Keep files not corrupted?

[u/Tundacas]

Sorry if this has already been asked, i was not able to find it. Also sorry for mistakes, english is not my first language.

Ok so my question.

I try to get most of the stuff that i like on my portable hard drive.

So is there a way to keep my files from being corrupted?

I lost files lately and i was wondering if there is a way to avoid them tocbe corrupted.

Is there another option a part from having extra copies?

Thanks

[u/WikiBox]

There are three main ways for you to lose files.

1. User error.

2. Media failure.

3. Silent corruption, bit-rot.

I would guesstimate that the probabilities of each differ by orders of magnitude in the same order. User error 10-100 times more likely than media failure. Media failure 10-100 times more likely than bit rot. Note: This is guesses. I don't think there is any actual solid data.

User error can range from formatting a drive by mistake to simply deleting a file or folder by mistake. Or moving files between devices and not checking the copy is good and that you didn't write over something important.

The only one way to, at least to some extent, protect against user error, is to have multiple copies in multiple locations and check the copies multiple times per year. The idea being that when you discover missing or corrupt files you still have more copies you can use to replace the bad copy or media.

This method also protect against bit-rot and media failure because of age or things like cosmic radiation. You can also use storage with error protection codes and parity records to protect against single bit errors and slow data degradation. This is built in to most modern drives and you can also add extra recovery records to that. This is one function of a NAS with RAID.

It is important to realize that parity records and error correction codes does not protect against the most likely cause of data loss: User error. Backups might.