Annual Review of Backup Intention
The important files have not been backed up. They should be backed up. The feeling of knowing they should be backed up is present. The backup has not occurred.
Year in review: backup intention. Period: Three years since last backup. Current backup state: 2021 snapshot. Files modified since backup: approximately 4,200. Files added since backup: approximately 1,100. Files that would be lost if the current device failed: approximately 5,300. Backups performed this year: zero. Backup intentions formed this year: approximately forty.
The Gap
The gap between intention and action is the entire analysis. The intention is genuine, recurrent, and easily activated. The action has not followed from any of the forty intentions.
The gap has a cause: performing a backup requires four steps (connect drive, open backup software, select files, run backup) that together take approximately twenty minutes. Twenty minutes is available. Twenty minutes has not been allocated to this task.
The Near-Misses
Three occasions this year produced conditions close to backup execution:
Occasion 1 (March): Drive found while looking for something else. Considered running backup. Did not run it. Returned drive to drawer.
Occasion 2 (June): Computer ran unusually slowly. Backup was thought of as something to do after diagnosing the slowness. Slowness resolved. Backup forgotten.
Occasion 3 (August): A colleague's computer failure mentioned in conversation. Backup came to mind strongly. Not executed.
The Risk
The risk is known. An unbackup failure would affect: three years of work documents, photographs since 2021, creative projects, and personal records. The consequence of a failure would be significant.
The Status
The drive is in the drawer. The intention is present. The action requires the next twenty minutes to be available and the backup to be the first thought.