What is the best backup method?

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dm76

New Member
I am building a new computer and am trying to figure out which backup option will work best. Main thing is I have tons of pictures. One option is to put a second internal hard drive and just run an automatic backup to it everyday. The other would be to do what I do now and just backup to an external drive oncee a week (I need a new one anyways cause it is getting full), but the only problem with that is sometimes I forget to turn that drive on on the backup day. I don't think it is a good idea to leave it on constantly is it? Won't that heat produced especially in an external enclosure shorten the life of the drive?

With the first option, and actually for the second one as well, everything could be lost if it was stolen or in a fire. So I guess besides those backups, I could put stuff on discs every once in awhile and store them in a different location. Or I was even thinking of even maybe putting a drive at my parents house and transferring files over there for backup as well. Is this all an overkill? I suppose you can never be too safe. What do you think is a good idea? And is there a particular software that should be used, or will whatever is included in Win 7 work fine?
 
I've found compact external hdds to be useless in hot weather. Good to fry eggs on but needed an external fan. WD drives of My Book and Passport style I've found to be excellent as would the competition's equivalents.

I store everything I create on dvd-r which I prefer to magnetic media for permanent storage. Among other things, I do video captures and can have up to 100,000 images to store every week (that's 4 dvds-worth). Cheap at the price of dvd blanks (I use Taiyo Yuden). I also have an external 1TB drive which I used for a number of tasks including regular backing up my main drives - about once a week. I have the drives running whenever the PC runs. Heat is not an issue.

One of my earlier WD drives came with Retrospect which is an awkward to use backup utility. I don't exactly recommend it although its capability is excellent and I'll describe:

Like any other utility, you can do simple and incremental backups. It can keep records of earlier versions of files too. You can create multiple backup sets. What is really neat though is that you can do partial backups into the complete backup sets.

Let's say you save all your new stuff in a couple of folders. You can put together a simple script that will only backup those folders into the complete set. Very quick, the sort of thing you could do every day. The downside is that the files are in special format so you need the software to retrieve files.

There is plenty of backup software out there, free and payware.

Storing copies offsite is a good idea but costs go up. Definitely worth keeping your key files offsite. If you've spent 200 hours writing an application, it would be silly to watch it go up in flames with the house. If it's belt and braces, the remote storage could be hdd.
 
Hmmmm, that is interesting. In other posts I have found it is better to put your own drive in an enclosure but that is good to hear you have had good luck with the passport type of drives.
 
one suggestion for copying is with xp pro i think and i know windows 7 pro supports briefcase and sync. haven't played much with either yet. On the lighter side i have a external drive. No fan though which was suggested. In my case if backing up full the drive got very hot. My best shot was drilling holes in top of case to displace heat. I do have a 2nd drive on the computer for back up. syncback software is also available for pay and free ver which im playing with.
 
dm76 said:
Hmmmm, that is interesting. In other posts I have found it is better to put your own drive in an enclosure but that is good to hear you have had good luck with the passport type of drives.
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I think the diy approach is mostly for cost and drive size. None of mine have failed to date. I only run one at a time but the one in service is running round the clock.

The WD drives come with pre-drilled holes, that must be the big advantage over diy!
 
I use an online backup service for 5 bucks a month with no limitation from a very large mobile phone/steady phone/internet provider in my country (Holland).

Very simple, and they use multiple backup locations to ensure no data loss. So even if my house burns down, I'll never lose a thing. Bottleneck is the internet line but that's irrelevant these days.

Although when I started I had around 50 gig's to backup and that took a little while. But now the software checks all the files I want to backup and only uploads the edited ones.

I know there are some protests against this as some ppl say your data is out there and you don't know who will have access to it, but my data isn't important enough for company theft/espionage. :)
 
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Sjattuh said:
I know there are some protests against this as some ppl say your data is out there and you don't know who will have access to it, but my data isn't important enough for company theft/espionage. :)
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You can always encrypt the data.

