I was wondering if any of the computer whiz kids could offer me some advice about how best to back up and maintain a back up of my computer files. I don't have anything of great value and of great size, a few gigabytes, we aren't talking Terrabytes. Mainly photo's but also various files and documents.
It is something I have for a long time neglected and a recent issue with my iPad which caused me to lose a lot of photos which I had on there but not backed up has made me finally get my act together.
Having spoken to a few people it has so far fallen into 3 camps:
1. Like me they don't bother.
2. They have an external hard drive attached to their PC and once in a while they transfer over their files by dragging and dropping. This seems quite an inefficient way of doing it. As they do all of them each time.
3. Having an external Hard Drive attached to their PC and it automatically backs up on a schedule but they didn't really know much about it as it was part of the package they bought.
I would much sooner something that backed up on a schedule in the back ground but wouldn't keeping an external hard drive attached leave you open to risk on both the PC's hard drive and the external hard drive being affect by a virus at the same time defeating the object.
I could do it myself say monthly by attaching an External Hard Drive and then once it is complete removing it and storing it at another house for added security.
I currently use Dropbox for quite a bit of stuff which I need to access in different places and work on with various people which is an excellent service, I only use the free version.
So I thought I would look for some advice as to what would be a good solution.
Idea please...TIA.
Computer Back Up Advice
I use dropbox, but everything gets backed up to www.crashplan.com
you can use a raid 1 controller and 2 hdd. And your data will be written identically to two hdds at the same time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1E7ur0PS5k
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1E7ur0PS5k
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steven1976
- Posts: 1744
- Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2010 6:28 am
I also use Dropbox and find it good. I got 50gig free for some reason when I bought my phone and connected my phone to it. Its only a few quid a month anyway. I use to use google drive but always had sync problems with that one as it use to make duplicates of files every time I edited a file which was a pain.
I use SquirrelSave. This backs up all files in the "Cloud". It's easy to set up, but the initial save takes some time. After that backup is automatic. Also you can retrieve files how they existed hours/days/months ago. That has proved useful only this morning. There is a subscription of around £5 per month - but it gives great peace of mind. Also you can use it on more than one machine for the same subscription - if you take care on the initial setup parameters.
I got a couple of lacie 1TB drives and created a RAID set and I use the Timemachine function in Mac OS X to back it up every hour..
Storage is quite cheap these days anyway, but its worth paying for as I have seen colleagues spend days getting their systems back up and running. Worth every penny
I know that if the very worst happened I could be back up and running in a couple of hours..
regards
Peter
(I nearly bought an SSD whilst I was over in the states last week..they seems cheaper that in the uk. I wish I had got one now after reading a couple of posts on here in the last few days..)
Storage is quite cheap these days anyway, but its worth paying for as I have seen colleagues spend days getting their systems back up and running. Worth every penny
I know that if the very worst happened I could be back up and running in a couple of hours..
regards
Peter
(I nearly bought an SSD whilst I was over in the states last week..they seems cheaper that in the uk. I wish I had got one now after reading a couple of posts on here in the last few days..)
I have been backing up my files (all My Docs) to a Lacie drive using their supplied software (automatic) for over 6 years.
Super, I thought, until I decided to delete some files and pics from my PC, leaving the Lacie HDD holding that data. What I didn't realise was that any HDD has a 6 year (average) life and the inevitable happened; yes the Lacie crashed. The files I deleted from my PC are no longer recoverable.
I don't trust the Cloud, so Now I have a dual HDD system (not a drive with dual HDD's) with 2 different makes of HDD drives.
Super, I thought, until I decided to delete some files and pics from my PC, leaving the Lacie HDD holding that data. What I didn't realise was that any HDD has a 6 year (average) life and the inevitable happened; yes the Lacie crashed. The files I deleted from my PC are no longer recoverable.
I don't trust the Cloud, so Now I have a dual HDD system (not a drive with dual HDD's) with 2 different makes of HDD drives.
hi Jim
Ive probably gone a bit over the top really Jim with mine, I have a RAID set (across separate physical drives) and then they are mirrored. If either disk fails then all I would need to do is push in a new disc (Seagate Barracuda in Lacie) and it would just rebuild on the fly.
