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 ?
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.
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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 ?
I've used batch files to back-up for years. From the days of DOS and through all versions of Windows. With modern BIOSes (hot-swappable drives) and Windows (Scheduling), it couldn't be made any cheaper, any better or any easier. And the software (XCopy) is FREE! The really important stuff is encoded and then copied to a "GoogleDrive".
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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 ?
IMHO, anything that requires the user to do something on a regular basis in order to keep his/her system backed up will fail as a result of the something not being done shortly before the backup becomes essential! Continuous backup of changing data and documents is the only real answer. I tried Carbonite, which works but turned out to be horrendously (unusably) slow when I had a crash which required that a GB or two of data be restored. I now use AVG's little-known LiveKive application, which I find marvellous. Once everything that you specify is saved (which happens relatively quickly), it seems as if versions of your files are stored every time you save them to disk. Restoring is also reasonably fast. It is possible to restore any (date and time) version of any live file, and versions of deleted files are also retained. I have no connection with AVG other than that of being a long-time satisfied user.
Peter R. Fletcher
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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
Most of these offsite backup services let you specify which files and folders to back up or ignore. If you let it default to everything, you start off with something like "38 days until backed up," which is hardly confidence inspiring. What's getting backed up first? A trick I use to make sure my most important files get updated quickly is to initially limit the backup to a subset of files. These are usually documents, so they update quickly. Once that's sorted, I add the next most important files (family photo archives in my case). Then I add my music. I hold back on the big stuff (movies, etc.) until after the small stuff and more important stuff has been archived and is just being updated with changes and additions. Anything like apps that can be recovered from disks or App Store doesn't get backup up to the cloud.
Director of Content Development, The Code Project
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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 ?
Well, after many hard learned lessons over the decades I finally setup something that worked well in my work scenario. It stored about 10 years worth of data incl. personal pictures, videos, projects, digitized documents and so forth. The normal stuff you'd backup. It was copied to a e-sata connected RAID-5 with 4 Tb disks (1 of course allocated for restoration) which took the daily backup, started manually as work finished at different times. Differential copies, and from time to time a full backup. I used an open source, rather simple solution to do the actual file copying (sorry, the name escapes me at the moment). In addition a straight copy of the most important stuff from the raid was copied to a simple external hard-drive bi-daily, and on top of that I also burned content to 50 GB Blu-Ray disks from time to time. Then a gas tank connected to a heater exploded in my office and burned everything (incl. /me). Me and a camera survived and now a year later I only encrypt and 7-zip what I have, and upload everything to an online backup service + DVD copies. Lesson learned (for me at least): don't give data too much value. I do have the most important stuff as memories, harder to restore perhaps, but still 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 ?
C-P-User-3 wrote:
-- Plug in a USB cable
-- Pop up the app
-- Click once
-- Go to work
-- Come home, spare disk goes in the closetEasy with a NAS. Mine does two things: 1 - "Pull" backup from several computers every night 2 - Plug in a USB drive, press the button and wait while it backs itself up to the external disk. Talking about closets, my NAS enclosures are in a closet far, far away from the PCs - less likely to be noticed and be tempting for burglers.
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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 run a Windows Home Server 2011 machine with a 3TB drive that automatically performs monthly, weekly, daily and incremental backups of two of my PCs at home - mine and my wife's. I was running an older version (2003 I think) and successfully did a complete restore of my C: drive a couple of times. Upgraded to 2011 recently - I "think" it's working OK :cool: but I haven't had to do a restore yet.
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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 ?
Opinions on these drives are welcome. They are both $45 and both 1 TB. I have had very good luck with both Seagate and Western Digital for years. My gut instinct is to jump on the deal, as this provides precisely what I need for the moment. Combined with the scripts offered here, this looks like the way to go. Does anyone own either of these drives ? Western Digital's Drive[^] Seagate's Drive[^]