once). An untested backup fails exactly when it matters.
Output Format
Backup plan: [devices] · [key data] · [budget]
3-2-1 for you
- Copy 1 (primary): [device].
- Copy 2 (local): [external drive / NAS] — automated [how].
- Copy 3 (off-site): [cloud/off-site] — automated [how].
Back up first: [photos, documents, unique work]. Later: [re-downloadable]. Automate: [schedule/tool per device]. Protect backups: [versioning + one offline copy] against ransomware/sync-deletes. Test: restore [a file] now; full-restore test [once].
Quality Checks
- Plan follows 3-2-1 (three copies, two media, one off-site)
- Prioritizes irreplaceable data first
- Backups are automated, not manual/remembered
- Includes a restore test, not just a backup
- Protects backups from ransomware/sync-delete (offline/versioned copy)
- Tailored to the person's devices and budget
Anti-Patterns
- A single copy on one drive — no redundancy.
- Manual backups that quietly lapse.
- Never testing a restore — discovering it's broken during a crisis.
- All copies online/connected so ransomware or a sync-delete hits them all.
- Backing up everything equally and burying the irreplaceable stuff.
Example Trigger Phrases
- "How should I back up my photos and files properly?"
- "Set me up a backup system for my laptop and phone."
- "I don't want to lose my photos if my phone dies — what do I do?"
- "Is my current backup actually safe from ransomware?"
- "What's the 3-2-1 backup rule and how do I set it up?"