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

[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.