Another aspect of backing up that I touched on is the number of backup sets. The problem with using one set is that once an old version is overwritten, it is gone. By having say 2 to 4 backup sets, the current set is added and the oldest is deleted. That could mean being able to retrieve versions of files that were made 6 months ago. Takes more space.

The software I use keeps track of old versions. I remember back a few years that some software did quasi-backup sets. It consisted of new versions of files only, no duplicate files previously saved, and all in native format or zips for easy recovery.
 
I backup all my photos for free on shutterfly.com. No storage limits.

I backup all my important documents by emailing them to myself.

Both methods are free and theftproof/fireproof.
 
When I had my desktop I had 2 hard drives. I would keep everything on the main drive and kept a copy of everything on the second drive. I just manually drag and drop on the storage drive. I also have a Western Digital 1TB Mypassport drive I back up my files about every couple weeks. That way I have everything in 3 places. It takes a little time to copy everything in 3 places but it is worth the effort.

I am a victim of data loss. I had a drive fail and lost about 2 years worth of pictures. Many from a tour in Iraq and many of my kids. I will never let that happen again...I will never forgive myself for that mistake.
 
ScOuT said:
When I had my desktop I had 2 hard drives. I would keep everything on the main drive and kept a copy of everything on the second drive. I just manually drag and drop on the storage drive. I also have a Western Digital 1TB Mypassport drive I back up my files about every couple weeks. That way I have everything in 3 places. It takes a little time to copy everything in 3 places but it is worth the effort. I am a victim of data loss. I had a drive fail and lost about 2 years worth of pictures. Many from a tour in Iraq and many of my kids. I will never let that happen again...I will never forgive myself for that mistake.
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May I suggest you keep one of your drives at a friend's house? That way you will still have it if someone robs your home.
 
A friend of mine turned me on to an online storage site called Adrive. You might try it, if you need to store 50 gigs or less. The cool thing about them is you can avoid file by file uploading and just stick entire directories/folders on your account there. There are free accounts all the way up to high dollar premium ones. The situation I am in created a necessity to try online storage, as everytime I try to back up my files otherwise, my pc crashes. Other places will give you a much larger amount for a limited time free trial, such as Carbonite.
 
mike932 said:
May I suggest you keep one of your drives at a friend's house? That way you will still have it if someone robs your home.
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That is a very good idea, I was actually thinking of that. So since drives are so cheap, I might just put a second one inside the computer and have that back up everyday or so. And I might keep an external at my parents house and either add stuff to it from time to time, or maybe ftp stuff to it. Thanks for all the ideas.
 
dm76 said:
That is a very good idea, I was actually thinking of that. So since drives are so cheap, I might just put a second one inside the computer and have that back up everyday or so. And I might keep an external at my parents house and either add stuff to it from time to time, or maybe ftp stuff to it. Thanks for all the ideas.
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You could even keep a drive in a waterproof bag and hide it in your backyard.
 
I also do what ScOuT says he does. I have two hard drives in my desktop and backup my data usually once every ten to fourteen days. I also have an external hard drive that I backup data to about once every two months.

I also have writings that I really value that I have been compiling for years so I have those copied on to three flash drives in addition to three hard drives. I need to do some offsite storage for the data I really value.
 
"Data doesn't exist unless it exists in 3 places at once"

Think about it ;)

I'd have two hard drives, one for use, one for backup, and if I had a super fast upload speed and lots of cash I'd pay for online backups too.

3 hard drives would do though. I'd unplug one and only use it when you back stuff up.
 
Some interesting and varied techniques. I'm still in favour of some optical storage or perhaps remote magnetic or online storage (if privacy not an issue). The trouble with all magnetic drives locally is that if there is major power glitch/lightning strike during a backup you could lose the lot. UPS and surge protection may help but not 100% certain.

Anything I've created always goes to an optical copy. PC programs and settings I have less concern for.
 
Back on this topic again, as far as an external drive, which interface would you recommend? Would you go esata, or would a network connected drive be better that could be stored in another room? Or is USB still fine?
 
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