The Mean time to Failure is specified as 750K hours, although I wouldn't bet it on lasting 85 years!. (Based on continual usage 8hrs a day on average (power on hours))
I have more capacity that I will need and use it for recording trading sessions etc
For a couple of hundred quid I know that I can restore everything and only lose 1hour of data max, which is really important for my normal day job.
Regards
Peter
Ive probably gone a bit over the top really Jim with mine, I have a RAID set (across separate physical drives) and then they are mirrored. If either disk fails then all I would need to do is push in a new disc (Seagate Barracuda in Lacie) and it would just rebuild on the fly.
The Mean time to Failure is specified as 750K hours, although I wouldn't bet it on lasting 85 years!. (Based on continual usage 8hrs a day on average (power on hours))
I have more capacity that I will need and use it for recording trading sessions etc
For a couple of hundred quid I know that I can restore everything and only lose 1hour of data max, which is really important for my normal day job.
Regards
Peter
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andyfuller
- Posts: 4619
- Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:23 pm
Thanks a lot for the various replies here, some excellent information and things to think about.
I do like the cloud, my only real experience is Dropbox but I do find it very useful for getting at and working on files when not at home. I hadn't heard of the other providers suggested so will have to look into them more. I doubt I would need any where near the full amount of storage space that is offered by these services so may look to split the account with family and share the cost.
I also like the idea of the RAID set up but I don't know anything about it so will have to have a read up on it and see if it is something I can set up on my own. Could anyone tell me how difficult it is to setup? Something a beginner could do with a bit of help from Google and Youtube?
One thing is very clear though, I need to sort something out as it just isn't worth the risk.
Thanks again for the information, very much appreciated and any other suggestions/pointers most welcome.
I do like the cloud, my only real experience is Dropbox but I do find it very useful for getting at and working on files when not at home. I hadn't heard of the other providers suggested so will have to look into them more. I doubt I would need any where near the full amount of storage space that is offered by these services so may look to split the account with family and share the cost.
I also like the idea of the RAID set up but I don't know anything about it so will have to have a read up on it and see if it is something I can set up on my own. Could anyone tell me how difficult it is to setup? Something a beginner could do with a bit of help from Google and Youtube?
One thing is very clear though, I need to sort something out as it just isn't worth the risk.
Thanks again for the information, very much appreciated and any other suggestions/pointers most welcome.
As you mentioned the cloud, Flickr is worthwhile looking at for your photos and videos. 1000 GB storage free.
I don't really trust hard drives. After 3 years it's too much of a lottery when they will die... I usually replace every 3 years, because almost every notebook I used had the HD die in year 4.
Although the SSD's do seem to offer hope for longer lifespans at present their capacity is the problem so they are rather expensive per GB compared to traditional hard disks. Another advantage of SSD's is because they don't have moving parts they are silent. Really nice to eliminate all that whirring and clicking that you are used to if you have a traditional hard disk.
I don't really trust hard drives. After 3 years it's too much of a lottery when they will die... I usually replace every 3 years, because almost every notebook I used had the HD die in year 4.
Although the SSD's do seem to offer hope for longer lifespans at present their capacity is the problem so they are rather expensive per GB compared to traditional hard disks. Another advantage of SSD's is because they don't have moving parts they are silent. Really nice to eliminate all that whirring and clicking that you are used to if you have a traditional hard disk.
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spreadbetting
- Posts: 3140
- Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:06 pm
RAID's not that difficult to set up but probably not what you're looking for as it's really more of a short term backup to protect data upon hardware failure of a drive dying etc. In simple terms it's just writing a copy of the data to 2 or 3 extra disks so probably not the type of backup you're looking for , you download a virus and it'd be written to all disks. Probably better off looking at software and external drive options where you back up on a regular basis alternating between a couple of external drives.
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andyfuller
- Posts: 4619
- Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:23 pm
Thanks for the replies.
Thanks for how you have described RAID. I am much clearer about it now and agree it isn't really suitable for what I am wanting to achieve but I do think it has a place in my system so I think I will explore it further as it seems Hard Drives are liable to fail, touch wood I haven't ever experienced this to date. But should I, I would be very annoyed.
Thanks also for the Flickr suggestion, it had never crossed my mind to use that service.
