Should I Disconnect My Backup Drive When I'm Not Backing Up?

☝️ Some people disconnect their backup drive when not backing up because they fear ransomware. I explain why that's a Really Bad Idea.

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[gwarnerb]

My answer is both. Keep one drive always connected, for the reasons Leo explains, to ensure that you always have a recent backup. But also buy another drive which you keep disconnected and update periodically, and store away from your computer as a defence against ransomware, fire, burglary etc.

So decide on your how important your files are to you, and make a conscious deliberate decision about the balance of cost and security. I'm fairly cautious. I started from the 3-2-1 rule - at least three copies of everything that matter, on at least two different media (e.g. external HDD and cloud backup) and at least offsite, via cloud of portable disks with family/friends/another office. I have two types of offsite copies, a Drive account for daily backups, and external portable drive in an outbuilding that. I update at interval, and rotate with second drive.

Personally I have even more than that, because I have kept a couple of old drive from dead PCs in cheap enclosures, as yet another copy of my more valuable files. True they are more likely to fail, but that's ok, they still swing the odds in my favour. One of these is on all the time, for scheduled backups, the other is switched off when not actually backing up. Then I have a NAS as well, not primarily for backup, but it serves that purpose, too.

You may well think this is overkill. Fine, you are probably right, and I didn't really plan for that level of redundancy. Mostly, I ended up with drives that I no longer needed for other purposes, and put them to use as extra insurance.

[gwarnerb]

Leo is right to emphasise relative degrees of risk. We each have to decide how much risk we are prepared to accept, and how much trouble or expense we are willing to accept to offset the risks.

[steveandmary]

I'm sure I probably don't fully understand most backups but the way I understand is that when backup detects a new file it backs it up. When it detects a modified or changed file it backs it up. So, when ransomware comes along and encrypts a file, then that is a modified file that will be backed. Now my good file has been lost on the backup.

[whitelotus]

Thank you Leo for the honest advice and putting up the vlogs. They are really helpful.
Few years ago when I had Windows 8/8.1 Pro retail version, I had kept my external USB HDD connected for 15 days for auto backup. One day I had to remove it and I noticed that Windows treated it as an internal drive. Has this happened to anyone else or is it just me? Out of fear of complications, I have never kept a drive constantly attached and I have developed a habit to always remove the external USB drive before shutting down the PC.

Thanks again.

[floridapctutor]

I'll be the naysayer here I guess. My full system image backup happens at 1 am every day. All I have to do is connect my backup drive at night when I'm done with the computer, and disconnect it the next morning. It's part of my nightly routine and, I believe, part of being a responsible computer user. So I'm not just protected from the "majority" of ransomware, I'm protected from all of it.

[paullarouche]

Thank you for including a practical solution for the more paranoid amongst us...like me.

[MortAllachie]

My MacBook just recently died and I lost all my RAW images. I'm waiting for an adapter, and hope I'm able to recover everything. I have all pictures backed up in jpg, so the memories are not lost. What I will do moving forward is running a daily automatic backup. But after this experience, I'm not putting myself in this situation ever again, so I'll run another manual backup to two disks that will stay locked in at my office. When one disk is at home for a new backup, the other one is safe in the office. If I'm not able to recover my old disk, I have lost all my RAW photos, and a whole year's work on last year's photobook. Never again.

[youtubescroller]

You can: Backup using a nas or a drive on a seperate machine. Use ip to connect not a mapped drive

[boblienhart]

Put the external backup drive on a timer and set it to turn on for the period of time that your automatic backups occur.

[johnoptions]

Thanks for sharing your time and knowledge. I got this message "ssd backup drive corrupted". I can't save data in it.

[markhartry]

I use a licensed version of Macrium Reflect to perform backups. Macrium has a feature called Image Guard that allows only Macrium Reflect to modify backup files. As a test, I opened the folder on my backup drive using File Explorer and found that I cannot delete the files. I have to open Macrium Reflect to do so. I'm not sure if the free version does the same.
When choosing a backup program, I would suggest looking for a similar feature in that program. It provides one more line of defense protecting files. I also use OneDrive to to store files.

[williamgibson]

Is there a way to have a reminder to connect the external hd before a schedule backup.

[michaeltyree]

Thank you, Leo! But what about laptop computers, where it's not practical to leave the backup drive connected all the time? Is cloud backup the only solution for laptops? I'm not too concerned about ransomware and I disconnect my backup drive often, but I use Macrium Reflect and EaseUS Todo, and if I forget to plug the drive back in, they will run the missed backup the next time I plug it in. And I'm concerned enough about all reasons for backing up to think quite often about whether my backups are running on schedule.

[darkphotographer]

i have a backup drive inside my file server, and one on usb with automatic backup wen i plug it in, and i plug it in every time i creat some new data new photo or video, or when i spend stom time editing somthing my worstations have only the system drive if i lose my windows install is not big problem in few houes i will be back up and running and i stil have some other computer to do somthing in a pinch

[okaro]

Backup should not be any propertiary image. It should be files that can be accessed with any system if needed.

I have Onedrive do my automatic backups. Other backups I do manually and some are not connected. I do not care how small the risk is. I will not take it.

[maakunanashi]

Will the external harddrive the one i meant for manual backup will last longer than the external one that always powered and connected?

Planning for first one to be used yearly backup
Then the second one is for automatic backup

[richardmaynard]

Leo, if my external hard drive has a power switch can I disconnect it by turning off the power? Or will the contents still be vanersble to attract?

[luisnoronha]

Will putting a password on the backup drive prevent ransomware ?