This is why you back up your data offsite

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354 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1468983 13-Jan-2016 10:57

JimmyH:

I have circa 9TB of files...

What I am planning to do is burn all the media etc to DL Blu Ray disks (which cost about $8 locally for good ones, but can be imported in 100+ quantities for around $3.40 each incl shipping). Then store those offsite. I will burn a new disc every 7-10 days as material is added.

While burning around 180 discs will be a pain in the backside, I will spread it over 3-4 months, and the cost should only be around $600. Then ongoing cost of about $110 per annum to keep up with media additions. I will use re-writable discs to snapshot the changing data directory.

Phew! That seems like a lot of hard work. I think I would just buy 4 or 5 2TB portable HDDs. Similar price, more flexibility, reusable, and can backup 2TB each without user intervention. Even cheaper if you buy 2TB desktop HDD's.

Then store off site, and hope you never *need* to use them. The last drive can freshened from time to time with something like "FreeFileSync" to keep recent data updated.

Hiamie

354 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1468987 13-Jan-2016 11:04

kiwifidget:
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.

I just discovered "FreeFileSync" a few days ago. Perfect for keeping folders in sync. I have 000's of TV programmes, songs etc etc on an entertainment 2TB portable HDD, and the contents of that drive change all the time as I delete watched programmes, and add new programmes for future viewing etc. FreeFileSync keeps the backup drive in sync so easily.

I used to compare and sync the drives/ folders manually - often took hours with file explorer comparing files side by side, now, so easy, just a few minutes, and the PC does all the work - and no errors, unlike when I did the job!

Can recommend people have a look at it.

davidcole

6034 posts

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#1468992 13-Jan-2016 11:18

Hiamie:
kiwifidget:
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.

I just discovered "FreeFileSync" a few days ago. Perfect for keeping folders in sync. I have 000's of TV programmes, songs etc etc on an entertainment 2TB portable HDD, and the contents of that drive change all the time as I delete watched programmes, and add new programmes for future viewing etc. FreeFileSync keeps the backup drive in sync so easily.

I used to compare and sync the drives/ folders manually - often took hours with file explorer comparing files side by side, now, so easy, just a few minutes, and the PC does all the work - and no errors, unlike when I did the job!

Can recommend people have a look at it.

even

robocopy source: dest: /MIR /s

would have done the job better than doing it by hand....

Previously known as psycik

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gsr

112 posts

Master Geek

#1468993 13-Jan-2016 11:21

A little off topic, but just in case any Uni students are reading this, if your Uni e-mail is managed by google (like Auckland Uni), you get free unlimited space on google drive.

MikeB4

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#1468994 13-Jan-2016 11:22

Kopkiwi:
MikeB4:
Kopkiwi: I stopped caring when it said "she had no contents insurance"

Not really news then is it.

She is in Christchurch, is there still hassles to get insurance there and at what price?

No. There isn't

Source, live in Christchurch got contents insurance easy as getting it in Wellington and at a similar price. If not cheaper.

That's good to know, I wasn't sure if it was back to normal down there.

mdav056

607 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#1470143 13-Jan-2016 16:06

davidcole:
Hiamie:
kiwifidget:
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.

I just discovered "FreeFileSync" a few days ago. Perfect for keeping folders in sync. I have 000's of TV programmes, songs etc etc on an entertainment 2TB portable HDD, and the contents of that drive change all the time as I delete watched programmes, and add new programmes for future viewing etc. FreeFileSync keeps the backup drive in sync so easily.

I used to compare and sync the drives/ folders manually - often took hours with file explorer comparing files side by side, now, so easy, just a few minutes, and the PC does all the work - and no errors, unlike when I did the job!

Can recommend people have a look at it.

even

robocopy source: dest: /MIR /s

would have done the job better than doing it by hand....

Use /D as well, put it in a batch file, and run it under task scheduler! Frequently!

gml

paulchinnz

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#1470851 14-Jan-2016 14:02

Hiamie:
kiwifidget:
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.

I just discovered "FreeFileSync" a few days ago. Perfect for keeping folders in sync. I have 000's of TV programmes, songs etc etc on an entertainment 2TB portable HDD, and the contents of that drive change all the time as I delete watched programmes, and add new programmes for future viewing etc. FreeFileSync keeps the backup drive in sync so easily.

I used to compare and sync the drives/ folders manually - often took hours with file explorer comparing files side by side, now, so easy, just a few minutes, and the PC does all the work - and no errors, unlike when I did the job!

Can recommend people have a look at it.

Looks like Cubby but ~$100/y cheaper...

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#1471307 14-Jan-2016 20:19

Hiamie:

Phew! That seems like a lot of hard work. I think I would just buy 4 or 5 2TB portable HDDs. Similar price, more flexibility, reusable, and can backup 2TB each without user intervention. Even cheaper if you buy 2TB desktop HDD's.