I have a SSD at the moment and really like the speed of it and the lack of noise but the speed is the main thing as I tend to have my Bose Noise Cancelling headphones on most of the time listening to music so noise is less of an issue.
It is great to click and it load instantly and to be able to copy files at speed. The downside is it makes other computers seem so slow!
Thanks for how you have described RAID. I am much clearer about it now and agree it isn't really suitable for what I am wanting to achieve but I do think it has a place in my system so I think I will explore it further as it seems Hard Drives are liable to fail, touch wood I haven't ever experienced this to date. But should I, I would be very annoyed.
Thanks also for the Flickr suggestion, it had never crossed my mind to use that service.
I have a SSD at the moment and really like the speed of it and the lack of noise but the speed is the main thing as I tend to have my Bose Noise Cancelling headphones on most of the time listening to music so noise is less of an issue.
It is great to click and it load instantly and to be able to copy files at speed. The downside is it makes other computers seem so slow!
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marksmeets302
- Posts: 527
- Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:37 pm
I'm really paranoid when it comes to data, but a while back I thought I wasn't paranoid enough. I have all of my data on a raid-6 nas with 10 disks inside, for 30TB of storage. Raid-6 means that 2 disks can fail at the same time without causing problems. Just replace the disks, you don't even need to reboot the machine. The most important data is backed up to another nas, also raid-6. This nas is itself backed up by a similar one at a different location. You would think nothing can happen with this kind of setup.
But... a couple of months ago I had to move both backup machines physically to another spot. Powered the first one down, but it didn't come up again. Probably something with the power supply. I thought I'd look at it at a later time, hoping maybe after a bit of cooling off it would start again. Went to the other location, powered that machine off as well. Same thing, it wouldn't start again. Since both machines were used for backup purposes only there really wasn't an immediate problem but it got me thinking. What are the chances of this happening? It turns out that if you have two machines, harddisks or whatever that are manufactured in the same batch chances are they will stop working at the same time. I bought these machines at the same time.
My advice: don't buy your computer stuff all at once.
Another piece of advice: it's much cheaper to use an online backup plan. If you're concerned about privacy, encrypt first before you backup. Don't trust the company's words about their encryption. As long as they have the keys they can basically do anything.
But... a couple of months ago I had to move both backup machines physically to another spot. Powered the first one down, but it didn't come up again. Probably something with the power supply. I thought I'd look at it at a later time, hoping maybe after a bit of cooling off it would start again. Went to the other location, powered that machine off as well. Same thing, it wouldn't start again. Since both machines were used for backup purposes only there really wasn't an immediate problem but it got me thinking. What are the chances of this happening? It turns out that if you have two machines, harddisks or whatever that are manufactured in the same batch chances are they will stop working at the same time. I bought these machines at the same time.
My advice: don't buy your computer stuff all at once.
Another piece of advice: it's much cheaper to use an online backup plan. If you're concerned about privacy, encrypt first before you backup. Don't trust the company's words about their encryption. As long as they have the keys they can basically do anything.
Mark,
I used to be an engineer (early 90's) and when we did full data center moves, we would always bring spares parts (inc power supplies, disks etc).
In them days, it was very common for the heads/spindles to stick, I would have thought it less common these days, but there you go!
Andy - It was a piece of cake setting the raid up. I knew what I wanted to do and the in build utility in MAC OS made it a piece of cake. It just asked a series of questions and went away and did its thing. I expect your running on windows so not sure how easy is it? I would have though it was menu driven via GUI's ?
Regards
Peter
I used to be an engineer (early 90's) and when we did full data center moves, we would always bring spares parts (inc power supplies, disks etc).
In them days, it was very common for the heads/spindles to stick, I would have thought it less common these days, but there you go!
Andy - It was a piece of cake setting the raid up. I knew what I wanted to do and the in build utility in MAC OS made it a piece of cake. It just asked a series of questions and went away and did its thing. I expect your running on windows so not sure how easy is it? I would have though it was menu driven via GUI's ?
Regards
Peter
Personally I would NEVER use an online backup solution for ANY of my data. If you want to keep it your own, keep it to yourself. As soon as you use an online solution you may as well assume that your data as some point in time will 'be lost' and find itself into the public domain.