The IT Nerd

World Backup Day  (#WorldBackupDay!) is today. It began in 2011 as a simple reminder from a group of Reddit users who had seen too many people lose their important files… family photos, work documents, personal projects, because they didn’t have backups. They wanted to spread the word in a way that would stick, so they picked March 31, the day before April Fool’s, with the message… “Don’t be a fool – back up your data!” 

What started as an internet joke quickly became a worldwide movement. Tech companies, IT professionals, and even everyday people started sharing stories of data disasters – hard drives crashing, phones getting lost, files disappearing – and the relief that comes from having a backup. Now, every year, it serves as a friendly wake-up call to take a few minutes and make sure the things that matter most – your photos, videos, work, and memories – are safe, no matter what happens.

Executives from DH2i, Leaseweb USA, Leaseweb Canada, Cerabyte, Active Archive Alliance, Arcitecta, Peer Software, Hammerspace, and Other World Computing (OWC) had this to say about this important day: 

Don Boxley, CEO and Co-Founder, DH2i:

“World Backup Day is a great reminder that just having backups isn’t enough. Sure, they’re critical for recovery, but they don’t keep your business running in real-time. If something goes wrong – whether it’s a system crash, a cyberattack, or just someone making an honest mistake – you need more than a backup. You need a plan that keeps your data within reach and your business running like nothing ever happened.

Because here’s the thing… when downtime happens, waiting around for a backup to restore isn’t an option. Businesses need to stay up and running, no matter what. That means thinking beyond just storing copies of data and making sure it’s always accessible, secure, and easy to recover. At the end of the day, it’s not just about backing up – it’s about making sure you never have to hit pause in the first place.”

Richard Copeland, CEO, Leaseweb USA, Inc.: 

“Skipping backup isn’t just a bad idea – it’s a ticking time bomb. Many companies think they’re saving money by relying on hardware redundancy or high availability, only to get blindsided when their data vanishes. One wrong click, one system crash, or one ransomware attack, and suddenly, they’re in full-blown disaster mode, scrambling to recover what’s lost. No backup? No safety net. Just downtime, financial hemorrhaging, and a whole lot of regret. 

A proper backup strategy isn’t some nice-to-have – it’s your last line of defense when things go sideways. The smart play? The 3-2-1 rule: three copies of your data, in two different locations, with one offsite or in the cloud. Don’t just assume your backups work – test them, because the worst time to find out your safety net has holes is when you’re already falling. Skipping backup might save a little cash upfront, but when disaster strikes, you’ll be paying for it ten times over.”

Roger Brulotte, CEO, Leaseweb Canada: 

“Imagine waking up to find your systems are locked, your data is inaccessible, and your customers are left in the dark – in other words, your business is at a complete standstill. Whether it’s a cyberattack, a hardware failure, or just plain human error, losing access to critical information can be catastrophic. Backup isn’t just a checkbox – it’s your safety net. Without a solid backup strategy, a single incident could cost you days of productivity, millions in revenue, and, in worst case scenarios, your entire business.

But here’s the kicker… not all backups are created equal. Cybercriminals know to target your backups first, embedding ransomware that lies dormant until it’s too late. That’s why businesses need to follow backup best practices. For instance, you can implement the 3-2-1 rule (three copies of your data, on two different media, with one stored offsite and if one or more of the backups are immutable – i.e., cannot be altered – all the better). This can be enhanced with what some refer to as CTAM, otherwise known as the Chevy Truck Access Method. All kidding aside, this step can make or break your backup strategy. You must make sure you keep an air-gapped offline backup that can be leveraged as a last line of defense. 

A strong DR plan doesn’t mean just having backups – it means knowing they’ll work when you need them most. However, don’t worry – if this isn’t your forte, there are experts that can help you craft, implement, and/or manage your backup and DR. It is an investment that pays for itself many times over. After all, in today’s world, it’s not if disaster will strike, it’s when… when will be the first time, and the next, and the next…” 

Larry O’Connor, CEO and Founder, Other World Computing: 

“If you’re a creative or a business owner, your data isn’t just files; it’s your work, your ideas, your late nights and early mornings. It’s everything you’ve built. Now, imagine waking up one day and it’s all gone. No photos, no projects, no client records. Just… gone. It’s the kind of thing you assume won’t happen to you… until it does. That’s why World Backup Day is a good gut check. A solid backup plan isn’t about expecting disaster, it’s about making sure that no matter what – whether it’s a hardware failure, a cyberattack, or just a simple mistake – you don’t lose the work that matters most. 

