This is why you back up your data offsite

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#1468342 12-Jan-2016 11:46

freitasm: Here's what I do:

OneDrive folder (Documents, Pictures, Movies, Music) on laptop syncs to OneDrive cloud (not a 100% backup as if file deleted from laptop also deleted from cloud but if laptop stolen then still have files)

Why not move the files in OneDrive to an archive folder within OneDrive ?

Basically what I have done - created an archive folder, and then moved the all the folders that are on the root of the original OneDrive cloud over to the archive folder within OneDrive ...

xpd

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#1468347 12-Jan-2016 11:54

My storage will (was hoping to have done by now) be as such :

Primary will be on local server (non-RAID - Im working with a $0 budget here ;) )
That will be getting backed up to a cloud service, and a local external drive. Any time I'm leaving the property for extended amount of time (weekend away etc), the drive will be taken to my office and left in the server room there.

Fire at office - still have original server/cloud.
Fire at home - still have external at office.
Hacked cloud - still have external and server.
Hacked server - this is the hole - hack the server, have access to everything *unless* I'm away and the external is at the office. So might start a 3 monthly backup to a system in the office as piece of mind ;)
Disaster at all locations at same time - think Ill have other things on my mind. :)

XPD / Gavin

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alasta

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#1468356 12-Jan-2016 12:08

shk292: Two suggestions for this:
- back up to a portable HDD and keep this at work, or even in your car

I just keep mine at work. It leaves me a bit exposed for a few hours each week when I take the drive home to back up, but I'm usually at home throughout that time. If I ever have to leave my home due to a major earthquake then I will probably need to take my laptop with me in case my backup drive gets lost due to permanent inaccessibility of my office building.

I'd like to use a cloud service, but wouldn't want to try it until I get fibre and even then I wouldn't trust it as my sole means of data redundancy.

I don't know if it's a good idea to keep backup media in your car because the extreme heat could damage it. Unless you keep your car in a garage, but then your car is probably too close to your home to be considered 'off site'.

networkn

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#1468358 12-Jan-2016 12:10

alasta:
shk292: Two suggestions for this:
- back up to a portable HDD and keep this at work, or even in your car
I just keep mine at work. It leaves me a bit exposed for a few hours each week when I take the drive home to back up, but I'm usually at home throughout that time. If I ever have to leave my home due to a major earthquake then I will probably need to take my laptop with me in case my backup drive gets lost due to permanent inaccessibility of my office building. I'd like to use a cloud service, but wouldn't want to try it until I get fibre and even then I wouldn't trust it as my sole means of data redundancy. I don't know if it's a good idea to keep backup media in your car because the extreme heat could damage it. Unless you keep your car in a garage, but then your car is probably too close to your home to be considered 'off site'.

Easily fixed. Get 1 more drive and have a 3 drive Rotation where 1 is at home, 1 is at the office, and 1 is in transit.

StevieT

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#1468363 12-Jan-2016 12:16

I do backups to CrashPlan, and also the frequent copy and paste of files to my external hard drive stored off-site.

I should really check that I can recover the data if something did happen, however. (Thank you freitasm for mentioning this. I suspect most people automatically think things would run smoothly should a recover need to take place.)

old3eyes

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#1468365 12-Jan-2016 12:21

Geektastic:
shk292: Two suggestions for this:
- back up to a portable HDD and keep this at work, or even in your car
- US Amazon has unlimited photo storage for quite a small fee ($30 per year I think). It's possible to create a US account to use this service, then automatically copy all your photos to the cloud

Out of interest, how many people backed up their negatives before digital cameras were invented?

That was called a box in the cupboard..

Regards,

Old3eyes

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kiwifidget

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#1468367 12-Jan-2016 12:22

I use a WHS2011 server running DrivePool to do complete system backups of my PC's every night.
I have done bare-metal restores using the WHS2011 client restore system, it works very well.
DrivePool has duplication enabled to safe-guard against disk failure.
I use FreeFileSync to keep a daily copy of all data on a USB drive, which is swapped out every weekend, and kept in a safe in the house.
The safe has limited fire-protection but I'm close to town so fire-engines should hopefully be quick enough.
I dont have the luxury of a second location for off-site storage, and slow ADSL upload speeds make any Cloud service impractical.
By this time next year hopefully I'll have a fibre connection and will look at Cloud services again.

