How do you manage your home computer backups?
Discussion
Boring subject i know.
I've recently started to pay more attention to backups of my computers. I have always made backups, but am now looking at better solutions.
The solution i've been using for my iMac is using Arq (http://arqbackup.com) to backup to Amazon S3 and Amazon Glacier, and using an external drive and Time Machine. This is what i've used for a good few years now.
Recently i received a new MBP, so have been looking at alternative solutions. My current solution is as follows:
- iCloud for primary files and to keep data in sync between all my devices (i'm heavily into the Apple ecosystem)
- Amazon Cloud Drive for photos (i recently noticed this was free for Prime subscribers when storing photos)
- Time Machine for local backups
This is relatively cost effective, as i can use a low tier of iCloud and put the hundreds of GB of photos on Amazon. The negatives on Amazon are that it is not a service that keeps folders in sync, and is effectively a manual file upload service.
What do you do? and would you recommend a different cloud service to the ones i have chosen?
I've recently started to pay more attention to backups of my computers. I have always made backups, but am now looking at better solutions.
The solution i've been using for my iMac is using Arq (http://arqbackup.com) to backup to Amazon S3 and Amazon Glacier, and using an external drive and Time Machine. This is what i've used for a good few years now.
Recently i received a new MBP, so have been looking at alternative solutions. My current solution is as follows:
- iCloud for primary files and to keep data in sync between all my devices (i'm heavily into the Apple ecosystem)
- Amazon Cloud Drive for photos (i recently noticed this was free for Prime subscribers when storing photos)
- Time Machine for local backups
This is relatively cost effective, as i can use a low tier of iCloud and put the hundreds of GB of photos on Amazon. The negatives on Amazon are that it is not a service that keeps folders in sync, and is effectively a manual file upload service.
What do you do? and would you recommend a different cloud service to the ones i have chosen?
Spread my important pictures across several hard drives (4 including iMac). I use Carbon copy Cloner to manage them. Off site hard drive as well on a monthly basis or when I have a big batch of pictures. Then a separate HD for Time Machine. I bank own a hard drive failing, maybe more, battery at the same time.
iCloud purely as a photo sharing for idevices. Not backup. For cloud backup I use another service that encrypts the data on the local hard drive before sending it to the cloud. However it makes it a bit slower, but the firm has a zero knowledge policy.
I also use flickr for pics but they will not take RAW files (free 1TB though, not to be sniffed at). I avoid others where the usage and rights is suspect, such as google.
Then I burn really important events to bluray as well.
iCloud purely as a photo sharing for idevices. Not backup. For cloud backup I use another service that encrypts the data on the local hard drive before sending it to the cloud. However it makes it a bit slower, but the firm has a zero knowledge policy.
I also use flickr for pics but they will not take RAW files (free 1TB though, not to be sniffed at). I avoid others where the usage and rights is suspect, such as google.
Then I burn really important events to bluray as well.
Desktop backs up to my microserver.
Media is on the Microserver (photos, video, music and essential files/docs)
Microserver runs RAID on the backup drive and the media drive and also runs cloud backup to Crashplan (unlimited, about £40 a year).
I also have icloud for phone/ipad and amazon for photos (again) although amazon is a pain as it doesn't keep stuff in synch.
Media is on the Microserver (photos, video, music and essential files/docs)
Microserver runs RAID on the backup drive and the media drive and also runs cloud backup to Crashplan (unlimited, about £40 a year).
I also have icloud for phone/ipad and amazon for photos (again) although amazon is a pain as it doesn't keep stuff in synch.
Essential data (personal files, correspondence, photos) is all kept on a RAIDed NAS. I'm conscious that if there was a fire it'll all vanish. The photos will be the most keenly missed, but as I'm not a pro photographer I'll get over it. If I was, I'd set up a backup cloud storage. Some stuff is kept in Dropbox anyway, including all my business correspondence. The business data is kept in Office 365 so bulletproof.
The main PCs are not backed up. Worst case I rebuild from scratch, over a weekend. The license keys are all accessible online/in email so irritating instead of a crisis.
The main PCs are not backed up. Worst case I rebuild from scratch, over a weekend. The license keys are all accessible online/in email so irritating instead of a crisis.
