Backing up data...

[matt]

Just curious to know what people are relying on...

 

[wizer]

I selected copy paste to removable but what I actually do is use a propriety sync software which mirrors all my data between server and remote storage drive.

 

[Night Train]

I have tried syncing software and back up software and briefcase software. didn't get on with any of it.

I store nothing but the day's work on my laptop and everything is cut and pasted on to an external hard drive each day and backed up by cut and paste onto a second external hard drive. The back ups are done at least fortnightly and there are the last three months of back ups on each drive so that I can return to earlier versions of work and archive files.

 

[kityuser]

I use leopards timemachine (and carboncopy), a custom set of cron/rsync scripts, manual archives, and de-ja-vu. I generally backup to online storage, external hardisks, shared disks at relations houses, and archive to optical media kept in fire safes.

I would never trust windoz to do anything mission critial (however I have used Acronis Trueimage in the past with good results), I prefer Linux for backups but do also use osx

I've had too many harddisks fail on me over the years to be fooled into thinking that just one external disk backup is enough. Double and triple redundancy all the way

Steve

 

[cutting42]

Hiya

I use ViceVersa Pro backup software to do a data copy to a second internal drive every 30 mins and once a day to an external 1Tb drive. Run a Norton Ghost re image every month or so for the Operating system and programs drive. Archive onto optical media every month or so as well.

Thinking of arranging a networked data swap with my brother but don't have permanently on hardware yet so this has scuppered this plan so far.

 

[tekno.mage]

I have a image of my Macs' system disk on an attached bootable firewire disk for the operating system & user files - which allows instant reboot to the backup should the system disk fail or if an upgrade goes pearshaped.

I also copy paste all my data files regularly to another firewire disk and frequently back this up to off-line storage on DVDs as well.

tekno.mage

 

[Derek Willis.]

I use a second disc and drive, programme called 'handy backup' this copies all files once a day to the disc.
Derek.

 

[RogerS]

Apple Leopard Time Machine (a truly awesome bit of software) and SuperDuper to multiple external drives located close to and remotely from the computer.

 

[bob321]

i use windows backup utility i back up the system state on my usb stick and the whole drive on the other partition i am in the process of getting a server and instaling WHS (windoze home server) i can get it from newegg for $99.00 the only problem is import tax and VAT


bob321

 

[bob321]

i had to restore the system state the other day because of a updated driver from ATI i recomend it and it is free

bob 321

 

[seanybaby]

I use a script in linux. Everything gets backed up on a Monday and incrementally through the rest of the week. Set it and forget about it. http://simplelinuxbkup.sourceforge.net/

 

[Malc]

I use windows home server for all back ups but use Microsofts free sync toy to copy data locally

 

[jlawrence]

My laptop is backed up once a day to the home server.
The server is copied (incrementally) to the NAS. Every week I burn changed important stuff from the NAS to DVD's - soon to become bluray. So there are effectively 4 copies of most of my work.
The DVD's are stored off site (ie away from my home) so I think I'm pretty much covered.
The other month my laptop died so in came a new one - sometime later everything was copied back from the backups so at least I know they work as they should.

It's more important that you know your backup strategy actually works than the process you follow to do the backups.

 

[matt]

It's more important that you know your backup strategy actually works than the process you follow to do the backups.

A very relevant comment...

I'd planned to use Windows Vista Backup & Restore from my NAS when the hard disk was replaced on my wife's PC recently. However, it seems that Windows B&R establishes a relationship between the hard disk being backed up and the destination. So, once the new hard disk was in place, the laptop no longer recognised the backups I wanted to use and so it did not work. So, my experience was a clear example of how my stock approach to backing up data did not work.

The good news is that I never trust software that imposes too much control over what it's doing (in the name of making it easy to use whilst throwing the baby out with the bathwater IMO). So I had made other copies of the data which I could restore.

 

[matt]

If you're interested...

I've been playing with a piece of Software called SyncBack. It can backup or synchronise data (or you can get it to do different things with different profiles).

For my purposes I'm using it to backup my data on to a NAS device and I'm much happier with this arrangement. Without installing the software on my wife's laptop I can still access and open the files on the NAS, thus ensuring no dependencies.

And it's free (from download.com).