Computer 101:
Your hard drive is like a little file cabinet with your stuff in it.
The 'pros' of this technology: You can make exact copies. (No blurring, generational loss. No "almost" the same. Exact clone copies.)
The 'cons': Hard drives get worn out and fail - like brakes on your car - and any stuff on them disappears in an instant. Gone forever.
What you do:
Always keep a second "file cabinet" with copies of the same stuff.
An external hard drive that is.
At least a 2nd copy!! (At least 3 copies if you're serious.)
USB sticks are external hard drives. They're just more fragile. Good for quick file transfers. Bad choice for backup volumes.
There are cloning apps that clone your entire hard drive (including your OS install if it's a system drive). That's like making a copy of your whole resume instead of copying it one word at a time.
Finally, Reaper project files and any audio files you find or create yourself are standard files that you can just copy. You can either copy your project folder to another drive "manually" or run a clone app to backup everything nightly.
I recommend being just a little bit organized with your file system. Don't just throw everything into a drawer! (Like the users that keep all their files on the Desktop.) Organize your stuff just a little with folders like you might with a file cabinet. You CAN just throw everything in one spot willy nilly and use search features to find it later. Good way to lose stuff though.
Cloning is a good tool. "Manually" making backup copies of your stuff one thing at a time is a good way to miss something.
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