Backing Up Computers
Anybody who hasn’t lost data with a computer crash – from email to book manuscripts – please raise their hand.
You there – in the back row – ahh, you’ve only been on the Net for a week now….
For the rest of us – here’s how I now guard against the loss of data. And yeah, I’ve lost more than I want to consider in a recent switch to the Apple system – and various hard drive failures or backup hard drive failures. (The last one was when I took my backup dual hard drive server in for repairs and they wiped the wrong damn disk but told me it was my fault because I was supposed to back up the hard drive before I gave it to them) Huh?
In any case. Here’s my current state of the union.
1) Macs have a wonderful little utility called “Time Machine”. It runs in the background and gives me regular backups automatically to a 1 Terrabyte hard drive that’s permanently connected and travels with me. I’m sure Win users have a similar system somewhere they can install. I note when traveling for more than a few days, this drive goes with me but before I leave home I always take a backup and leave it at home in a separate drive (yes, I have two separate drives for Time Machine. One does the regular job and the second gets used only when I leave home and it’s the emergency-emergency backup if all is lost/stolen on the road.
2) All images are stored on a dual drive RAID server (RAID essentially means that there are two drives and what I put on one is instantly copied to the other) This system ensures that if one drive goes down, the other drive contains all the information. (I just have to get that information to another drive before I take it in for service I now know but I won’t lose the data)
3) I have an Amazon AWS account where I’m storing my images and video clips. This is simple storage costing a few pennies a month and I’m slowly transferring all major files I no longer use (and master files) to this storage.
4) I’m increasingly using Evernote as an ongoing cloud storage system (cloud simply means up on the Net somewhere) that allows me to keep my daily notes, images, videos, pdfs etc on my laptop, my pda and accessible Net website. Password protected, it only costs me 45/year to store 500 mgs a month upload. I’m currently taking a course and the download videos are all now stored up there so I can access them with no issues.
While all this protection may sound like overkill to the average user (the Princess only uses Time Machine) for somebody who depends on their computer for anything more than chatting with family really wants to investigate good backups.
Once tricked – shame on the computer. Twice tricked – shame on me.
photo credit: geerlingguy
Excellent post that I have bookmarked, Doug! Just converted to new wireless iMac, love it, but still transferring
files from old PC!
As a website designer I sure know how critical it is to back-up files. Indeed, I have also experienced a hard-drive failure in a brand new Dell XPS210 computer! It died after only 6 months, so thankfully it was replaced free of charge and a new drive arrived overnight.
Thankfully, I had used Carbonite as a back-up and was able to download my files with relative ease. Reloading all my software was another story!
Carbonite costs me $27.47 USD annually and backs up my files AS I’M CREATING THEM!
Additionally, I make a CD for each of my client’s website files and periodically update them. Webhosts do have server failures and should be backing them up nightly, but I’ve found out that isn’t always the case. More than once I’ve checked out a client’s website only to find an older copy had been installed after a server failure.
I had also tried Dell’s back-up software, but it was not as user-friendly and had some bugs in it. It would freeze up and crash on me.
Anyway, Doug, you are right, one of the first things a computer newbie needs to do is get a back-up system AND anti-virus protection in place right away. Almost all new computers come with some virus protection plan, but not always a back-up.
JoAnn – thanks for the advice from a Windows point of view. Do you mean that Windows machines actually crash? (insert mischievous grin here)
Good to hear that you’re taking this seriously. I do web site design and often have to help clients and friends who have lost data because they have no backup system in place. It is heartbreaking, so I thank you for reminding everyone about the importance of backups.
One thing you didn’t mention is a bootable backup. It’s a wonderful thing to have your data backed up in multiple ways and places, but as another poster pointed out, reinstalling all your software (assuming you can find all the disks and licence codes) and setting up a new system to your liking is not a trivial task. Having a duplicate, bootable copy of your entire hard drive will make this much easier. If your hard drive dies, you simply boot from the external. You have full access to everything you need while you make your plans to get your computer fixed. (This is especially essential if you only have one computer.)
With the low cost of hard drives, it’s a pretty easy choice to have at least one duplicate around (I have two; one is stored off-site, swapped every week). Two excellent programs for easy duplication are Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper.
Oh, and one more thing. An untested backup is as risky as no backup. Do you test all of these backup methods regularly to ensure that your data is uncorrupted and the retrieval process actually works? Most people overlook this crucial step. I admit I’m guilty of not checking often enough, too.
@margaret – good points. The nice thing about the Mac TimeMachine is that it is indeed a bootable recovery system. But I hadn’t thought about checking the files themselves once backed up and stored. Good point.
As someone who just spilled a whole cup of coffee on my laptop the other day I can attest to the importance of backing up info. Computer is ruined. Using my daughters computer at this time. Heading over to Evernote to check it out. Thanks Doug.
@trey – ah, the old cup of coffee on the laptop trick. Yeah, a royal pain in the anatomy to be sure. I’m becoming a bigger and bigger fan of Evernote the more I use the service. The 45/year is nothing compared to the amount of info security I’m using. Between that for daily stuff and the Amazon server for the long-term stuff, I’m feeling pretty secure. The only issue of course is actually doing the amazon thing regularly. That’s where evernote comes in handy because it’s so easy and semi-automatic.