What's Your Computer Backup Method?

[Ben]

Just curious regarding what everyone is using for computer backups. I've run the gamut from tapes to Windows Backup to Retrospect. For the last couple of years, I've been backing up data only. I have all my data in a couple of directories that every couple of weeks I drag over to an external USB HD and put into dated directories. As the drive fills up, I delete the oldest dates. I also archive onto DVD every month or two and put those in the gun safe.

I sometimes think about going back to full backup, like Retrospect, but then figure if I have a crash, maybe that's a sign I should just nuke and reinstall OS and prgs. A little extra work doing things like replacing bookmarks and email addresses from backup, but they go onto a fresh install.

So what do you all do?

[K Frame]

Prayer.

[lee n. field]

Once per week or thereabouts I tar up the contents of /home to an file on an external usb hard disk.  If I need to I can reinstall Linux from scratch and be back up in 3 hours or so.

I don't like tape.  It tends to fail way too often, it's expensive and compatibility over time is very limited.  CDs and DVDs just don't have the capacity anymore.

[Gewehr98]

I don't do anything fancy, just network distribution and RAID arrays. 

Every computer in the house has a partition called "Archive", and at least once a week I backup the Outlook.pst files, the bookmarks, mp3 files, documents, and any other files that need saving to those partitions.  All the "Archive" partitions on the network are identical to each other, with my wife's and my workstation also storing them on a RAID 1 pair installed in each machine.  I use FolderMatch v3.4.5 to do all the synchronizing.

Items I really don't want to lose get backed up to an 80Gb USB external HD attached to my Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop.  I've also got two Quantum SnapServer 1100 units attached to the network, and about once a month I'll dump the "Archive" partitions to the SnapServer NAS units. 

One of these days I'll finish my PowerPoint diagram of the home network.  It looks like Charlotte's Web on amphetamines.   

[matis]

Once or twice a week I do a disk clone using Acronis -- to an external usb drive.

Easiest way for me.  If necessary, I can remove the external drive from its enclosure, plug it into the computer and boot up.

Or, I can, at any time, copy partial contents from the usb clone drive to my C drive.

Anything, like a surge, for instance, that might destroy my C drive, cannot hurt my usb drive because it keep it disconnected from both data and power.

What could be easier?



matis

[Standing Wolf]

All the data gets copied to an external hard drive as often as it's added to or altered. Once a month, I burn a DVD with all the important data, and keep it in the trunk of my car in case my house burns down. Every three or four months, I copy all the applications and assorted other system stuff onto DVDs.

So far, paranoia has warded off losses, although I've lost a hard drive or two over the years.

[Monkeyleg]

I have a legal pad and a pen. I write down all sorts of "ones" and "zeroes."

I don't know what they mean, but I figure I can use them if I have to restore data.

[Ben]

I don't know what they mean, but I figure I can use them if I have to restore data.

So is that the "monkeys at the typewriters" method??   

[Ben]

CDs and DVDs just don't have the capacity anymore.

Yeah, I should qualify my DVD archiving to just my important docs and stuff. Images, music, etc. just go to an external drive and I keep my fingers crossed regarding major disasters.

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

At home, an old Sun Ultra 10 with a big hard drive.
At work, rsync, large hard drives, and www.rsync.net

[JimMarch]

The best backup method I've found is GParted-Clonezilla:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

Boot your system with this CD, attach an external USB drive, and it will back up the PC's main hard disk to a file on the external disk.

Here's the kicker: you can back up various partitions, or you can back up the whole drive - regardless of disk format.

Yes folks, it's a free Linux-based backup system that works GREAT backing up Windows!

 

[gunsmith]

I am such a Luddite! I do not even know what happens when a computer crashes, I would have to buy a new one I suppose.
How do I learn about this stuff?
What stuff is so important that I have to back it up?

[mtnbkr]

I keep most things in the "My Documents" directory, so backups are merely a matter of copying that directory and the pertinent Outlook files to my Linux box whenever the mood strikes me.  We don't generate a bunch of new data each month, so once every 1-3 months is sufficient.  It's crude, but it works.  I've had to restore from that "backup" once.

Chris

[crt360]

I tape good fortunes from a local Chinese restaurant to my PC in the hope that they ward off evil spirits and help my system flourish.

[lee n. field]

when a computer crashes, I would have to buy a new one I suppose.

What stuff is so important that I have to back it up?

I have documents and mail going back almost 20 years, that I have migrated continuously from computer to computer and OS to OS (Atari ST to DOS/Deskview to OS/2 to Linux.  Always avoided running 'Doze on personal machines.)  I'd hate to break the chain.

[TarpleyG]

Once a week I run a script that runs NTBACKUP and backs up everything I have selected to back up.  It stores this job on an external drive along with the previous 4 weeks of backups that I keep.  It deletes any job over 28 days old.  Why, you ask?  Well, if you have ever tried restoring anything from NTBACKUP, you'd know that sometimes it's a crap shoot.  I figure by keeping at least 4 copies, one of them is bound to be okay.

Greg

[wmenorr67]

Whatever stops a 45.

[roo_ster]

My backup regimen depends on available resources.

Currently, at work and home my favored method is what dasmi mentioned, rsync.  Stuff it into scripts & stuff those scripts in to cron.  Works for linux/unix and my Windows boxes with cygwin installed on them.

Oh, and that is to another HD.  Tapes are barbaric, besides being undependable in actual usage.

We have used Snap Servers in the past.  Never again for mission-critical or security-relavant data.  Just ain't ready for prime time.

[Brian Williams]

120Gig Portable USB powered HD from Western Digital and I keep it in my messenger bag.

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

For you windows users interested in trying rsync, see http://itefix.no/cwrsync/

Rsync for windows!

[mtnbkr]

that's a link to futurama vids. I think you pasted the wrong link.

Chris

[Declaration Day]

I have very little on my computer that I have to back up.  Business form letters and digital photos are about it.  Those are written to CD-R on occasion. 

Everything else is either programs that I have the CDs for, bookmarked websites that I can easily re-bookmark, and saved passwords that are all in my head.

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

that's a link to futurama vids. I think you pasted the wrong link.

Chris

Whoops! You're right!  I've fixed it.

[Gewehr98]

Ok...

We have used Snap Servers in the past.  Never again for mission-critical or security-relavant data.  Just ain't ready for prime time.

I'm VERY curious to find out what went wrong with your Snap Server experiences.  I went the Snap Server route here at my home intranet after doing some research and making some phone calls to old friends. The TS agency I just retired from used them by the gross as part of their JWICS, SIPRNET, and NIPRNET intranet backup regime, and I specifically asked the sysadmins about their mean time between failures. They came highly recommended, as did RAID arrays. So I went with both concepts, tapes being so "last week".

[jamz]

Acronis is good, but there is this neat little freeware app call SyncBack that is tiny, and can back stuff up full, incremental, whatever, to any drive, even a usb.