What is the 3-2-1 backup rule?

In a private context, it may be annoying, but in a corporate one it can quickly damage repu­ta­tions: data loss. And yet, data loss is easy to avoid! With the 321 backup rule, you can reliably protect photos, contracts, and other important documents from being deleted. Find out how it works, what you should consider, and how IONOS can support you with your 321 backup strategy.

Figures from recent years show that regular data backups are important. The cost of data breaches rose to $4.24 million in 2021 alone, which was the highest since IBM began measuring it as part of its Cost of a Data Breach Report. Companies with more advanced cloud migration strategies were able to contain data breaches faster than those without.

Other surveys suggest that within the private sector, over 60 percent of users have pre­vi­ously been affected by data loss, the main causes of which include technical problems and human error.

The risk of data loss is equally high for private users and busi­nesses. Despite this, only 26% of American computer owners backed up their data in 2018. Meanwhile, 90% of US busi­nesses are making backup copies of their data. The per­cent­age of people and companies applying the 3-2-1 backup rule is unknown.

A simple cal­cu­la­tion demon­strates how useful the 3-2-1 backup is:

Assuming you store your original file on the hard disk of your computer, the prob­ab­il­ity of failure is 1 in 100. If you add a second hard disk with the same prop­er­ties and cor­res­pond­ingly the same prob­ab­il­ity of failure, the prob­ab­il­ity of complete data loss is rapidly reduced. Namely: 1 in 100 x 1 in 100 = 1 in 10,000. If you create another copy on a medium that has at least the same prob­ab­il­ity of failure, you would already be at 1 in 1,000,000. Complete loss of data then becomes highly unlikely.

Similar storage media tend to have similar rates of failure and error. External hard disks are more likely to be damaged when dropped or in­cor­rectly stored. This is avoidable when using cloud storage. By using two different types of media for data storage, you can reduce the risk of system failure and thus loss of your data.

Last but not least: the 1 in ‘3-2-1 backup’ refers to the out­sourcing of one copy of your data, which sig­ni­fic­antly reduces the risk of failure. Scenarios that could cause loss of data include fires onsite where your external hard or NAS storage are located.

Already own an external hard drive, a USB stick, or other optical storage drive and want to add a cloud solution to your backup strategy? IONOS offers a con­veni­ent solution that meets all demands.

Whether you’re storing in­di­vidu­al folders or are backing up the entire desktop, once set up, MyDe­fend­er lets you create automatic backups of your computer, laptop and/or smart­phone. You can decide on which data and folders to back up, how often, and in what form. If there are issues with another backup, you can easily restore your data.

For a more pro­fes­sion­al backup, companies use the cloud. All devices, from smart­phones to entire cloud in­fra­struc­tures such as virtual machines or SQL servers can be in­teg­rated and managed as part of the data backup strategy. Make multiple versions, optimise storage ca­pa­cit­ies by com­press­ing your backups and track user behaviour so that you can react swiftly and ef­fi­ciently to any problems. Your backups will be protected with AES 256-bit en­cryp­tion in our highly secure IONOS data centres.