Regularly backing up one's computer hard drive is the sort of thing most people know they should do, but don't do until they learn the hard way how painful it is to lose everything on their machine.
I'm sort of in that category. As a digital business I knew I needed to have a backup of my hard drive, but I was too cheap to do it right. So I manually did backups whenever I remembered and I tried to do it weekly, or at least monthly.
And then my computer picked up a virus. I lost a month of work from the resulting reboot. My computer had to be completely wiped and rebuilt. Most of that process was easy enough, if a pain in the ass. But a month's worth of work was a lot of wasted time and some of what I lost wasn't worth re-doing (financially) but was a disappointment to lose nonetheless.
Lesson learned. These days, even losing a single days worth of work would be unacceptable. It would just be so annoying to have to go back and do it all over again. And some things might not be replaceable.
Luckily backups have become easier and cheaper than ever making it inexcusable to put it off or to do it right.
There are so many ways to achieve a full backup of your hard drive and many services or tools to choose from. The topic of backups is huge, overwhelming and can seem a lot more complicated than it needs to be.
My approach and advice here is meant for tech nervous newbies who just want the job done without incurring a migraine in the process!
First, it is highly recommended to have two backup systems. A local backup and a remote backup.
Local - this is a backup that is right there with you, physically, in your home. I recommend plugging in an external drive (size will be dependent on your needs, but 2-4TB is the average). Then just use your computer's built in auto backup software or choose to install something that will backup your entire computer to that external drive on an automated schedule. Usually this will include a time sequence of backups, so you can go back to a previous backup a month ago to retrieve lost files which is super helpful.
This doesn't need to be complicated, just plug a USB drive of sufficient size into your computer and setup the backup software. Most computers come with this as standard and it is not complicated.
It's super important though that you periodically check the local backup process is actually working. Never take for granted that it will work, and continue to work, unchecked!
If you are using a laptop this can be a bit more challenging because you'll need to setup a routine to plug everything in on a regular basis in order to run that backup. But if that's your main computer and you have important files/photos on it imagine losing the whole lot.
An alternative many people are using instead of a local backup drive is to keep everything stored in a cloud service like google docs or dropbox. However, these aren't backup services, they are file sharing services and so they don't offer quite the same level of security and protection.
Local backups are great for file retrieval if your computer goes down or gets replaced. But it doesn't solve the problem of theft from burglary, your house burning down, flattened or flooded or if you've been evacuated and couldn't grab that drive on the way out.
That's where remote backup becomes critical. If you have a digital business like mine this should be viewed the same as an insurance policy. You're protecting your hard work just in case something awful happens.
I prefer cloud backup solutions that are fully automated and I can just set it and leave it. I also like it to be affordable and flexible for making changes.
There are quite a few choices out there, and you should pick whichever one you feel is best for you, but I've been using Backblaze for years now and I can highly recommend them. Their pricing starts at just $7 a month and their services are some of the best.
With an automated service you just setup the backup details for your hard drive and everything happens in the background without you having to do anything except leave your computer switched on long enough for backups to happen.
If you want to try Backblaze my referral link gets you one month free when you sign up.
Thankfully I've never had to get a full backup from them but they offer two ways to retrieve your full backup - via download over an internet connection, or they post a refundable drive to you. You can also choose an option to retrieve individual files which is awesome if you're traveling and need to access something.
I live in a region where wildfire threat is a constant worry so the peace of mind remote backups give me is absolutely necessary, and as a business it's a tax deduction anyway.
I will never lose another file ever again!
Safe computing
Shawnna
FREE WOMAN CHARACTER CLIPART
This is Sage, one of the stock character designs in my shop, available here in 4 sample variations. Dressed in pretty pink tank top and jeans holding open planner journal, great for teachers, students or organization aficionados. You can find more versions of this design in my shop!
It's 30 Days of Freebies all month long! Get this set of girly character graphics, sized at 12" tall and 300 dpi. Perfect for so many projects! Use them in scrapbooking, digital crafts, branding and marketing or create physical goods to sell in your small business.
SMALL BUSINESS COMMERCIAL LICENSE - terms of use
Lovelytocu is a graphic design supply shop specializing in cute girly
character clip art. Our pre-made designs are ready to use and the
perfect addition to your small business branding and marketing, social
posts or creative projects with a diverse range of character styles.
Shop the current collection at www.lovelytocu.com and be sure to check out our current offers.
Shawnna
FREE WOMAN CHARACTER CLIPART
This is Holly, one of the stock character designs in my shop, available here in 4 sample variations. Dressed in t-shirt and jeans holding takeout coffee and planner journal book. You can find more versions of this design in my shop!
It's 30 Days of Freebies all month long! Get this set of girly character graphics, sized at 12" tall and 300 dpi. Perfect for so many projects! Use them in scrapbooking, digital crafts, branding and marketing or create physical goods to sell in your small business.
SMALL BUSINESS COMMERCIAL LICENSE - terms of use
Lovelytocu is a graphic design supply shop specializing in cute girly
character clip art. Our pre-made designs are ready to use and the
perfect addition to your small business branding and marketing, social
posts or creative projects with a diverse range of character styles.
Shop the current collection at www.lovelytocu.com and be sure to check out our current offers.
