✔ New Year Resolution: Improve Backups

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

I have Carbonite running a online backup of all my files and photos. I have a ghost image of my main drive done every day and I also have a onsite backup of all my documents.

I can recover if my system blows up or do a full restore if I lose my main drive or system.

I think I am covered.

 

[paul04]

One thing i am going to do a better job of is deleting pictures i do not want or think i can alter, if i shoot 4 pics of and hawk and edit one up, the other 3 are going.

I've been doing the same the last couple of weeks, and uploading my pictures to my 2TB network drive for backup.

 

[cwgrizz]

I know this is an old thread, but thought this would probably be the best place to ask about backing up Windows 10. What software are you using for "System Image" and file "Backup"? Any to stay away from? A couple of free programs: AOMEI Backupper Standard, EaseUS Todo Backup Free, and maybe Acronis True Image ($50 and not sure if it is good with Windows 10). Any thoughts?

 

[WayneF]

True Image 2015 is only $29 at Amazon. At times, there are better offers if on their mailing list. A three-user choice is $60, Amazon (three computers).

This says 2015 is now Windows 10 Compatible:
http://www.acronis.com/en-us/person...=b&network=g&gclid=CJnY_ffUrccCFRAxaQodRuADHw

Probably when you install it, it will want to fetch an updated version. The program offers a menu to create a bootable CD, so that when the system fails, you can boot on the CD to restore it from your backup. I think the purchased CD boots too, but be sure you create that CD (from the updated version). Actually, if you boot on the CD, it will also back up any unlicensed computer, in the same way.

True Image is the good one. Paragon is also good, but True Image simply just works, simpler.

Disk image backup is the easy way. Then when system goes bonky (malware, etc), it's easier to just restore a recent backup than to try to figure out how to fix it. And of course, when the hard drive fails, you just put put in a new one and restore. You are back up and running in minutes, same as when you did last backup. Which means it won't have your latest email or other work done since last backup (some additional daily data backup plan helps with that).

 

[skater]

I had my backup scheme tested the other day. Background: I have a computer in a closet that I call the "server". The server has the media drive in it, a 2 TB drive that holds all of our pictures, videos, etc. It runs Slackware Linux. My backups for pictures include a 2 TB external drive that lives in our travel trailer and gets updated about once every 30 days. I also upload pictures to Amazon's Glacier every so often.

A few days ago, I went to copy some new photos to the server and it was showing all kinds of errors. After poking around, I came to the conclusion that the media drive may have failed, so I was starting to try to figure out what, if anything, I had lost. I knew older stuff (a few weeks/months and older) was well backed-up and not a problem, but I was concerned about the newer stuff. In particular, there may have been something that I edited, then copied to the media drive, then removed from the desktop computer, but had not yet been backed up as part of the media drive. In the past, I assumed these would still be available on the desktop computer, but in reality they may not have been there.

Fortunately, the drive hadn't failed; the motherboard had. Since I originally thought the drive failed, I bought a 3TB drive to replace it. Now I have a second large drive installed in the desktop computer, which can sync to the server's media drive over the network. I still need to think about the best way to ensure I don't lose that recent stuff, because I'm not sure just automatically backing up to the new drive is the right way to go. (If something goes wacky with the original 2 TB drive, it could copy corrupt data to the 3 TB drive.) Also, the desktop gets shut down when I'm not using it, so that sync wouldn't necessarily happen regularly.

I think I need to set up a "staging area" on a separate drive - perhaps the boot drive of the server - that will serve as a holding pen for these newer pictures, before they get copied to the external and 3 TB drives.

I'm mainly posting this for two reasons -(1) a warning to think everything through - I still think I have a pretty good backup scheme, and I always knew the new stuff was a potential hole, but the hole was a bit larger than I thought it was. And, (2) to think it through for myself.

 

[WayneF]

For backup of the important new stuff since last formal disk backup:

I just make a little batch file with an icon on the desktop. Mine is named CopyToE.bat.
I simply click this when I realize there is new stuff that is important. Probably every day, but at busy times, maybe 2 or 3 times a day. It is just a click.


del "C:\Users\w\AppData\Local\Temp\*.*" /Q

"C:\program files\7-zip\7za" u -tzip E:\backup\html.zip C:\HTML\*
"C:\program files\7-zip\7za" u -tzip E:\backup\MyDocuments.zip C:\Users\w\Documents\*
"C:\program files\7-zip\7za" u -tzip E:\backup\QuickenQdata.zip C:\ProgramData\Quicken\qdata.*
"C:\program files\7-zip\7za" u -tzip E:\backup\Eudora.zip D:\ProgramData\Eudora\Mail\*
"C:\program files\7-zip\7za" u -tzip E:\backup\misc.zip C:\Misc\*

xcopy "C:\Users\w\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\2aeoyn7d.default-1443329324031\reminderfox\*.ics" E:\backup\ /D /y

pause
exit


First line (del temp) deletes all the temp files that build up abandoned. If you have not looked lately, you surely have hundreds of them. ("w" is the name of my computer).
The last line (ReminderFox) is data for a Firefox addon app that has all my appointment info (reminders).

