← Back to course
Inside the Machine G3 to G5 / Week 11 / Wednesday
3/6
Week 11 · Keeping information safe

Wednesday

Backups: a second copy
// Locks, copies and tricky messages
⏱ about 15 min

Wednesday: Backups: a second copy

A neighbor arrives holding a tablet with a cracked, dark screen. "All my drawings were on it," they say quietly. Rocket looks worried. "Are they gone forever?"

Raven asks gently, "What do you notice about where the drawings were saved? Were they only here?"

Nova glows a warm amber. "Would you like a hint? One copy is a wish. Two copies in two places is a plan."

What a backup is

A backup is a second copy of your files, kept in a different place. If the first copy is lost, the second one is still safe.

Devices break. They get dropped, wet or lost. Storage can fail with no warning. A backup means the files live on.

The important words are different place. Two copies on the same device are not a backup. If the device dies, both copies die.

Where backups live

A backup can go on another drive at home. A grown-up plugs it in, copies the files, and unplugs it.

A backup can also go to another computer far away through the internet. People call this the cloud. It is really a big building full of computers.

Some devices back up on their own every night. A grown-up turns that on. You can check that it happened.

Where the copy isIs it a backup?Why
Same tablet, second folderNoSame device, same risk
A drive a grown-up keeps in a drawerYesDifferent place
A far-away computer through the internetYesDifferent place
Only in your memoryNoNot a copy at all
BACKUP OR NOT?
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Your drawings are on a tablet and also on a drive in a drawer. Backup?
Your drawings are in two folders on the same tablet. Backup?
What is the cloud, really?

The backup habit

Technicians back up before anything risky. Before an update. Before moving files. Before handing a device to someone.

A good backup habit has three parts. Make the copy. Check the copy. Keep it somewhere else.

Checking matters. A backup that failed quietly is not a backup. Open one file from the copy to be sure.

PUT THE BACKUP HABIT IN ORDER.
  • ?Pick the files that matter
  • ?A grown-up copies them to another place
  • ?Open one file from the copy to check it
  • ?Keep the copy somewhere else
WHY THIS EXERCISECopy, check, keep elsewhere. Skipping the check is how backups fail quietly.
StatementTrue or false?
Two copies on one device make a backup.?
A backup is kept in a different place.?
You should check a backup by opening one file.?
The cloud is water in the sky.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEA backup only helps if it is somewhere else and it really worked.

What should you back up? Start with the things you made. Drawings, stories, photos and school projects.

Apps do not need a backup. They can be installed again. Your own work cannot be downloaded twice.

WORTH BACKING UP?
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Which needs a backup most?
When is a good time to back up?
A backup is a second copy kept in a different what? One word.
WHY THIS EXERCISEA different place is what protects the copy when the first device fails.
Safety first
A grown-up plugs in and unplugs any backup drive.
A kid can choose the files and check the copy afterward.
Try it
Pick three files or drawings at home that matter to you.
Ask a grown-up where a copy of them lives, or could live.
Say whether that place counts as a backup, and why.

Excellent! The neighbor had a cloud backup, and the drawings were safe. Tomorrow you meet the sneakiest problem in the bay: tricky messages.

← Tuesday