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Item

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#1468374 12-Jan-2016 12:34

I have been using Backblaze for 6 or so years now to cover mine and my wife's laptops and have never once needed it...

Just before Christmas, through an unlikely series of scenarios involving the transition of photos and music from my laptop to a recently acquired second-hand iMac, a very slack year of local backups, the failure of an external drive previously used for local backups and the sudden and catastrophic failure of the local hard disk on aforementioned iMac, I was suddenly bereft of 120Gbs and 10 + years of photos along with a 300Gb lossless music library.

Recovered the whole lot via download (didn't want to pay for the posted HD) over a few days and all was well.

Well worth the money I had spent on the service over the years.

kiwigander

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#1468375 12-Jan-2016 12:36

I don't mean to make an excuse for the victim's negligence in not having an off-site backup. It strikes me, though, that a quick and easy off-site backup solution available in North America and possibly elsewhere is not available in New Zealand: namely, a safety deposit box in a bank.

The safety deposit box is a routine service in bank branches in Canada and the USA. It's a small locking box within the bank vault. Typically it's used to store valuable legal papers (wills, deeds &c), seldom-worn jewellery and such things.

I just checked the website of CIBC (one of the big Canadian banks), and a safety deposit box that could easily hold a 1 or 2 TB portable USB HDD rents for CAD 50 a year.

Easy enough, I'd think, to keep one such drive at home and another in the box, and exchange them on a weekly rotation.

taneb1

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#1468380 12-Jan-2016 12:44

I have the following setup for backups:

- Photos/Videos - Backed up from iPhone directly to Dropbox using their Auto-Upload feature. DSLR photos go directly to Dropbox when importing to my computer.
- Movies/TV Shows - Sit on a NAS in our lounge and are not important so don't have any backup/doesn't bother me if we lose these.
- Personal Projects/Work/Documents - Backed up to both Dropbox and a VPS running OwnCloud (Located in NZ for faster upload/download speeds for sharing) using DSynchronize to mirror both folders to include the same things on my PC.
- iCloud for mobile backups

I guess having 100Mbit UFB (Down & Up) does help with a lot of this to get things uploaded quickly, especially when some of the Photoshop files can be in excess of 40MB each.
Can imagine for some people the original time to backup a large amount of files especially on ADSL may be a bit of a deterrent.

Any comments made are my personal views and does not represent those of my employer

surfisup1000

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#1468382 12-Jan-2016 12:46

timmmay:
The poor foolish girl. How can the university not at least once point out that backups are a good idea.

I wouldn't call her foolish, probably just unaware.

Most people are 'tech illiterates' and oblivious that data loss at some time is a high probability.

Backup should be taught at schools but maybe it is one of those things that you don't take seriously until you've experienced it.

I use crashplan, and buy hard drives in pairs (data/backup ).

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kiwifidget

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#1468386 12-Jan-2016 12:52

surfisup1000:

Backup should be taught at schools but maybe it is one of those things that you don't take seriously until you've experienced it.

A bit like sex education!

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gzt

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#1468443 12-Jan-2016 14:02

Geektastic: Out of interest, how many people backed up their negatives before digital cameras were invented?

Negatives were the backup ; ).

BTR

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#1468455 12-Jan-2016 14:21

Stu: With BYOD of one sort of another commonplace in schools now, even at some primary schools, the importance of backups should be taught from that level. I'm sure in some schools it is, but it certainly isn't happening across the board.

Your joking right? Have you ever tried to explain the importance of a backup to a teenage girl? They are more interested in boys, hair, makeup and the latest boy band....

You would have more luck trying to read an ikea manual thats only in chinese.

Geektastic

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#1468481 12-Jan-2016 14:58

gzt:
Geektastic: Out of interest, how many people backed up their negatives before digital cameras were invented?

Negatives were the backup ; ).

After a house fire?!

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