Two Drives Save Your Data Forever | Generated by AI
Question: Do we need to use 2 portable disks to back up the same files, so that if one is lost we still have another copy?
Answer:
Yes — using two (or ideally three) separate drives is the standard and strongly recommended practice for anyone who actually cares about not losing their important files forever.
This follows the most widely accepted backup rule in 2025–2026:
3-2-1 backup rule (still considered best practice by almost all IT professionals, photographers, videographers, and serious home users):
- 3 copies of your data
- on 2 different types of media
- with 1 copy off-site / not at your home
Why one external drive is usually not enough
| Scenario | What happens if you only have 1 portable disk |
|---|---|
| Disk physically lost / stolen | All backups gone |
| Disk dropped → mechanical failure | All backups gone |
| Ransomware encrypts the disk | All backups gone |
| You accidentally format it | All backups gone |
| Drive dies of old age | All backups gone |
| House fire / flood / theft | Computer + only backup both destroyed |
Realistic minimum most people should aim for in 2026
| Level | Setup example | Protects against | Cost / effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bad (most common) | Only Mac internal + Time Machine to 1 HDD | Only accidental deletion / single file loss | Low |
| Minimum sane | Mac + two external drives (both get updated) | Disk failure, loss of one drive | Medium |
| Good / recommended | Mac + 2 externals + 1 cloud (Backblaze / iDrive) | Disk failure + house disaster + theft | Medium–High |
| Very good | Mac + 2 externals + NAS at home + cloud | Almost everything short of global catastrophe | High |
Practical ways people actually do “two portable disks”
- Two identical external HDDs/SSDs
- Copy important folder to Disk A today
- Copy same folder to Disk B next week/month
- Rotate which one you update
- One disk stays home, one stays elsewhere
- Disk 1 at home (updated frequently)
- Disk 2 at parents’/friend’s house / workplace / safe deposit box (updated every 1–6 months)
- One local + one cloud (most popular in 2026)
- External disk for fast local restore
- Backblaze / iDrive / pCloud / Google One for the off-site copy
Quick decision guide
- Family photos/videos/documents from past 10–20 years → yes, use at least two destinations
- Random movies/series you downloaded → one disk is usually fine (easy to re-download)
- Nothing you’d cry over if lost → one disk or even no backup is ok
Bottom line (2026 reality):
If the files matter to you at all, one portable disk is not a real backup — it’s just a second copy that can easily disappear together with your computer in the same event.
Two drives (or one drive + cloud) is the bare minimum sensible standard today.
References:
- None (standard backup best practices, widely discussed in tech communities)