True Image Cloud to image my drives and store them on external HDD. Keeps it nice and simple in case I need to restore anything, I restored my OS image to a new disk years ago without any problems so I've always used Acronis.
I have two 3.5"s and plug them in occasionally to run backups manually. OS partition gets done more often and copied to 2nd external, then media drives and games partition as and when needed. Steam folders excluded, I've got a lot installed but it's trivial to re-download with fibre. I use single version scheme for everything, it might be more sensible to use differential for the media drive images, but it works for me and seems to work out better for space this way.
I paid £44 to 'upgrade' to 2016 Cloud last year and have unlimited storage, there's no longer an unlimited option, so I'll see what that's going to mean then move elsewhere or pay for a couple of TB. It encrypts client side, and I run Cloud backups weekly for photos and documents. I've got 40GB of mostly RAWs on there so far, and started uploading my OS image a few times, but you always end up pausing it to game online etc. then forget about it, and it's not long until it's a new version. Going from 0.3mbit upload to 7mbit made it practical for me to use cloud backup for the first time, OS image is only 20-odd GB but it's not quite fast enough.
I have two 3.5"s and plug them in occasionally to run backups manually. OS partition gets done more often and copied to 2nd external, then media drives and games partition as and when needed. Steam folders excluded, I've got a lot installed but it's trivial to re-download with fibre. I use single version scheme for everything, it might be more sensible to use differential for the media drive images, but it works for me and seems to work out better for space this way.
I paid £44 to 'upgrade' to 2016 Cloud last year and have unlimited storage, there's no longer an unlimited option, so I'll see what that's going to mean then move elsewhere or pay for a couple of TB. It encrypts client side, and I run Cloud backups weekly for photos and documents. I've got 40GB of mostly RAWs on there so far, and started uploading my OS image a few times, but you always end up pausing it to game online etc. then forget about it, and it's not long until it's a new version. Going from 0.3mbit upload to 7mbit made it practical for me to use cloud backup for the first time, OS image is only 20-odd GB but it's not quite fast enough.
QNAP TS-253A with 2 drives running raid 1 configuration with offsite mirrored copy.
This holds all photos automatically backed up from phones when on wifi as well as older photos that have been added over time.
The PC uses this as a network drive so all documents are saved on the NAS.
There is a running sync job which mirrors the files on OneDrive.
Photos are also synced to Google Photos automatically.
I might sometimes plug in an external hard drive to take a copy but not that often.
Apart from the external hard drive, I don't have to do anything. I have just set up snapshots on the NAS as well so I can restore from any accidental deletions or overwrites.
The only worry is getting a CryptoLocker virus as potentially that could sync to OneDrive although I do believe the QNAP snapshot can be used in this situation to restore all the files.
My most important items are my photos which are as safe as they can be on Google Drive, Apple Cloud and external drive.
This holds all photos automatically backed up from phones when on wifi as well as older photos that have been added over time.
The PC uses this as a network drive so all documents are saved on the NAS.
There is a running sync job which mirrors the files on OneDrive.
Photos are also synced to Google Photos automatically.
I might sometimes plug in an external hard drive to take a copy but not that often.
Apart from the external hard drive, I don't have to do anything. I have just set up snapshots on the NAS as well so I can restore from any accidental deletions or overwrites.
The only worry is getting a CryptoLocker virus as potentially that could sync to OneDrive although I do believe the QNAP snapshot can be used in this situation to restore all the files.
My most important items are my photos which are as safe as they can be on Google Drive, Apple Cloud and external drive.
Matt.. said:
Boring subject i know.
I've recently started to pay more attention to backups of my computers. I have always made backups, but am now looking at better solutions.
The solution i've been using for my iMac is using Arq (http://arqbackup.com) to backup to Amazon S3 and Amazon Glacier, and using an external drive and Time Machine. This is what i've used for a good few years now.
Recently i received a new MBP, so have been looking at alternative solutions. My current solution is as follows:
- iCloud for primary files and to keep data in sync between all my devices (i'm heavily into the Apple ecosystem)
- Amazon Cloud Drive for photos (i recently noticed this was free for Prime subscribers when storing photos)
- Time Machine for local backups
This is relatively cost effective, as i can use a low tier of iCloud and put the hundreds of GB of photos on Amazon. The negatives on Amazon are that it is not a service that keeps folders in sync, and is effectively a manual file upload service.
