Encrypt portable drives
A USB stick or external drive is easy to lose. The system's built-in encryption will protect your documents if the drive ends up with a stranger.
Security
Security
An archive holds more than memories: it also contains passport scans, contracts, correspondence and photos of other people. That is why keeping data and protecting it go hand in hand: a backup should survive a breakdown, but it must not fall into the wrong hands.
The password to an encrypted backup that only you know should also exist somewhere on paper.
How this section works: we describe protection principles, not specific products. Legal questions of inheritance depend on the country and the service's terms, so this page offers only general guidance.
Backups and encryption
The more copies you have, the more important it is that each one is protected.
Keep the key separately
Don't keep the password or recovery key on the same drive as the backup; keep it, for example, in a sealed envelope at home.
Test after encrypting
Make sure the encrypted backup can be opened on another computer with the password. Otherwise the protection becomes a lock without a key.
Accounts and access
Much of what is valuable lives in accounts rather than on drives.
Two-factor protection
Turn on sign-in with an extra confirmation step for email and storage, and keep the backup codes in a safe place.
Passing on access
Some services let you name a trusted contact or say what should happen to the account if the owner is inactive for a long time. Look at these settings in advance.
A note for your family
Without including passwords, list which accounts you have, where the archive is kept and who to contact. That way your relatives won't have to guess.
Other people's data and privacy
Family and work archives always contain information about other people.
Ask for consent
Before publishing old photos or lists of participants, ask the people who appear in them or are mentioned.
Old tables (in Russian)
Remove what isn't needed
When publishing shared material, remove phone numbers, addresses and dates of birth: they are rarely needed to remember an event.
Other people's texts are for you
Use saved copies of other people's pages for personal reference and don't share them without the author's permission.
Dead links (in Russian)
Further reading
- Tools
Built-in features found almost everywhere: print to PDF, document version history, account data export and disk checks.
- Guides
Practical guides: how to save an important web page, build a personal archive and move photos off old media. The article catalogue is here too.
- Questions
Answers about this reference, saving websites and pages, backups and personal archives.
- Glossary
Digital storage terms in plain language: archives and copies, formats and media, addresses and links.
- Comparisons
Cloud or external drive, PDF or original format, USB stick or hard drive for long-term storage: the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
Sources
- General data backup recommendations
- Internet Archive — information about the Wayback Machine
Facts about system support periods, file format standards and web archives were checked against the organisations' published information at the time of writing. Menu items in your own software and devices may be named differently from the general descriptions used here.