Confession: Backup
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I do not have any backup scheme in place on my home computer. I repent. Now what ? Every backup scheme I've tried before has always been marked by -- Complexity -- Annoyance -- Hideously Inadequate restore procedures -- Space Invaders (I was around before CD-RWs existed) -- Time Bandits (So many rules you had to sit there and run it yourself) I used some freeware backup apps, and the authors of these should receive the highest acclaim. Indeed, they should be able to find paid work within a month if not an hour, should they need it. Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where... -- Plug in a USB cable -- Pop up the app -- Click once -- Go to work -- Come home, spare disk goes in the closet So how much will such a thing cost ? Who's making this kind of stuff these days ?
C-P-User-3 wrote:
Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where...
-- Plug in a USB cable
-- Pop up the app
-- Click once
-- Go to work
-- Come home, spare disk goes in the closetI was always forgetting to the backup, or something would get in the way. Now I use Carbonite (www.carbonite.com), Set it up to run at time convenient to you, no plugging in, no looking after disks, totally online. $60/ year per PC - no storage limits. It does need broadband but only backups changed files so you always have a complete set of files. No forgetting to backup, it's just done. :-D.
Best Regards Graham Wade
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Great answers, great insight, thank you one and all. The two absences among the answers were the command line options of... - Xcopy (Does that still exist ?) - XxCopy[^] (Free, most of the time, at home.) From my 30 minute investigation of all these options, Robocopy appears to have replaced Xcopy and is quite possibly Microsoft's response to the existence of XxCopy[^] With all that in mind, the current winner for the moment is Gary Wheeler[^] along with the others in that camp. (Not that I'm closing my mind to the other ideas, they clearly have merit.) Okay, So here's what I'm thinking. Purchase: Two USB External Hard Drives Write: a bat file that invokes Robocopy Write: a second bat file, similarly, but does Robocopy to the other USB drive Name Them: OddBack.Bat and EvenBack.Bat On odd numbered days, click on OddBack, then on even numbered days, click on EvenBack.
The only thing I have against xcopy / robocopy is the resetting of file creation date. Plus xcopy has been known to exhaust memory if used from a recovery environment. (very long filenames - Windows Vista and up.) I'd rather use Winrar and split into manageable parts, with the recovery record flag. More likely to recover corrupted files off DVD.
Q. Hey man! have you sorted out the finite soup machine? A. Why yes, it's celery or tomato.
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Yeah, Skydrive is about $50 a year for a 100GB. Nice bonus there is you can browse all your photos online if you're away from the home machine. You can even email access to the photos to other people for sharing. I like the cloud storage best because it is off site. If the computer gets hit by a bus or the house burns down I don't lose any of my content files. Hopefully the odds of either of those happening is pretty low.
Play my game Gravity: IOS[^], Android[^], Windows Phone 7[^]
I was reading the entire post, just exactly this tip! I use google drive + dropbox to backup my git repositories! Simple and great!
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C-P-User-3 wrote:
Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where...
-- Plug in a USB cable
-- Pop up the app
-- Click once
-- Go to work
-- Come home, spare disk goes in the closetI was always forgetting to the backup, or something would get in the way. Now I use Carbonite (www.carbonite.com), Set it up to run at time convenient to you, no plugging in, no looking after disks, totally online. $60/ year per PC - no storage limits. It does need broadband but only backups changed files so you always have a complete set of files. No forgetting to backup, it's just done. :-D.
Best Regards Graham Wade
I did consider carbonite, but there wasn't much info about upload speeds. Using virtual HDs means backing up those into cloud storage (> 3GB when compressed) is not desirable due to storage costs.
Q. Hey man! have you sorted out the finite soup machine? A. Why yes, it's celery or tomato.
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I did consider carbonite, but there wasn't much info about upload speeds. Using virtual HDs means backing up those into cloud storage (> 3GB when compressed) is not desirable due to storage costs.
Q. Hey man! have you sorted out the finite soup machine? A. Why yes, it's celery or tomato.
dusty_dex wrote:
I did consider carbonite, but there wasn't much info about upload speeds. Using virtual HDs means backing up those into cloud storage (> 3GB when compressed) is not desirable due to storage costs.
What's the worry about upload speeds? I have mine set to backup at 11:00 each night , doesn't bother me how long it takes, broadband is always on. Carbonite comes with UNLIMITED storage so that shouldn't be a problem either. If you want to backup SAS or NAS that's an extra $20 (I think) per year.
