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Zain Ul Abdeen
Zain Ul Abdeen

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🚀 Why You Should Keep Multiple Backups of Your Code (Don’t Rely Only on GitHub)

#github #developer #programming #beginners

🔒 Don’t Let a GitHub Suspension Kill Your Projects – Keep Multiple Backups of Your Code

Recently, my GitHub account was suspended. My projects, all my repos, and every commit were gone in a second.

That’s when it hit me: as developers, we trust GitHub (or any single platform) way too much. If your account gets suspended, hacked, or if the platform goes down, all your hard work could vanish.

This is a practical guide on how to keep multiple copies of your code in different places—the way professionals do.

🚨 Why Multiple Backups Matter for Devs

  • Suspension risk – Platforms like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket can suspend accounts.
  • Outages happen – Even the biggest platforms can go down.
  • Hacks and data loss – Security breaches or accidental deletions happen.
  • Peace of mind – Having multiple copies means you’ll never lose your code.

Think of it like this:

Code is the heart of your dev journey—don't keep it in just one box.

🔹 1. Push to Multiple Git Remotes

Git makes this easy: you can push to more than one host.

Example: Same Repo, Different Remotes 

# Clone your repo
git clone https://github.com/username/myproject.git
cd myproject

# Add GitLab as another remote
git remote add gitlab https://gitlab.com/username/myproject.git
git push --all gitlab

# Add Bitbucket too
git remote add bitbucket https://bitbucket.org/username/myproject.git
git push --all bitbucket
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Now your code lives on GitHub + GitLab + Bitbucket. If one fails, the others have your back.

🔹 2. Mirror Clone for Local Backups

A normal clone isn’t enough. Use a mirror clone to grab everything: branches, tags, and refs.

git clone --mirror https://github.com/username/myproject.git
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This gives you a perfect local copy. Keep it on your machine or an external drive for an extra layer of protection.

🔹 3. Cloud Storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive)

This method isn’t fancy, but it is reliable. Just zip your project and upload it to the cloud.

zip -r myproject-backup.zip myproject/
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Upload that .zip to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Mega.

🔑 Pro tip: Automate this process so you don’t forget to do it.

🔹 4. Self-Host Your Git

Want total control? Run your own Git server.

  • Gitea → a lightweight, simple GitHub alternative
  • GitLab CE → a full GitHub-like experience

This is a perfect option if you have a home server, a VPS, or just like being independent.

🔹 5. Automate Backups with a Script

Doing this by hand is painful. It’s better to automate it.

Example: Bash Script (Linux/Mac) 

#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_DIR="$HOME/git-backups"
DATE=$(date +%F)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR/$DATE"

repos=(
  "https://github.com/username/repo1.git"
  "https://github.com/username/repo2.git"
)

for repo in "${repos[@]}"; do
  name=$(basename "$repo" .git)
  git clone --mirror "$repo" "$BACKUP_DIR/$DATE/$name"
done

cd "$BACKUP_DIR"
zip -r "git-backup-$DATE.zip" "$DATE"
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Run it with cron (Linux/Mac) or Task Scheduler (Windows).

🔹 6. Automate Backups with PowerShell (Windows)

For Windows devs, here’s a PowerShell script that mirrors your repos and zips them.

# Git Backup Script for Windows
$backupDir = "$HOME\git-backups"
$date = Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd"
$todayDir = Join-Path $backupDir $date

# Create backup folder
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $todayDir | Out-Null

# List of repos
$repos = @(
  "https://github.com/username/repo1.git",
  "https://github.com/username/repo2.git"
)

foreach ($repo in $repos) {
  $name = ($repo.Split("/")[-1]).Replace(".git", "")
  git clone --mirror $repo "$todayDir\$name"
}

# Create a zip archive
$zipFile = "$backupDir\git-backup-$date.zip"
Compress-Archive -Path $todayDir -DestinationPath $zipFile -Force
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Save it as backup.ps1 and run it manually, or schedule it with Task Scheduler for daily or weekly backups.

✅ Best Practices for Devs

  • Keep three copies minimum: a local machine copy, one on cloud storage, and one on another Git host.
  • Test restores—backups are useless if you can’t recover them.
  • Use SSH keys for smooth multi-remote pushes.
  • Automate—you should never rely on your memory for backups.

🎯 Final Thoughts

Your code is your craft. Losing it hurts—trust me, I learned the hard way.

Don’t put all your trust in one platform. Distribute, mirror, and back it up.

The next time GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket fails, you’ll smile and say:

“No worries, I’ve got backups.”

Over to you:

Where do you keep your backups? Do you trust GitHub 100%, or do you mirror to GitLab or Bitbucket too?

Top comments (3)

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a-k-0047 profile image
ak0047 •

Thank you for sharing this article.
I found it really helpful and practical.
Since I only use GitHub and don't have any backups elsewhere, I'll definitely try out some of these methods.

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zainulabdeenofficial profile image
Zain Ul Abdeen •

ur welcome sure

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syeo66 profile image
Red Ochsenbein (he/him) •

What I do is to add multiple pushurls to my origin remote. This way git push automatically pushes to all of them. Also take a look at soft-serve for a really lightweight git server.