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Thread ID: 100653 2009-06-15 10:38:00 External Hard Drive Backups pctek (84) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
782556 2009-06-15 22:04:00 Nightly incremental system images with WHS, and DATA is backed up using SyncBack to a NAS.

Blam
Blam (54)
782557 2009-06-15 22:18:00 HDD, external disk and Gspace or Sky Drive. I'm wondering why the last two options, especially to safeguard the files from the risk of fire for example, haven't been mentioned more often. What are the disadvantages of those?

No disadvantage at doing backups online as long as you are doing a local backup as well.
Your local backup will always be your first one to go for in the case of hardware failure, accidental deletions etc. If, for whatever reason the local backup hasn't got the data you need then you can restore from the online backup. This will take longer, depending on the size of the data to be restored.
The online backup would be used in case of a fire, theft, flood etc that may damage the original hardware/data and your local backups. They are more like an insurance policy and you should hope that you never have to restore from an online backup.
CYaBro (73)
782558 2009-06-19 20:24:00 What you should do is have it both on the external AND the internal drives. Chances of both drives having a problem at once is unlikely.
Indeed, but your data could still be lost in the event of a fire, flood or theft. I backup to a waterproof and fireproof ioSafe (www.iosafe.com) external hard drive *and* backup online with Mozy (http://mozy.com/).

The key is not to have all your eggs in one basket ... or all your baskets in the same place!
tterb (15008)
782559 2009-06-19 20:45:00 Yes , you must have off site backups.

I have copied most of my important files, pics and movies to DVD's and I store these in the boot of my car.
Digby (677)
782560 2009-06-19 21:15:00 I try (with variable success) to keep everything backed up on two seperate external drives. Or to be more accurate - keep two copies of everything on seperate external drives - the actual number of drives involved has long ago ballooned beyond just two!

And once the data has been stored, I make sure those drives are disconnected and stored away from any possible source of power spike.

Older drives that have given hints of trouble still get some use this way for storing backups of less important stuff, or even for storing a third copy of some data (yeah, my data insecurity knowns no bounds).

Crazy as it sounds, there's now 19 drives here. 3 in active (internal) use on two machines, the rest as some measure of backup. Trying to keep track of which files are where, and whether two copies have been made is becoming a nightmare - to the point where I've started to make my own software to track and report on the filename, location (drive and folder) and number of copies, using the size, date and time stamps as the uniqque identifier for each file - that way altered filenames do not muck up the system.

Of all the data, the least protected (and least valued) is the operating system itself.
Paul.Cov (425)
782561 2009-06-20 06:00:00 I back up dozens of documents, small images, etc online (in my Google based blogs/page creator, free web server, sky drive, etc) - some are linked to my sites. Also use Gmail for storage of documents. Also back up on separate partitions on the PC drive, and DVD's... kahawai chaser (3545)
782562 2009-06-20 07:37:00 Automated nightly backup to a Windows Home Server with mirrored drives, manual monthly backup from that to a portable drive I keep offsite. A few important files are kept online too. Saucy (14844)
782563 2009-06-20 07:46:00 I have an external HD that I sync important folders in my internal drive to, using a good old batch script :) jwil1 (65)
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