Regards Graham Wade
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Great answers, great insight, thank you one and all. The two absences among the answers were the command line options of... - Xcopy (Does that still exist ?) - XxCopy[^] (Free, most of the time, at home.) From my 30 minute investigation of all these options, Robocopy appears to have replaced Xcopy and is quite possibly Microsoft's response to the existence of XxCopy[^] With all that in mind, the current winner for the moment is Gary Wheeler[^] along with the others in that camp. (Not that I'm closing my mind to the other ideas, they clearly have merit.) Okay, So here's what I'm thinking. Purchase: Two USB External Hard Drives Write: a bat file that invokes Robocopy Write: a second bat file, similarly, but does Robocopy to the other USB drive Name Them: OddBack.Bat and EvenBack.Bat On odd numbered days, click on OddBack, then on even numbered days, click on EvenBack.
You could do this with a single .BAT file:
@Echo OFF
Set Day=%DATE:~0,3%
Goto Drive%Day%:DriveMon
:DriveWed
:DriveFri
:DriveSun
Set Drive=E:
Goto Start:DriveTue
:DriveThu
:DriveSat
Set Drive=F::Start
RoboCopy C:\ %Drive% /MIRYou'd need to customize the Drive environment variable and the RoboCopy command, but it does alternate drives based on the day.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I do not have any backup scheme in place on my home computer. I repent. Now what ? Every backup scheme I've tried before has always been marked by -- Complexity -- Annoyance -- Hideously Inadequate restore procedures -- Space Invaders (I was around before CD-RWs existed) -- Time Bandits (So many rules you had to sit there and run it yourself) I used some freeware backup apps, and the authors of these should receive the highest acclaim. Indeed, they should be able to find paid work within a month if not an hour, should they need it. Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where... -- Plug in a USB cable -- Pop up the app -- Click once -- Go to work -- Come home, spare disk goes in the closet So how much will such a thing cost ? Who's making this kind of stuff these days ?
This thread was posted on the daily news email with this question.
What are you using for easy, reliable backups
Answer: Our IT department. Or so we though until the disk crash...
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I do not have any backup scheme in place on my home computer. I repent. Now what ? Every backup scheme I've tried before has always been marked by -- Complexity -- Annoyance -- Hideously Inadequate restore procedures -- Space Invaders (I was around before CD-RWs existed) -- Time Bandits (So many rules you had to sit there and run it yourself) I used some freeware backup apps, and the authors of these should receive the highest acclaim. Indeed, they should be able to find paid work within a month if not an hour, should they need it. Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where... -- Plug in a USB cable -- Pop up the app -- Click once -- Go to work -- Come home, spare disk goes in the closet So how much will such a thing cost ? Who's making this kind of stuff these days ?
simple is best and I have 2 stages of backup 1st I have big drive inside the machine and use Microsofts Synctoy (free download) to sync (echo) everything I want to backup onto the big drive This gives me an easily accessable copy if I delete or change something and want to revert. I backup to this as often as I like I then have external USB drives with truecrypt traveller on them to make it so I don't worry about losing one and then use more sync commands to sync from the 1st copy to the usb drive still using synctoy because of the syncs the backups don't take long and I am more likely to run them which reminds me I must go and.....
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I do not have any backup scheme in place on my home computer. I repent. Now what ? Every backup scheme I've tried before has always been marked by -- Complexity -- Annoyance -- Hideously Inadequate restore procedures -- Space Invaders (I was around before CD-RWs existed) -- Time Bandits (So many rules you had to sit there and run it yourself) I used some freeware backup apps, and the authors of these should receive the highest acclaim. Indeed, they should be able to find paid work within a month if not an hour, should they need it. Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where... -- Plug in a USB cable -- Pop up the app -- Click once -- Go to work -- Come home, spare disk goes in the closet So how much will such a thing cost ? Who's making this kind of stuff these days ?
Cobian Backup [^] is what I use for local backup. Free, and does a great job. If you're looking for an off-site thing, I would recommend MiMedia.
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I do not have any backup scheme in place on my home computer. I repent. Now what ? Every backup scheme I've tried before has always been marked by -- Complexity -- Annoyance -- Hideously Inadequate restore procedures -- Space Invaders (I was around before CD-RWs existed) -- Time Bandits (So many rules you had to sit there and run it yourself) I used some freeware backup apps, and the authors of these should receive the highest acclaim. Indeed, they should be able to find paid work within a month if not an hour, should they need it. Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where... -- Plug in a USB cable -- Pop up the app -- Click once -- Go to work -- Come home, spare disk goes in the closet So how much will such a thing cost ? Who's making this kind of stuff these days ?