Shawnna
Everyone loves freebies, right? I mean, who doesn't!! The thing is, there are legit freebies, offered by very generous creatives as a way to promote their work (just like me on this blog!).
And then there are stolen freebies. These freebies may seem 'free' because you are not paying for them, but the person giving them away doesn't have the right to do so, is violating copyright law with their actions and in the process is causing harm to the actual creators of that work.
You'll often find these in Facebook groups as phone dumps or mega bundles - beware of these as often these contain trademark and copyright protected stuff and/or are being distributed without permission.
I don't want to get all lecture-y on you, but there's just one word for that kind of behavior - Greed.
And it's totally unnecessary because there are soooo many places you can get totally free totally legit SVG files, often with commercial use allowed, and you won't receive a take-down notice for using it!
Cutting machine crafts are super huge right now, making SVG crafting files extra popular and thankfully very abundant - they are virtually everywhere! So here is my list of the best places to get free cutting machine files, either completely free, or nearly free.
1. Craft Bundles - this site has a huge selection for every occasion.
2. Design Bundles - subscribe to their email for weekly freebies
3. LoveSVG - free for personal use only
3. The Navage Patch - access granted when you join their newsletter
4. Designs By Winther - loads of designs to choose from
5. Dreaming Tree - huge selection of 3D paper cut files
6. Printable Cuttable Creatables - a nice selection of original designs
7. Creative Fabrica - freebies can be time sensitive
8. Poofy Cheeks - a small selection of cute designs
9. Free SVG Designs - free for personal use with over 1000 design
10. Designer Printables - free SVGs and more
11. Maggie Rose Design Co.- free files and tutorials
12. Craftables - they sell vinyl cutting supplies but also have free SVG files
13. Gina C Creates - craft blog with loads of freebies
14. Kara Creates - another craft blog with more great freebies
15. Cut That Design - not the easiest site to browse but nice designs
16. Hey Let's Make Stuff - lots of cute quotes and monograms
16. The Girl Creative - cute and seasonal quote files
17. SVG and Me - another blog with tutorials and freebies
18. Caluya Design - freebies, $1 SVGs and well priced bundles
19. SVG Cuts - loads of free craft files
20. Burton Avenue - password protected, sign up to the email list
21. Designs by Miss Mandee - gorgeous freebies for 3D paper crafters
22. Pineapple Paper Co - free SVGs and printables
23. Cutting For Business - all types of quote files
24. My Designs In The Chaos - fun craft projects and files
25. Bird’s Cards - specializing in paper greeting cards and 3D paper crafts
26. Monica’s Creative Room - more freebies for paper crafters
27. Jennifer Maker - for paper and vinyl crafters, a little of everything in here
28. Happy Crafters - variety of freebies, focusing on vinyl crafts
29. So Fontsy - a marketplace with free files and $1 designs
30. Vexels - has both freebies and premium content
31. Crafts with Sarah - layered paper cut crafts and tutorials
32. the Design Store - from Silhouette themselves, loads of free files
33. Craft House SVG - free individual files and great deals on bundles
34. Kimber Dawn & Co - blog site with some fun free svg files
35. Free Pretty Things for You - free digital resources of all types
36. Michaels - the store... yes, they do free files as well!
37. Simply Crafty SVGs - more paper cut crafts and 3D paper crafting
38. Love Paper Crafts - card making and hand lettering blog, with freebies
39. 100 Directions - craft blog with free svg files alongside tutorials
40. Crafting in the Rain - another craft blog with original free SVGs
41. Everyday Party Mag - a party blog with hostess inspired SVGs
42. Artsy Fartsy Mama - craft blog with free cut files
43. Happiness is Homemade - craft blog with free cutting files
44. I Should be Mopping the Floor - craft blog with free SVG files
45. Liz on Call - craft blog with free SVG files
46. Persia Lou - fun and cute original craft files
47. See Lindsay - craft blog with cute free cut file
48. Sweet Red Poppy - layered paper crafts and more
49. That's What Che Said - craft blog with free cutting file crafts
50. The Craft Patch - one last craft blog with free SVG files on offer
As you can see, this is a pretty big list of resources for free SVG files! And if you keep looking, there are many many more (feel free to add your own links in the comments).
As with any site, always check the terms of use and comply with all licensing conditions, not only is it the law, but it's just good citizenry.
Happy Crafting!
Shawnna
PIN ME
FREE WOMAN CHARACTER CLIPART
This is Eliza, one of the stock character designs in my shop, available here in 4 sample variations. Dressed in casual t-shirt, cat vest and jeans, holding closed laptop and waving. Great for teacher, student and cat lovers. You can find more versions of this design in my shop!
It's 30 Days of Freebies all month long! Get this set of girly character graphics, sized at 12" tall and 300 dpi. Perfect for so many projects! Use them in scrapbooking, digital crafts, branding and marketing or create physical goods to sell in your small business.
SMALL BUSINESS COMMERCIAL LICENSE - terms of use
Lovelytocu is a graphic design supply shop specializing in cute girly
character clip art. Our pre-made designs are ready to use and the
perfect addition to your small business branding and marketing, social
posts or creative projects with a diverse range of character styles.
Shop the current collection at www.lovelytocu.com and be sure to check out our current offers.
Get creative!
Shawnna