Can you backup your music?
Backing up your music collection is one of the most important things you can do as a music lover. With music being entirely digital these days, it’s very easy to permanently lose your entire music library if your computer crashes or your external hard drive dies. According to Computer Backup Strategies For Musicians & Producers, it’s not a question of if you will have a storage failure, but when. Having a backup of your music can prevent catastrophic data loss in the event of a hardware failure or accidental deletion. In this guide, we’ll explore why it’s critical to backup your music, different methods you can use, and tips for restoring your collection if disaster strikes.
Reasons to Backup Your Music
Here are some of the most common reasons why it’s important to backup your music collection:
Hardware failure – Hard drives can fail unexpectedly, leading to permanent data loss if you don’t have a backup. According to a Backblaze study, over 80% of hard drives fail within 6 years.
Accidental deletion – It’s easy to accidentally delete files or even entire music libraries. Having a backup ensures you can restore anything that gets deleted.
Theft or loss – If your device containing your music collection is lost, damaged or stolen, you could lose your files forever without a backup.
Formatting drives – Formatting or erasing a drive will wipe out all data, including music files. Backing up music libraries prior to formatting ensures the files can be restored.
Overall, unforeseen technical issues, human error, theft, and hardware failure can all lead to losing your music library permanently. Maintaining backups mitigates this risk and provides peace of mind that your files can be recovered.
Choosing a Backup Destination
When backing up your music library, you’ll need to choose where to store your files. Some popular options include:
External Hard Drives
External hard drives that connect via USB provide a simple way to backup files locally. They come in a range of storage capacities to handle even large music libraries. Portable external drives allow you to physically disconnect the drive and store it safely offsite after backing up your files. According to Webroot, external hard drives are one of the most popular options for backing up music files.
Cloud Storage
Services like Dropbox, Google Drive, pCloud and iDrive allow you to backup files to the cloud. This provides an offsite backup and makes it easy to access your music from different devices. Cloud storage services require an internet connection and provide varying amounts of free and paid storage. With paid plans, you can usually get enough space to backup even large music libraries.
NAS Devices
Network-attached storage (NAS) devices let you setup your own centralized, local backup destination. While more complex to setup than external drives, NAS devices make automated backups easy and provide redundancy if one drive fails. Many also allow remote access so you can get to your music when away from home.
Backup Software Options
There are several options for backup software you can use to backup your music, including:
iTunes
iTunes allows you to backup your music library and playlists to an external drive or cloud storage. This makes it easy to restore your music if needed. iTunes backups include music files purchased from the iTunes store as well as songs you’ve added yourself.
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player has a built-in backup feature that lets you copy music files to an external drive, CD/DVD, or network location. This can be useful for creating a full backup of your music library that you can restore if needed. Windows Media Player will backup both music purchased through Microsoft’s store as well as your own music files.
Third Party Backup Software
There are many third party backup programs that offer advanced options for securing your music collection. Software like IDrive and Acronis True Image provide features like scheduled backups, versioning, backup verification, and encryption. These programs can backup your music to local drives, network storage, or cloud services.
Manual vs Automated Backups
Both manual and automated backups have their advantages and disadvantages when it comes to backing up your music library
Manual Backups
Pros:
– You have full control over when backups occur
– You decide exactly what gets backed up and what doesn’t
– Less reliance on technology/software
Cons:
– Forgetting to manually perform backups can lead to data loss
– More time consuming and tedious to regularly backup data yourself
– Higher chance of human error resulting in data not getting backed up properly or at all
Automated Backups
Pros:
– Backups occur automatically on a schedule you define
– Consistent backup routine reduces chances of data loss
– Less reliance on human interaction and memory
– Software can automate selective or incremental backups
Cons:
– Requires more initial setup and configuration
– Reliant on software functioning properly
– Less human oversight and control over backup contents
– Harder to intervene and troubleshoot automated issues
According to an Apple user forum (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6720633), automatic media backups are generally preferred for their set-it-and-forget-it convenience, capturing daily changes automatically. However, manual option allows for more selectivity and oversight if preferred.
Backup Frequency
Backup frequency indicates how often you perform backups. There are several recommended frequencies, depending on factors such as how often the data changes and how critical the data is:
- Daily: Daily backups are recommended for data that changes frequently. According to Proactive Info, important data should be backed up every 24 hours if possible.
- Weekly: Weekly backups are common practice for less critical data. Per Total IT, backing up important data once a week is the minimum recommended frequency.
- Monthly: For archival or less active data, monthly backups may be sufficient. They provide a snapshot in time for compliance or historical purposes.
Choosing the right frequency involves balancing how critical it is to have recent versions of the data versus how much change occurs. Most recommendations advise backing up important data at least weekly, if not daily.
What to Backup
When deciding what music to backup, you have two main options – your entire music library or specific playlists. Backing up your entire library ensures you have copies of all your music files and metadata. However, this takes more storage space and time. Backing up playlists allows you to select only your most important playlists to backup.
To backup your entire Apple Music library on Mac, you can go to File > Library > Export Library and export the library XML file. This contains all your music files and playlist data. On iPhone, you can use a third party app like iMazing to export your full Apple Music library. To backup playlists only, on Mac go to File > Library > Export Playlist and select the playlist. On iPhone, go to the playlist, tap the More button, and choose Export. This will export just that playlist’s contents.
The choice depends on your needs. If you want a full archive of your music, back up everything. If you just want to preserve certain playlists, backing those up may be sufficient. Overall, it’s recommended to do full library backups periodically for maximum protection.
File Formats to Use
When backing up your music collection, it’s important to choose a file format that preserves audio quality while balancing file size. The two main categories are lossless and lossy compression formats.
Lossless formats like FLAC, ALAC, WAV, and AIFF compress audio files without losing any information. According to the Top 10 Audio File Formats, lossless files “retain 100% of the original uncompressed audio.” This makes them ideal for archiving music collections while maintaining pristine quality.
Lossy formats like MP3 and AAC compress audio by permanently removing certain data. As The Best Audio Formats for Music explains, this allows much smaller file sizes but slightly reduces quality. Lossy formats may be preferable for portable devices with limited storage.
For backing up irreplaceable music libraries, lossless formats are recommended. FLAC and ALAC balance great quality with reasonably small file sizes. According to audiophiles on Reddit, FLAC is one of the best lossless formats in terms of quality and compatibility.
How to Restore Your Music from Backup
If you lose your music library, you may be able to restore it from a backup. There are a few ways to do this depending on where your backup is stored.
Restoring from an External Hard Drive
If you backed up your music to an external hard drive, connect the drive to your computer. Then use your backup software to locate the backup files and restore them. The steps vary by software, but generally there is an option to “restore from backup” that will walk you through the process. Your music library should repopulate in its original location once restored (Source).
Downloading from Cloud Storage
Services like iCloud and Google Drive let you backup your music library and access it from other devices. To restore your music, simply go to the cloud service from your computer and look for the music backup. You can then download the entire library to your computer. Be patient as downloading many GBs of music files can take time. Once finished, your music library will be restored.
Key Takeaways
Backing up your music collection is critical to ensure you don’t lose your music files due to hardware failure, accidental deletion, viruses, or other problems.
Choose an external hard drive or a cloud storage service like Google Drive or Dropbox as your backup destination. Secure both your primary library and your backup regularly.
Use backup software for automated scheduled backups, or do manual backups periodically. Back up high-quality original files, organize carefully, and be sure you know how to restore if needed.
By implementing a regular backup plan, you can safeguard your music collection so you always have access to your favorite songs and albums when you want to enjoy them.