But let’s be honest… having a backup doesn’t mean much if it’s not reliable. That’s where the right tech and strategy come in. A well-planned and executed strategy for your backups mean you’re not relying on memory, and the right tech-enhanced with the right strategy ensures you’re protected no matter what. The goal isn’t just to back up your data; it’s to have a system you can actually trust and know it just works. Because when you know your work is safe, you can stop worrying about ‘what if’ and focus on doing what you love. So, if you haven’t checked your backup setup in a while, take a few minutes today. Future you will be grateful.”

Molly Presley, SVP of Global Marketing for Hammerspace

“The importance of automation in protecting and backing up data across a company’s global infrastructure is increasing with the rise of cyber-attack threats, data breaches, and unrelenting data growth, underscoring automation’s crucial role in data management and cybersecurity. 

Managing vast unstructured data across diverse storage systems, multiple global locations, and cloud platforms requires considerable effort and resources. Relying on manual processes is increasingly time-consuming and risky, exposing critical data to human error and missed backups. 

By implementing global-level data protection services, organizations will defend global datasets and maximize their value through automated policies. As organizations become increasingly driven by artificial intelligence, where data is essential to accurate analysis and drive informed decisions and innovative breakthroughs, automation is becoming indispensable. 

Automated data protection policies bolster enforcement across distributed geographies, strengthening an organization’s data resiliency and business continuity. They also enable organizations to manage their global data environments and maintain the efficacy of their AI systems and data pipelines. 

A streamlined, policy-driven data management approach can transform how organizations manage and protect data by distinguishing newly created data, ensuring global data protection across distributed locations, automating data copy creation controls and services, and enforcing compliance with corporate governance standards.”

Jimmy Tam, CEO, Peer Software

World Backup Day serves as a crucial reminder that data resilience isn’t just about having a copy of your data, it’s about ensuring business continuity with minimal disruption. Many organizations still rely on centralized storage models, but these systems pose risks. A single point of failure, slow recovery from outages, and the increasing complexity of modern data environments demand a re-evaluation of storage strategies. The rise of distributed storage models, which keep data where it is created and used most, provides an opportunity to enhance resilience. However, simply decentralizing data isn’t enough. Businesses must also adopt robust data orchestration strategies to ensure efficient access, security, and performance. As data volumes grow and compliance demands become more stringent, companies must rethink how they store, manage, and protect their critical assets to minimize downtime and financial loss.

By understanding data flows, leveraging AI-driven storage optimization, and ensuring strong security measures, organizations can build a storage infrastructure that withstands disruptions and safeguards business operations. This World Backup Day, organizations need to take the time to evaluate their storage strategy because the cost of downtime is too high to ignore.

Martin Kunze, co-founder and CMO of Cerabyte

“In a world where every digital moment carries weight, World Backup Day is more than a reminder to protect our files – it’s a call to safeguard the digital legacy that shapes our era and our society. True data preservation isn’t just about storage; it’s about ensuring that today’s knowledge, culture, and discoveries remain accessible for generations to come.

Information is the spine of our society, and it is threatened more than ever. Preserving this legacy demands more than traditional backup methods. It requires a future-proof strategy that resists degradation, overcomes obsolescence, and guarantees permanent access. This isn’t just about saving data. It’s about securing digital immortality.”

Jason Lohrey, CEO and Founder of Arcitecta

“It’s estimated that there will be more than 180 zettabytes of data in the world by the end of 2025. With the scale of data continually growing, making it secure and resilient is becoming harder to achieve. How do organizations backup hundreds of petabytes of data? The answer is they don’t, with traditional backup, and that’s precarious. Vulnerabilities scale with data growth: corruption, malware, accidental deletion, mysteries, and the list goes on. Furthermore, the time it takes to find lost data with traditional backup systems increases with the amount of backup data stored. IT departments are constantly pulled into the task of data recovery. Data resilience for trillions of datums, and instant, self-serve data recovery is not possible with backup as we know it.

The process of recovery is not what it should be – it’s tedious and slow. Traditional backup works by scanning a file system to find and create copies of new and changed files. The problem is scanning takes longer as the number of files grows – so much so that it’s becoming impossible to complete scans within a reasonable time frame. They usually run during the night when systems are likely to be less volatile. The process occurs at set intervals, which means any change before the next scan will be lost if there’s a system failure. Traditional backup cannot and does not meet the objective of zero data loss.

