How do you manage your home computer backups?
Discussion
Not the most elegant solution but critical files are stored on Dropbox, and all my family photos/vids are backed up monthly onto 2 external HDDs, 1 kept at home, 1 at my parents house (incase of fire). I'm sure there's a better way of doing it, but every month I plug both our phones and the camera in, rip everything off and backup to the HDDs.
It's the photos that are most important. What with 99% of them being electronic I think we'd both be devastated if we lost them all.
It's the photos that are most important. What with 99% of them being electronic I think we'd both be devastated if we lost them all.
Topical for me, I have two time machine drives connected to the iMac, different makes and until recently I was using Duppplica back up as off site cloud based storage.
However they've gone bust so am looking for an alternative method of offsite backup. Problem is my backup has to be to a Server in the EU I understand for data protection as (happy to be told this is not correct and why).
My other thought is a NAS at my sons house backed but according to another thread I put up a,few weeks ago that is quite complicated.
Still, this thread has motivated me to think about t all again!
However they've gone bust so am looking for an alternative method of offsite backup. Problem is my backup has to be to a Server in the EU I understand for data protection as (happy to be told this is not correct and why).
My other thought is a NAS at my sons house backed but according to another thread I put up a,few weeks ago that is quite complicated.
Still, this thread has motivated me to think about t all again!
steveatesh said:
My other thought is a NAS at my sons house backed but according to another thread I put up a,few weeks ago that is quite complicated.
Still, this thread has motivated me to think about t all again!
It depends whether this intimidates you:Still, this thread has motivated me to think about t all again!
http://www.pebra.net/blog/2015/08/23/syncthing/
It's like most things in life, you can choose to make them as complicated as possible or easy.
Both have advantages and disadvantages.
For a PC based system, I still think it's hard to beat for both simplicity & ease of use/non techie layering.
To simply, get something like: Allway Sync
https://allwaysync.com/
Tell it what you want backing up
Connect a USB 3.0 Hard drive and just forget about it.
For the extra layer of protection, simply purchase a duplicate USB 3.0 Hard drive and copy contents of the first onto the second once a month and leave it off site in case of fire/theft etc.
Android phones offer many choices also, you can auto upload pictures/videos to any number of 'cloud' providers, many times without spending a penny.
Only dedicated techies go to the bother of multi sync onto a NAS , with redundant RAID clusters scattered around the globe.
Businesses aside, your average home user has no need for that level of complexity. Unless they're a geek and just like geeking out for it's own sake.
It has parallels to networking. Prior to PnP, networking was like a Black Magic ceremony getting stuff to work, now it's painless and effortless. All computer related stuff should be like that. sometimes people overcomplicate stuff to the point that the average user is put off.
Both have advantages and disadvantages.
For a PC based system, I still think it's hard to beat for both simplicity & ease of use/non techie layering.
To simply, get something like: Allway Sync
https://allwaysync.com/
Tell it what you want backing up
Connect a USB 3.0 Hard drive and just forget about it.
For the extra layer of protection, simply purchase a duplicate USB 3.0 Hard drive and copy contents of the first onto the second once a month and leave it off site in case of fire/theft etc.
Android phones offer many choices also, you can auto upload pictures/videos to any number of 'cloud' providers, many times without spending a penny.
Only dedicated techies go to the bother of multi sync onto a NAS , with redundant RAID clusters scattered around the globe.
Businesses aside, your average home user has no need for that level of complexity. Unless they're a geek and just like geeking out for it's own sake.
It has parallels to networking. Prior to PnP, networking was like a Black Magic ceremony getting stuff to work, now it's painless and effortless. All computer related stuff should be like that. sometimes people overcomplicate stuff to the point that the average user is put off.
techguyone said:
For the extra layer of protection, simply purchase a duplicate USB 3.0 Hard drive and copy contents of the first onto the second once a month and leave it off site in case of fire/theft etc.
This is what I do for my photos - 2 identical USB hard drives, one at my house tucked away that I copy photos onto whenever I put them on my computer and one at my parents' house. I swap them over every now and again.I suppose it depends how much you value your personal stuff. One time machine HD decided to die last year. No warning. No drama either, just bought another and popped it in the caddy however I had other backups. The perfect storm would have been the main iMac hard drive failing before the the new hard drive had arrived. So I do not trust to one external backup.
Tried a NAS once and the controller failed, everything on the disk was un reachable. I suppose a similar can happen to a external drive casing? Never really happy with it anyway. Binned the case and put the hard drive to use in a caddy.
Tried a NAS once and the controller failed, everything on the disk was un reachable. I suppose a similar can happen to a external drive casing? Never really happy with it anyway. Binned the case and put the hard drive to use in a caddy.
I'd say that backups are now easy and an accessible service for anyone. It's especially easy with Mac OS.
My setup that i described earlier in this thread seems complex. There are multiple services in use. But in reality it's very straightforward to use.
1. Time Machine - Plug in an external USB drive and turn on Time Machine in Mac OS. You can add multiple drives and rotate them to locations away from home.
2. Arq - Install it, enter your details for cloud services (eg. Amazon Drive that comes with Amazon Prime, or Google Cloud Drive that comes with your Google account), then select folders to backup.
3. iCloud - Enable it in Mac OS.
All three of those are very simple, and once the initial easy setup is done they can be all but forgotten about as they just run in the background.
With the simplicity of this i encourage everyone to ensure they have suitable backups. There's nothing scary or complex about it.