I have thought a LOT about the backup thing. Until very recently (using Windows XP), I used Microsoft's SyncToy, which is a free download part of their "Power Toys." It's very easy to use, configurable, and straight forward. I setup a weekly Outlook reminder to plug-in my external harddrive and run the sync. Here are some thoughts: I keep the harddrive unplugged from the mains and my PC unless I use it for the backup. That way, in case there is a power surge, etc., the PC may be fried, but not the HDD. I do not bother backing up the whole drive, making "restore" images, etc. I figure if something goes wrong with the drive, OS, etc., just get a new drive (or do a re-format) and start fresh with a clean copy of Windows and get the docs from the external HDD. If all of your applications are legit, this is doable. Weekly is enough. If there is some disaster (i.e. we had a flood in our building a few years ago), a weeks lost work is tolerable. Plus, most of my source code goes to a Subversion repository anyway. But, now I'm running Windows 8 with the previously mentioned "File History" feature set for 12-hour backups. We'll see how it goes. Good luck. I hope you never need to restore your drive!
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I do not have any backup scheme in place on my home computer. I repent. Now what ? Every backup scheme I've tried before has always been marked by -- Complexity -- Annoyance -- Hideously Inadequate restore procedures -- Space Invaders (I was around before CD-RWs existed) -- Time Bandits (So many rules you had to sit there and run it yourself) I used some freeware backup apps, and the authors of these should receive the highest acclaim. Indeed, they should be able to find paid work within a month if not an hour, should they need it. Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where... -- Plug in a USB cable -- Pop up the app -- Click once -- Go to work -- Come home, spare disk goes in the closet So how much will such a thing cost ? Who's making this kind of stuff these days ?
I've had good results with SynchBack Free. If you want more elaborate functions, they have an paid versions with even more features. http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html#freeware[^]
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I do not have any backup scheme in place on my home computer. I repent. Now what ? Every backup scheme I've tried before has always been marked by -- Complexity -- Annoyance -- Hideously Inadequate restore procedures -- Space Invaders (I was around before CD-RWs existed) -- Time Bandits (So many rules you had to sit there and run it yourself) I used some freeware backup apps, and the authors of these should receive the highest acclaim. Indeed, they should be able to find paid work within a month if not an hour, should they need it. Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where... -- Plug in a USB cable -- Pop up the app -- Click once -- Go to work -- Come home, spare disk goes in the closet So how much will such a thing cost ? Who's making this kind of stuff these days ?
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I do not have any backup scheme in place on my home computer. I repent. Now what ? Every backup scheme I've tried before has always been marked by -- Complexity -- Annoyance -- Hideously Inadequate restore procedures -- Space Invaders (I was around before CD-RWs existed) -- Time Bandits (So many rules you had to sit there and run it yourself) I used some freeware backup apps, and the authors of these should receive the highest acclaim. Indeed, they should be able to find paid work within a month if not an hour, should they need it. Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where... -- Plug in a USB cable -- Pop up the app -- Click once -- Go to work -- Come home, spare disk goes in the closet So how much will such a thing cost ? Who's making this kind of stuff these days ?
IOmega used give a program with their Zip and Jaz drives that I used to use a lot. It would run in the background and monitor the directories you told it to watch and when a change occurred, it would mirror the change to another drive/directory of your choice. Obviously intended so that you would use your Zip or Jaz drives as a backup device, but I found the programmers had done it right in that it was not restricted for use with their products. I used to have it monitor My Documents and any other folder (like My Programs :laugh: ) that was near and dear to me and have it store the copies on a Linksys NSLU2 with two USB drive enclosures attached. My plan was that if there was ever a fire, I'd be able to grab the NAS drives and run out the door. I've been meaning to recreate it, but at the moment I have a WD My Book I hook up and make backups on. Most of my important work I carry on fist full of thumbdrives that I back up to the WD drive as well.
Psychosis at 10 Film at 11 Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
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that's what I do, backup HD, also, is at work.
Nihil obstat
Same here. There is a 500GB external hard drive in my desk at work right now with all the important stuff I would prefer not to lose. It's only there for off-site storage. I use Acronis Trueimage Home. I've used it for years. They had some problems a couple of releases ago but the current 2013 version is great. You can do file backups, partition backups or disk backups. Everything is easy to set up. Just before a new version comes out, you can find people selling it with a rebate that results in an almost zero price.
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I do not have any backup scheme in place on my home computer. I repent. Now what ? Every backup scheme I've tried before has always been marked by -- Complexity -- Annoyance -- Hideously Inadequate restore procedures -- Space Invaders (I was around before CD-RWs existed) -- Time Bandits (So many rules you had to sit there and run it yourself) I used some freeware backup apps, and the authors of these should receive the highest acclaim. Indeed, they should be able to find paid work within a month if not an hour, should they need it. Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where... -- Plug in a USB cable -- Pop up the app -- Click once -- Go to work -- Come home, spare disk goes in the closet So how much will such a thing cost ? Who's making this kind of stuff these days ?
I used to use XCopy and .BAT file being ran from a schedule. However, some files get locked and XCopy will skip them or hang on them. I started using Coibian Backup, (freeware), and it's perfect for what I need. You can set different folders for backing up, and create multiple backup settings, so you can have different configs backup different sets of files. For instance, I backup my emails and project files more often than other files that don't change as often. Easy to use, and setup. You can run it from schedules, or manually run it.
