Ask Dr. LJ: Computer Backup Edition

[mizarchivist]

The cobbler's children have no shoes and the archivist's files have no backup.

What system do you use to backup your computer files? I have the expectation to back up both mine and QE's. We both have a fair bit of music, he has videos, I have photos, and only a handfull of text-y documents.

Wex suggested Mozy.
QE wondered about Carbonite.

What say the peanut gallery?

Comments

[taura-g.livejournal.com]

A couple of my coworkers have had problems with Mozy. Backups not working or files being missed kind of issues.

I only know of 1 person who uses Carbonite and he loves it. (Well, actually I know quite a few others, but they are all employees of Carbonite and therefore not exactly impartial ;-)

[veek.livejournal.com]

Are you talking Windows? I use Time Machine on a Mac. I'm also thinking about SpiderOak to replace my use of DropBox; you can get 100GB there for $100/year, which isn't a bad price and is encrypted and everything.

[mizarchivist]

I'm in PC land

[caulay.livejournal.com]

I recommend a 2-way backup. Use some sort of on-line/cloud backup for your most critical stuff and get an external drive (1+ terabyte drives are below $100) for everything.

I'd also recommend a decent backup program to handle these things, just about any reputable one should be fine. Personally, I use Acronis True Image.

As for my personal use, I back up everything to the master file server when I remember to and I back that up to the external drive.

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

Also, I second the double backup suggestion. Ever since the Great Triple Hard Drive Crash of 2007, when desktop, laptop, and external drive died within a month and Great Was The Loss of Data, I have wanted that. Now I use Carbon Copy Cloner to make a perfect clone of my (OSX) hard drive to an external and I use Carbonite to backup my files (not a hard drive clone).

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

I'm using Carbonite. I like it quite a bit since it's automatic

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I'm just recently using Carbonite too. So far my only problem is that it doesn't backup music dring the free trial and thus hasn't seemed to figure out that I have now paid for it and it should be backing it up, dammit.

Other than that... I like it!

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

I think once you pay for it, you can go into settings and say MUSIC PLS!

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I have done that and it's spent a week "scheduled for backup" ::grumps::

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

*glares severely at Carbonite*

[mizarchivist]

Chances are I'll dive directly into paid and skip the trial with whatever I do, so hopefully that will not be a thing.

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

Fair point! Also, I have a sense from the documentation that Carbonite for Windows is actually a slightly superior thing to Carbonite for Mac...

[minkrose]

I use http://www.backupify.com/ for my online social media. I have a free account since they were doing an offer for those at some point in the past but I'd like to change that to a paid account in future (once I have a job or something) since I have a lot of stuff! It does Gmail, Google Calendar, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter... very handy. It only backs up your content, and they don't have Livejournal, though I've requested it.

Technically I'm using Dreamwidth as my LJ backup!


Other than that, I'm on a mac using time machine. That was part of why I got a mac, though all of my old laptop hard drives were on external HDs in the past, and all of those are on my 1.5 terrabyte drive (which I assembled, and cost about $150 total).
I do actually go through and use the old files sometimes, and none of them thus far have been corrupted. I also have some CD back-ups that are very old, but again, have worked long past their expected expiration. I've been lucky.

I'd REALLY like to back some things up to magnetic tape since that is by far the most durable option. However, despite having the tape drive and tapes, we don't have the piece that connects it to a computer, so we're stuck. I also can't decide what deserves that level of back up. Probably bank statements and tax forms, and maybe all my favorite pictures and schoolwork. A project for someday.

What I really should be doing is storing anything super important in a separate location, though technically, that's what Backupify is for those items.

Cool- this is a contender

[mizarchivist]

This sounds like a very good notion since otherwise I do not have my gmail backed up, unless I figure out how to download all that to my machine and then back it up with Carbonite or... something. I'd rather maintain it as-is.

Re: Cool- this is a contender

[minkrose]

Yay!

They've changed their pricing since I signed up (in some January but I can't recall if it was 2010 or 2011). I'm writing this out for anyone else reading who doesn't want to bother doing research (I'm assuming you already poked around, MizA). I've received great customer support from these people and I really like the service.

If you go here: http://www.backupify.com/socialmediabackup
You can get 1G of storage free, and it includes Gmail. My main gmail is over 2G, but I guess it depends on how much you store (and how much email you get). I've had my account since early 2004.

Otherwise, the google apps (including Gmail) back up is $3/month, 25G per user account. http://www.backupify.com/googleappsbackup

[catness.livejournal.com]

Urf. I second the idea of having a large disk at home for backing up everything, with reputable software that does things automatically for you from multiple machines, and also using some kind of offsite or "cloud" solution (if you're comfortable having your data out in the world*).

But I am the backup queen and my methods are not ANYBODY ELSE'S.

Right now I have two bootable duplicates of my laptop hard drive (500gb each), my 500gb Time Machine backup of it as well, extra copies on various smaller disks and on Dropbox of the data from that, another computer that I don't back up regularly (desktop usage of files that get copied from laptop), and 2 extra 500gb disks attached to the desktop that get backups from it.

I change probably 30-200 files a week on my computer, so backing up automatically, manually, and *constantly* is pretty much a defining characteristic of my life.

*FWIW, I am not a fan of storing music or movies in "the cloud". It's large, it's difficult and expensive to transfer, and what if someone decided to take it from you because you no longer had the right to own it? Forget about it. Also, I don't leave sensitive financial info in the cloud - I'll transfer files that way to my accountant or business partner(s), but then I delete it.

[catness.livejournal.com]

IN FACT I AM BACKING SOMETHING UP RIGHT NOW

You are the backup queen, you can do anything

[mizarchivist]

I do have some reservations with unreservedly putting stuff in The Cloud, but it seems the best solution for auto backup options that also cover the off-site scenario. Most of the stuff I want to back up is music followed by pictures.

flaily arms.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I have auto backups happening all the time through Carbonite, and every few weeks I also back up to an external drive. So far I haven't needed either, so I can't speak to how well they work! I have a MacBook.

[beah.livejournal.com]

I ditched Mozy because the software has been extremely unreliable for me. I did a bunch of research, and for backup of both local and mapped drives (I keep my music on a mapped drive, so it was relevant to me), SOS Online Backup is the best of breed, and about the same price as its competitors. It was easy to set up and so far has been 100% reliable. I recommend it.

[aristabulus.livejournal.com]

I may be swimming upstream, but I'm a firm believer in doing backups manually. I am wary of any do-it-for-you system that I have to trust completely with my data, strictly on technical concerns... nevermind the rash of client data breaches in the news lately. Things can go wrong in many ways, and if/when that happens to me, I'd rather shoulder the responsibility for the aftermath.

Big hard drives are super cheap these days; my regular newegg e-flyers have been showing a lot of 1TBs for 50 bucks, 1.5TB or 2TB for 70-80. (3.5" OEM) I know that my own data doesn't change often, and a few minutes once a week is often overkill... YMMV

[minkrose]

Yay newegg!

I got this and put it in this fifteen months ago, and it's still working great (though some of the recent reviews say they received dead drives). Plus, it was $140 total when I bought it, so it's a better deal now.

I only use it for back ups, and I haven't (knock on wood) had any issues.