**To make our second brain last a lifetime, we need to preserve it.** Just as we maintain our primary brain through learning, diet, and sleep, we shouldn't overlook the importance of maintaining our notes. A second brain is our tool to manage the emerging digital landscape. Taking care of it safeguards our primary brain from information overload by storing excessive data until future use, freeing our primary brain to focus on higher-level cognitive functions like critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. And from this experience, I learned the first step to doing so is backing up your notes. Obsidian Sync does already give you 1-year restoration timeframe for deleted files, but it seemed also the reason why my notes were deleted so I feel it's smart to seek further security. A common backup strategy is to do the 3-2-1 backup method: - Have 3 copies (including the original) - Store them in 2 different places (two devices/drives) - Keep 1 offsite (ex. in the cloud or in another physical location) Following this advice, I have a vault backup practice during my weekly reviews. First, I check my Obsidian Sync changes to make sure nothing important got deleted. I set the "File recovery" history length option to 8 days of backup so if something were to hypothetically be modified right after I did the weekly review I would still be able to retrieve it during the next one.  But sometimes, a note's content can randomly get replaced with the default note template. I think it might be related to syncing with a mobile device but I'm not entirely sure. To be cautious of this, I use a global search and replace app like VSCode to check whether any of my notes unexpectedly have characteristics that are part of the default note template. In mine, I have the Templater variable that lets you jump the cursor, which gets removed once I start typing in the note, so I can search for this to look for notes that were replaced with the template.  Then in VSCode, I exclude the folders that don't matter like the `.obsidian` folder and `My Templates` folder. Now I can search for it and see the results like so:  As for backing up the vault, my three copies are stored in: - Obsidian Sync which controls the version on my three devices (device one) - An external hard drive (device two) - Google Drive cloud storage (offsite) Now I rest easy knowing that for future mass deletions or crucial notes disappearing, I've preserved my second brain.