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I do not have any backup scheme in place on my home computer. I repent. Now what ? Every backup scheme I've tried before has always been marked by -- Complexity -- Annoyance -- Hideously Inadequate restore procedures -- Space Invaders (I was around before CD-RWs existed) -- Time Bandits (So many rules you had to sit there and run it yourself) I used some freeware backup apps, and the authors of these should receive the highest acclaim. Indeed, they should be able to find paid work within a month if not an hour, should they need it. Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where... -- Plug in a USB cable -- Pop up the app -- Click once -- Go to work -- Come home, spare disk goes in the closet So how much will such a thing cost ? Who's making this kind of stuff these days ?
Digital data is fragile and unreliable. A billion bits can vanish as quickly as one. The plus side of digital data is that backups are potentially very easy. But in practice we have to deal with byzantine backup systems that are frustratingly counterintuitive and awkward. What I'd like doesn't exist yet, but it would check the folder trees I selected (when I'm not using the computer) and back up any changes to another location on the Internet. I wouldn't even know it's there.
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I do not have any backup scheme in place on my home computer. I repent. Now what ? Every backup scheme I've tried before has always been marked by -- Complexity -- Annoyance -- Hideously Inadequate restore procedures -- Space Invaders (I was around before CD-RWs existed) -- Time Bandits (So many rules you had to sit there and run it yourself) I used some freeware backup apps, and the authors of these should receive the highest acclaim. Indeed, they should be able to find paid work within a month if not an hour, should they need it. Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where... -- Plug in a USB cable -- Pop up the app -- Click once -- Go to work -- Come home, spare disk goes in the closet So how much will such a thing cost ? Who's making this kind of stuff these days ?
If its not a UEFI system, I use Ghost. Even the 2 YO version I have came with a bootable CD that could be used to make/restore bare-iron backups to an external USB harddrive. Include the boot track and you'll have everything needed for a bare-iron restore. Not quite one-click to get started, but once started, no more interaction until its finished. For my new UEFI laptop, it won't boot from the Norton CD-ROM, so I'm stuck using the built-in stuff Lenovo provided. It is much more one-click, but I don't know if it made a truely bare-iron backup. I don't trust backup apps that run under the main OS -- too big a possibility they won't catch everything.
We can program with only 1's, but if all you've got are zeros, you've got nothing.
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I do not have any backup scheme in place on my home computer. I repent. Now what ? Every backup scheme I've tried before has always been marked by -- Complexity -- Annoyance -- Hideously Inadequate restore procedures -- Space Invaders (I was around before CD-RWs existed) -- Time Bandits (So many rules you had to sit there and run it yourself) I used some freeware backup apps, and the authors of these should receive the highest acclaim. Indeed, they should be able to find paid work within a month if not an hour, should they need it. Still, what will really work, and what will really catch on, is something where... -- Plug in a USB cable -- Pop up the app -- Click once -- Go to work -- Come home, spare disk goes in the closet So how much will such a thing cost ? Who's making this kind of stuff these days ?
Unfortunately most backup programs simply don't work for me. So, I wrote a script based on robocopy. It's available at : https://github.com/latusrepo/backupjca[^] The down side is that you have to close all programs (e.g. Outlook) before running it.
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You could do this with a single .BAT file:
@Echo OFF
Set Day=%DATE:~0,3%
Goto Drive%Day%:DriveMon
:DriveWed
:DriveFri
:DriveSun
Set Drive=E:
Goto Start:DriveTue
:DriveThu
:DriveSat
Set Drive=F::Start
RoboCopy C:\ %Drive% /MIRYou'd need to customize the Drive environment variable and the RoboCopy command, but it does alternate drives based on the day.
Software Zen:
delete this;Use %~dp0 which gives you the path (minus batchfile name) to where the batch file currently running there are variations too %~d0 - drive %~p0 - path minus drive letter
Q. Hey man! have you sorted out the finite soup machine? A. Why yes, it's celery or tomato.
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Digital data is fragile and unreliable. A billion bits can vanish as quickly as one. The plus side of digital data is that backups are potentially very easy. But in practice we have to deal with byzantine backup systems that are frustratingly counterintuitive and awkward. What I'd like doesn't exist yet, but it would check the folder trees I selected (when I'm not using the computer) and back up any changes to another location on the Internet. I wouldn't even know it's there.
Something like version control system built into the filesystem. Configurable to select a different location than system drive. Windows 8 has a Time Machine backup, just like those Apple folks have had for years.
Q. Hey man! have you sorted out the finite soup machine? A. Why yes, it's celery or tomato.