POLL: Do you make back-ups of your hard drive?

Do you make back-ups of your files?


  • Total voters
    50
  • Poll closed .
Messages
5,629
Location
Catalunya
I thought I could post this poll to make everybody aware that most of us do not make back-ups of our files, and that if we value the information that we have on them we should.

I voted for #1 because I have two hard drives, one for software and another for data. I know it can crash as well but it has less chances I guess:dunno:
 
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I bought a external hard drive from Simple Drive, then bought some true image back-up software someone recommended and do Full Backups of the entire computer every day. It only keeps 3 copies of backups before it starts overwriting the oldest version. It may be overkill doing it everyday but with my wife using the computer most everyday for work/school stuff I am not gonna take any chances. If it crashes I can restore the entire computer to the way it was
 
ok aaron can you give us the recipe?
two machine's one in the shop and one in the house.. some software and mostly pics.. have tried to get the other half to back up pics but havnt succeeded yet.. so what size external HD and what software do you suggest? i do it daily at work but still have got burnt..but those machines run constantly..
 
I try to grab a full backup on fridays, but I don't always do it.

My work PC has an online backup service that Is supposed to take care of things, but I have a dedicted external backup drive I use on it.

I have a couple of other backup drives I use for my home pc's.

Thanks for the reminder, I'm going to schedule some backups today...
 
I have an external HD on both of my windows computers, and the one main computer, I also have a raid array, mirror drive set up. I've lost a drive or two on the raid arrays over the years, just buy a new drive, smash the mirror, insert new drive, and rebuild the mirror, simple!

I've also got a Mac, and it has Time machine on it, very cool! :thumb:

I'll be getting Carbonite in the new year for the one main Windows machine and the Mac too, an off site back up is very important to have as well.

Cheers!
 
I use something called a Mirra Server (500GB) that is connected to all of my machines on my network. It keeps the last seven copies of anything I add (create, download, etc.) to any machine. I can also access it via the Internet, so I can get anything I want from anywhere.

I also use 1TB of Network Attached Storage where I copy files from my local machines. It gives me easy access to files from any machine at the house.
 
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I've been using SyncToy for almost a year...is that the same thing? (Seems odd that MS would have two separate sync utilities.)

Interesting Lee, I'm not sure. Will the SyncToy go over internet connections? I haven't tried it yet but I think because it's setup with your passport account it allows sync over the internet and remote file access. I think MS has a few others, this one was just released this month and replaced an older product they had (Folder Sync?).
 

+1 on the True Image. I used to use Norton Ghost, but it was too bloated, and everytime I wanted to use for some stupid reason I had to go through the activation process and a couple of times had to call up Norton to get them to 'let' me activate it again. It was just frustrating so I no longer use Norton.

The TrueImage is quick and easy and gives me a nice image file of the entire disk....
 
Don't think so, but that's not something I have any current use for. It will sync between folders on a LAN, but it's usually faster just to plug in the portable drive and hit 'sync all'.

I don't either, but I wonder if they plan to do some hosting service for sync backups or something with the Live version. I'm liking the version I have. It keeps all my docs, bookmarks, and pictures the same for both computers without having to click anything.
 
I voted for #1 because I have two hard drives, one for software and another for data. I know it can crash as well but it has less chances I guess:dunno:

If your data drive crashes you have still lost all your data.

Here is what I have been doing. I down loaded a program called Syncback and I installed a second hard drive too.

I will not go into the details but all my data is saved where I can find it on the main drive. All my data is backed up automatically by Syncback onto the second drive hourly and every 15 mintues for some of my more critical business stuff. It just runs in the background and I never know it doing anything and it's FREE! Just cost the 2nd drive.

If the main drive fails I still have some work to do to get back up but I have my data. If the data drive crashed, I just have install a new drive to replace it and nothing is lost.

I am about to build a new computer, or rather upgrade one I have. I am thinking for going with RAID controller. Basically you have two identical hard drives. Everything is written from one to the other. If one fails it will shift to the other. You just replace it and never miss a beat.

Hard drives, raid cards,backup software etc. are too cheap now for anyone to have an excuse for losing data. Well other than theft maybe.
 
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I'm a big fan of offsite backup because your house will likely be destroyed when you aren't there. I use Carbonite but there are others equally good. I pay about $80 for two years (IIRC). The data is encrypted so they can't see if even if they wanted to - but they don't want to be able to see it. Backup is immediate, depending on the availability of your Internet connection.

You have to have broadband access to use offsite backup.

The other advantage is that you can access your files when you're traveling (password protected).

Mike
 
After over 25 years in data networking and security; I do them regularly. At work it is monthly, to a storage array, which in turn is backed up offsite. At home I backup to disc which is then stored at LOML's house (her backups are stored here).

Backup any of your special drivers or patches as well. I run a couple older machines in the stable. A near dead Dell laptop which is barely capable of being an Internet radio for the shop (special Dell drivers for the sound card), and a Win2K machine that kinda floats around the house (also has special Dell drivers for various stuff).

The system I am on now is mostly for POP mail and Forum crawling so the only thing that gets backed up on it are downloaded WWing articles and shop photos. You can fire your backups off before you go to bed. . . do it . . . and be happy later ;-)
 
USB Drive

Use Casper and an external USB drive.

Run the program about once per week. Casper makes the external drive an image of your main drive. Operating sys, all programs and data. If maindrive fails just swap out drives and you are back in business. Takes about 15 minutes to run the back up.

Have had to use it once and it worked perfect. Lost only a few of the most recent files.

If you every need to reload windows you will consider the $50 or so for the second hard drive very cheap insurance. Instead of hours of frustration and lost data trying to get back to where you were before the problem you just swap out the hard drives. I guess it is kinda a cheap, low tech RAID method.
 
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