My backup strategy

[codec_spurt]

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/backup-strategy.html

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Your first reaction to seeing this title might be - why the hell would I care what some pompous prick out there perceives as his backup strategy? The simple answer is, that self-aware lad happens to be me, which means you ought to listen - and listen good [sic].

All right, on a more serious note, having a sane and tested backup strategy for your personal data is the most important component of your computing life. It is more important than UPS, anti-malware or anything else you can think of. Because your hardware will fail one day, a guaranteed 100% bet, a doomed race against statistics. Anything else may or may not happen, but your hardware will die. And I'd like to teach you what to do when that happens.
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I'm sure Igor won't mind me quoting his first paragraph or two.
This man is the best. He hacks the Linux Kernel for fun and profit.

To show how much I love him, I just bought http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/news/linux-u ... s-out-now/ because it contains info on super grub 2. This man is a world leading authority. It cost me six quid and the pint I paid for whilst waiting for my bus cost me four. I shall read it sometime next year.


Anyway, this may be over kill for many. But a wake up call for most. You have your data backed up to another drive? Ha ha. That is not a back up. This is a Back Up!...



I know that this will shock most people. It will make them bury their head in the sand and shout out: Another chicken little says the sky is falling.

Have all your backups in one house? What if there was a fire? If you died in that fire it wouldn't matter. But if you survived, and you lost the last six years of your work. Back up off site...


Anyway... I'm a rambler - take it straight from the horses mouth.
You might use another imaging program, but the STRATEGY is what this is about.


http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/backup-strategy.html


It's not easy, but if you only take in half and apply a quarter you will be steps ahead. Music is the most precious thing in the world. Nothing ever lasts for ever. This just teaches you how to hold onto it a little longer.


Ah well.

[Firechild]

I had a crash once, we were working on a pretty big swedish act at the time. From that day I always back up everything. The best solution is Time Machine , but then you need to be on OS X though

[highkoo]

I lost something like thirty working hours once. Poof!
That was all it took for me.
Acronis does the entire C: and working files on a twice a week schedule now.
Worst case is HDD is totally unrecoverable, I boot into the back up, lose two days, but am working again in ten minutes or less.

Now, Im not microwaving the backups to a satellite or anything, yet.
They are just to another drive, that for various reasons has a far less chance of unexpectedly dying on me.
I figure if there is a fire that is bad enough to destroy my HDDs, those HDDs might not be as much of a concern as they are right now.

Really, I would only be seriously crushed if I could not recover any of the finished wavs of my work. That would be rough for sure.
But, def no worries there.

[deastman]

I have two main PCs... A dedicated DAW and another machine for animation and general use. I work on local drives on each system. Both are backed up to a 5-bay Drobo. The most important files are also backed up to an external usb drive. I have 2 of those, and keep one offsite. Periodically, I swap them out and update the other one.

Ideally, I'd like to have a second mirrored Drobo at another location such as my parents house, and LTO-5 tape backup for long term storage. If only money grew on trees...