New approaches are emerging that enable continuous data availability as a strong first line of defense against cyber threats, enabling organizations to recover compromised data easily and almost instantly. Continuous data availability is a game-changing form of protection that actively records every significant change in real-time for every file so a user can go back to any point in time to retrieve data – easily and without the assistance of IT. This approach merges the file system and backup as one entity. As a result, every change in the file system can be recorded as it happens, making it seamless to retrieve lost or deleted data, regardless of when it existed and across the entire time continuum. Organizations will increasingly leverage continuous data availability technology to protect data from loss and cyber threats.”

Rich Gadomski, Co-Chairperson of the Active Archive Alliance

“Effective data management software can help organizations not only optimize storage and backup but also enhance cybersecurity. By moving inactive data onto active archive media, organizations reduce the risk of malware infecting their primary storage. Media technologies, such as tape, offer powerful, easy-to-deploy air-gap defenses where IT personnel can establish a literal separation from any online path to prevent unauthorized electronic access. 

For many data centers, the archive copy is often the only copy of archival data exposing it in the case of a data loss event. Since the business value of untapped archival data is increasing, especially with the rapid rise of AI, creating a second, secure air-gapped copy in a different geographic location will soon become a standard data protection strategy. Storage administrators often leverage the 2-1-1 Archive Strategy for backup, recovery, and disaster recovery to protect their primary archival storage: 

• Create a second (2) archival copy of the data
• Ensure at least one (1) of the copies is stored at a different physical location 
• Store at least one (1) of the copies offline 

While cybersecurity software serves as a first line of defense against malware, organizations must always be prepared for the possibility of a successful attack. As massive data growth expands the attack surface, having a robust data protection and backup strategy is essential to ensure your data assets remain secure, protected, and recoverable.”

UPDATE: I have received additional comments on World Backup Day

Stephen Bacon, Vice President, Data Protection and Cyber Resilience, HPE  

World Backup Day is an annual reminder to protect your data and, with that, your customers, your employees, and your organization. While the heritage of the day is backup, there is far more to data protection these days to address new threats, new workloads, and new regulations around the world. It is also about cyber resilience, rapid recovery from backup, and seamless disaster recovery to keep data safe and organizations operational no matter what. 

This year, let World Backup Day serve as a crucial reminder that backup alone is no longer enough. Organizations need a comprehensive, multi-layered approach that spans from edge to cloud and source to target, including storage array-level ransomware protection, cyber vaulting, and disaster recovery everywhere your critical workloads run. 

Chris Girard, Sr. Director of Product Management, VDURA 

Today, on World Backup Day, we recognize the evolving landscape of data storage infrastructure within HPC. The industry’s shift toward complex computational tasks and AI-driven innovation necessitates advanced approaches to data storage. 

In HPC, efficient checkpointing is critical—allowing for immediate recovery and minimizing downtime during intensive computations. Equally critical in AI development, the primary form of backup begins at the model checkpoint, which must support frequent, rapid saves to avoid data loss and facilitate smooth model iteration. Prioritizing instant recovery minimizes downtime for clusters engaged in training next-generation AI, and these solutions expand to support the growth of AI development environments. 

As AI continues to redefine the future, we must recognize the importance of speed of saving and retrieving data, and data resilience, keeping data available and durable for AI modeling. 

Bruce Kornfeld, Chief Product Officer at StorMagic  

“One debate we’re currently seeing in the backup industry is agent-based versus agentless backup. In recent years agentless backup has become more popular, especially for virtual environments, because it doesn’t require backup agent software to be installed on each virtual server. With more complex environments than ever before, having agents on each VM can add administrative overhead to an IT department (the need to keep all of the agents updated). The biggest players in virtualization software – VMware, Microsoft, Nutanix – have all worked with many of the backup software providers over the years to develop custom integrations for agentless backup. It’s become the norm.   

“However, Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware nearly 18 months ago has led many customers to rethink their virtualization strategy and consider alternative hypervisors that deliver the capability they need but are much more cost-effective than staying with VMware. But moving to a virtualization solution outside of these “big 3” means considering a more open, agent-based approach to backup. The backup software providers don’t have the resources to work with alternative hypervisor providers to do the custom engineering work needed to for agentless backup integration.  

So what should IT departments do that want to save money and move off of VMware? They simply shift to an agent-based approach. This is how backup has been done for decades and, crucially, will work with any hypervisor. All backup software providers have agents available that typically deliver the same functionality as agentless for the same cost, making it a very valuable alternative with the flexibility and ROI that today’s businesses require.”