My setup that i described earlier in this thread seems complex. There are multiple services in use. But in reality it's very straightforward to use.
1. Time Machine - Plug in an external USB drive and turn on Time Machine in Mac OS. You can add multiple drives and rotate them to locations away from home.
2. Arq - Install it, enter your details for cloud services (eg. Amazon Drive that comes with Amazon Prime, or Google Cloud Drive that comes with your Google account), then select folders to backup.
3. iCloud - Enable it in Mac OS.
All three of those are very simple, and once the initial easy setup is done they can be all but forgotten about as they just run in the background.
With the simplicity of this i encourage everyone to ensure they have suitable backups. There's nothing scary or complex about it.
I'd say with Mac OS Sierra and iCloud it's got even easier for anyone to have multiple copies of data. I use Time machine for full local backups then use iCloud for documents, photos, notes etc. Obviously this will only appeal to those heavily into the Apple ecosystem (I am), but the newer iCloud features like the photo library have allowed me to cancel my cloud backup subscription with another provider - which was getting a little expensive anyway.
jmorgan said:
Careful how you interact with iCloud. It has pit falls. At least with my other online service, the rubbish is not emptied until I tell it to and there are version copies.
I wouldn't say iCloud is perfect and there's still a huge amount of confusion over all the functions it provides, but it has steadily improved over the years. Add local time machine backups and it should be a reasonably safe option. My previous cloud backup provider lost all my data due to a bug in the client software...
Rapid response Matt :-)
- Home use
- Backup with version history
- Happy to upload over a few days
- Mac OS
Oh and I love the look of Arq....will likely invest in that. I currently backup (clone) my main drive via TimeMachine to a USB 2Tb drive and the other 3 x 2Tb drives to another 3 x 2Tb USB drives attached via USB hub.
I won't need to backup all files, as movies is one complete drives for example, which I can restore from DVD.
- Home use
- Backup with version history
- Happy to upload over a few days
- Mac OS
Oh and I love the look of Arq....will likely invest in that. I currently backup (clone) my main drive via TimeMachine to a USB 2Tb drive and the other 3 x 2Tb drives to another 3 x 2Tb USB drives attached via USB hub.
I won't need to backup all files, as movies is one complete drives for example, which I can restore from DVD.
Edited by Luca Brazzi on Thursday 19th January 14:53
Bikerjon said:
My previous cloud backup provider lost all my data due to a bug in the client software...
Which is why I have multiple versions, that is different media. I know if I lose the password to mine, non Apple on line, I lose the lot (not the account, zero knowledge policy). However I only have to get it reset, change my password on the reset and re upload.Just started to get into the iCloud photos system and I am making sure that is backed up separately as deleting the pictures and they are gone, at least as far as the deleted items folder for 30 days. I have to keep looking in to make sure I have not deleted anything important.
jmorgan said:
Which is why I have multiple versions, that is different media. I know if I lose the password to mine, non Apple on line, I lose the lot (not the account, zero knowledge policy). However I only have to get it reset, change my password on the reset and re upload.
Just started to get into the iCloud photos system and I am making sure that is backed up separately as deleting the pictures and they are gone, at least as far as the deleted items folder for 30 days. I have to keep looking in to make sure I have not deleted anything important.
Yeah i think that highlights some sensible rules for all to follow.Just started to get into the iCloud photos system and I am making sure that is backed up separately as deleting the pictures and they are gone, at least as far as the deleted items folder for 30 days. I have to keep looking in to make sure I have not deleted anything important.
1. Don't rely on a single backup method/provider
2. Don't assume sync services (eg. iCloud) are the same as backups
Point 2 i see as a fairly important one to acknowledge. Sync systems are dangerous if you assume they are a backup. It's all to easy to delete files and not notice, and for them to be removed after 30 days without you ever knowing. Ensure you have fully versioned backups (eg. Time Machine for a local backup on Mac OS, or software such as Arq).
I thought I was smart doing backups to two separate hard drives. Until I deleted 1000 photos and backed it up, then backed it up again. A year later I'm looking for said photos and noticed about a dozen folders missing from my collection....
And they were also missing on both backups.
Luckily I eventually found them on a computer at my mums house where I had also saved the pics for her to peruse. Not sure how you can work around an issue like that, and no idea how I deleted so many folders either.
And they were also missing on both backups.
Luckily I eventually found them on a computer at my mums house where I had also saved the pics for her to peruse. Not sure how you can work around an issue like that, and no idea how I deleted so many folders either.
King Herald said:
Not sure how you can work around an issue like that, and no idea how I deleted so many folders either.
As mentioned above, this is where versioned backups shine. It will allow you to recover files you accidentally delete for far longer than any sync service.As you point out, it's incredibly easy to delete files without realising it.
I would guess that the vast majority of people who rely on a cloud backup are in breach of the terms of service. Some people are happy to ignore this, others think it's too risky for a backup service.
As an example.
https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/iclo...
If you manage your own backup, you would still be in breach of copyright, but you would be able to manage the situation if required.
As an example.
https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/iclo...
Apple Terms and Conditions IV.B.e said:
You agree that you will NOT use the Service to engage in any copyright infringement or other intellectual property infringement (including uploading any content to which you do not have the right to upload)...
If your backup set contains just a single file you didn't create, chances are it is covered by copyright that doesn't give you the right to copy it to a server. Apple (and most other providers) would be justified in deleting your entire account.If you manage your own backup, you would still be in breach of copyright, but you would be able to manage the situation if required.
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