Then store off site, and hope you never *need* to use them. The last drive can freshened from time to time with something like "FreeFileSync" to keep recent data updated.

Yep. That's what I do now. A couple of them have failed however, and I'm not inclined to treat hard drives on a shelf as long-term storage any longer.

It's not much hard work if I do it gradually over a few months (say 1-3 discs a night, which burn while I do other things). Once I chew through the backlog, I only have to burn 2-3 discs a month as I add media. Keep an index of what is on what disk in a spreadsheet as I go.

Still checking on the reliability of the discs for long-term storage however. I thought the 50GB Verbatims were pretty reliable if stored properly, but Freitasm's comment reinforces that I need to check this first.

richms

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#1471343 14-Jan-2016 21:16

If you do this, make SFV files or some other verification before you burn so you can verify the files are intact periodically.

Ive always wondered if there was some validity in something to make a whole lot of parity files and spread them over discs so that a certain number could fail and you still have your data etc, but really you would need block level checking rather than a whole file check for it to be worthwhile.

Richard rich.ms

MaxLV

656 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1471458 14-Jan-2016 23:19

timmmay: Christchurch woman loses 'everything of value' in ransack burglary

The poor foolish girl. How can the university not at least once point out that backups are a good idea. So make sure your friends and family have backups. Heck Mozy is free for 2GB of data, or CrashPlan software will let them back up to their friends computers.

Speaking of lost data.... (long - 22mins)

DonGould

3892 posts

Uber Geek

#1471470 14-Jan-2016 23:48

This is great stuff to see reported in the news.

It got reported, in my view, because we're having a crime spree down here currently.

I think social media is likely driving this stuff too. There are just dozens of online facebook groups that this stuff gets fenced on.

We just have to keep hamming home the message to people that off site backups are important.

We also have to make it easier for people to do it.

I've been writing programs to just image the whole machine over the summer break. I'm just over the whole OS back up thing. By the time I fight with ACL rights and deal with complex configurations, it's just simpler to snap shot the whole system.

We need to push this technology on to consumer gear. Rather than running the OS on your hardware, you need to be able to virtualise the hardware and just snap the disk. We also need to be thinking in terms of RAID 1 and dual media in equipment.

I should be able to just hotswap out the disks on my machine to just back stuff up. That's of course for laptops. At device level, we need to be making smart phones and tablets with dual card slots and having RAID on those too, as well as getting people up and running with wireless cloud backups.

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Check out mine - i.am.a.can.do.kiwi.nz - don@i.am.a.can.do.kiwi.nz

networkn

Networkn
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#1473147 17-Jan-2016 13:43

DonGould: This is great stuff to see reported in the news.

It got reported, in my view, because we're having a crime spree down here currently.

I think social media is likely driving this stuff too. There are just dozens of online facebook groups that this stuff gets fenced on.

We just have to keep hamming home the message to people that off site backups are important.

We also have to make it easier for people to do it.

I've been writing programs to just image the whole machine over the summer break. I'm just over the whole OS back up thing. By the time I fight with ACL rights and deal with complex configurations, it's just simpler to snap shot the whole system.

We need to push this technology on to consumer gear. Rather than running the OS on your hardware, you need to be able to virtualise the hardware and just snap the disk. We also need to be thinking in terms of RAID 1 and dual media in equipment.

I should be able to just hotswap out the disks on my machine to just back stuff up. That's of course for laptops. At device level, we need to be making smart phones and tablets with dual card slots and having RAID on those too, as well as getting people up and running with wireless cloud backups.

Why would you write products when there are SO many capable off the shelf products which are both well regarded and inexpensive?

Does your product do something new or better ?

Seems like reinventing the wheel.

MadEngineer

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#1473156 17-Jan-2016 14:08

Dual slots for smart phones??? Cloud backup works flawlessly already

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

pctek

807 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1473168 17-Jan-2016 14:15

You see this all the time in the news.
When working as a tech I repeatedly told customers.
They never listened until after standing in workshop, sobbing, pleading with me to get their data back.
(gets out wand....)

Only 1 person ever, out of the lot listened and backs up regularly - on separate devices.

TG09

234 posts

Master Geek

#1473559 18-Jan-2016 10:19

timmmay: Christchurch woman loses 'everything of value' in ransack burglary

The poor foolish girl. How can the university not at least once point out that backups are a good idea. So make sure your friends and family have backups. Heck Mozy is free for 2GB of data, or CrashPlan software will let them back up to their friends computers.

When I first read this article, the first thing I thought of was why didn't she backup her data to a) The cloud b) External HDD c) Both of the above.

Poor girl, not a nice feeling to lose all of her hard work though. Just hope they find burglar and get her things back.

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