How to not panic when you lose your data on your device

So last week I lost a lot of data on my pendrive which I use as a back up. My first reaction was to panic. 

Wouldn't anyone ?!

After 10 minutes of whining and trying to pull my hair off I googled my problems and came up with a few solutions.

Recovery software

One common thing that every article online suggested is using Recovery software and believe me you're spoiled for choice. Some of them will only let you view the data unless you buy it but many like Recuva and zar are pretty good free software. I tried quite a few but these worked. Recuva recovered files and images I had deleted way back in 2010-11. Unfortunately for me, the files I wanted could not be viewed even after recovery

Overwritten files will not be valid after recovery

That's what the saddest part was. While recovery softwares do work, all files may not be recovered. It's 50-50 chance. I didn't get back the files I desperatley wanted. Apparently, they had been over-written. 

Back up, back up and more back up

I for one thing beleive that we rely on technology too much and forget that they're machines and anything can go wrong! I used only my pendrive as back up. It wasn't even secure! Ideally I should have had more back up. So you should have 2-3 back up options for your important files. And that's where comes cloud storage

Cloud networks

Cloud computing is not a new concept but cloud storage is. These days cloud networks like dropbox and google drive are available and one can easily back up files. It's as easy as registering and you have unlimited space. Well, dropbox initially gives you limited space and you have to
 upgrade/recommend to get more space which is annoying. Google drive gives you loads of space and if you have a google account (which they make sure we invariably do!) you can just log in from your account and access your drive.  It's a relatively new feature but I wish I had done it when I came to know about it. 

Emails

If you feel that storing all your files on a cloud network is too invasive (which I feel it is, even though it's very convenient.) you can email your docs and pics to yourself. It is ofcourse more time consuming than just dropping all your files on a drive but is a little more private than the clouds. Plus an extra back up option. After the catastrophe I feel one can't have enough back up!. 

One more thing I learned while trying to find out why my files got deleted was- Free anti virus does not give you full protection!

Believe it or not, you do need more protection.  Even safe sites can bring viruses. So invest some money and pay for an anti-virus! I had always downloaded anti virus after my authentic paid for one ended. Which apparently was a big big mistake. So now I actually bought anti virus. I am not taking any chances! (Yes, I am pretty paranoid. )

 So  what would you have done if you lost your data? And what back up options do you use?