The other lines are just a 7-zip archive of important folders that change a lot. Email, Quicken, my sites HTML files, etc. It could include pictures, but mine are on another disk with its own plan. This is just a second copy of data, which is the most important plan. These zips are stored on a different drive (drive E), the idea is that both disks are not likely to fail at the same time. It only updates the NEW files, those with later dates. Older files are undisturbed. It is just a fast click. Doing this excessive times matters not, does nothing then.

The pause is so I can see what it did, if and when I care.

I try to do a formal disk backup every week or two, but sometimes it's a month. No big deal, I have all my data.

Then at any problem, I can just restore the last formal disk backup, and then these additional zip files have all important data that might have changed since then. at least yesterday and before. When needed, just sort the zip folder files by date, and copy the few newer ones to that restore.

These zip files of course have the problem of being the last single version of the backup. If I screw up a file, and then back it up, my only backup copy is screwed up too. It is very wise to always backup to a new different file (and then keep the last 3 or 4 of those). However, in this case, I do always still have my formal disk backup that is only a week or two old. Not failsafe, but my plan is to keep that in mind, and sort of verify new stuff is not screwed up before I back it up.

 

[aroy]

My backup strategy is as follows
. I copy all RAW files from card to Desktop once a day, when I propose to process them
. I copy the RAW files from the desktop to an external USB disk, once the battery in the camera is nearly finished - 500 to 700 images depending on the lens
. I then copy the RAW files to another disk on the desktop, I have 6 of them, and use one 2TB as a local backup
. Once I backup, charge the battery and then format the card.

Over the years I have acquired a lot of hard disks - 80, 160, 300 and 750 GB. I now use them for off site backup - once every couple of months I copy data to one disk. Once that fills up, it is the next one on line.

I check the disks, once a year (run read-write diagnostics) and they seem to be fine.

 

[Eduard]

VERY happy that yesterday Backblaze announced a 'Restore Return Refund' program. Basically if you order a USB or Hard Drive restore and then return the drive within 30 days, they refund the cost of the media. You still have the option of keeping it if you prefer. More info and the announcement here: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/introducing-the-restore-return-refund-program

 

[RocketCowboy]

VERY happy that yesterday Backblaze announced a 'Restore Return Refund' program. Basically if you order a USB or Hard Drive restore and then return the drive within 30 days, they refund the cost of the media. You still have the option of keeping it if you prefer. More info and the announcement here: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/introducing-the-restore-return-refund-program

Just saw that! That's a very nice perk over what I go through with Crashplan.

 

[Eduard]

I took a quick look at the status and thought an update after a little more than 3 years might be useful. My original strategy has proved to be sound. The original premise was as follows:

• Physically separate data from the operating system. (This is prudent whether you use Windows, OS X, Linux or any other operating system.)
• Implement some sort of automated copy/backup method. (In my case I use OS X's Time Machine with a USB drive.)
• Make a second copy of the data. (In my case I periodically copy files to my RAID 1 enabled NAS.)
• Get a tertiary copy of the data offsite. (I recently implemented Backblaze to automate this process.)

A few months ago I moved my images to a mirrored (RAID 1) configuration utilizing a 6TB Western Digital My Book Duo. The reason for this approach was because I found myself being inconsistent with copying over to the NAS. Here is a screen snip of the WD config utility.



With this change, my process currently is:

• Physically separate data from the operating system. (No change.)
• Implement some sort of automated copy/backup method. (In my case I use OS X's Time Machine with a USB drive. No change but I am considering upgrading/replacing the drive.)
• Make a second copy of the data. (Changed to leverage the My Book Duo in RAID 1 config to have a second physical copy.)
• Get a tertiary copy of the data offsite. (No change as I continue to utilize Backblaze to automate this process.)

The storage now looks like this:

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

• Physically separate data from the operating system. (This is prudent whether you use Windows, OS X, Linux or any other operating system.)

I agree with this. On my new system I have a SSD drive for my OS and most of my programs. I have a second SSD for Lightroom and Photoshop and it also holds my Lightroom catalogs. I have 2 internal hard drives for data, 1 for me and 1 for my wife. All photos are stored on external USB drives. Again 1 1 5TB for me and 1 3TB for my wife.

Offsite backup for all photos and data.

 

[RocketCowboy]

My only guidance with RAID 1, don't consider the two drives in the RAID 1 set to be separate copies. It is a redundant set of one copy.

With both drives being in the same enclosure, with the same USB controller and the same power supply, they are both vulnerable to the same set of physical failures. Worse, I've seen failing drive controllers manifest to corrupt data across both drives in the set, since after all ... its mirrored, for better or for worse.

My primary drive is mirrored (I use a G-Technology G-RAID for primary image storage), but for quick recovery from a single drive failure. That storage is then replicated to a RAID 5 NAS, then replicated to a third G-RAID off-site at my office. The primary storage is then archived via Time Machine to another external hard drive as well as to the cloud via CrashPlan.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Eduard]

Great point Charlie. Since I have Backblaze and Tine Machine active at all times, it was a conscious decision from a convenience perspective to use the Duo.