What do you do? and would you recommend a different cloud service to the ones i have chosen?
I'm in a similar position, with an iMac and a MacBook.I've recently started to pay more attention to backups of my computers. I have always made backups, but am now looking at better solutions.
The solution i've been using for my iMac is using Arq (http://arqbackup.com) to backup to Amazon S3 and Amazon Glacier, and using an external drive and Time Machine. This is what i've used for a good few years now.
Recently i received a new MBP, so have been looking at alternative solutions. My current solution is as follows:
- iCloud for primary files and to keep data in sync between all my devices (i'm heavily into the Apple ecosystem)
- Amazon Cloud Drive for photos (i recently noticed this was free for Prime subscribers when storing photos)
- Time Machine for local backups
This is relatively cost effective, as i can use a low tier of iCloud and put the hundreds of GB of photos on Amazon. The negatives on Amazon are that it is not a service that keeps folders in sync, and is effectively a manual file upload service.
What do you do? and would you recommend a different cloud service to the ones i have chosen?
The iMac is my main machine, and has a permanently connected external drive for Time Machine. This only get removed (and stored somewhere safe) if I am going to be away for a few days. I also have another external harddrive, which is a bootable backup using CCCloner, this gets kept away from the house. Key files are stored in the cloud and all my day to day stuff in in iCloud, like you, mainly to keep my devices in sync.
I don't do much work on the MacBook, so I am a bit more lax with backing that up - most things I use it for a cloud based anyway. Except when I am away from home, so I have another external hard drive, which backs up the MacBook using Time Machine.
I used to have a full system back up in the cloud, but it would be constantly uploading, even with a decent internet connection.
I use 2 Raspberry Pi's now as its a cheaper alternative than "proper cloud" services for the volume of DLSR photos I've amassed over the years.
The iMac does a nightly rsync to a R-Pi in the garage that has a 1Tb USB drive hanging off the back of it which then does an rsync to another R-Pi at my Parents.
Worst case scenario is the house is burgled, the iMac is taken and they "randomly" stumble across an R-Pi and decide that's also worth nicking.
A little bit of a sad geeky solution I know...
The iMac does a nightly rsync to a R-Pi in the garage that has a 1Tb USB drive hanging off the back of it which then does an rsync to another R-Pi at my Parents.
Worst case scenario is the house is burgled, the iMac is taken and they "randomly" stumble across an R-Pi and decide that's also worth nicking.
A little bit of a sad geeky solution I know...
The only thing I give a stuff about is my photos, everything else is replaceable pretty quickly. My photos are stored on one of my NASes, the NAS then auto backs that up to two different cloud providers (Google Photos and One Drive) every night.
These days most of my photos are taken on the family mobile phones, these are set to auto backup to Google Photos. The NAS again backs up Google Photos to local storage on the NAS, which is then backed up to One Drive.
I go with two Cloud providers as I do not trust either provider 100% with my data as they are free services.
These days most of my photos are taken on the family mobile phones, these are set to auto backup to Google Photos. The NAS again backs up Google Photos to local storage on the NAS, which is then backed up to One Drive.
I go with two Cloud providers as I do not trust either provider 100% with my data as they are free services.
blackscooby said:
A little bit of a sad geeky solution I know...
Linux based, so once a weektar cvf - allImportantStuff | xz > /tmp/file
cp /tmp/file USB_Stick1
cp /tmp/file USB_Stick2
cp /tmp/file USB_Stick3
Move the three USB sticks into three different locations.
In these days where a 16Gb USB stick doesn't cost much and compressor xz
is pretty effective at the things I want to archive, I think this solution
will work for many years to come.
However, this solution won't work for those who need to backup Tb of data.
I like to compress my data with pigz ( http://zlib.net/pigz/ ) just an apt-get or yaourt or yum et al away.
and then modify tar to use it by default
Speeeeed!
and then modify tar to use it by default
alias tar='tar --use-compress-program=pigz'
Speeeeed!
Desktop is backed up to a USB hard drive. Files every hour and images now and then using the Windows 10 built in backup.
In addition the more import files are backed up daily to Microsoft Azure using the Azure Recovery Service so I have an offsite copy of that stuff.
The laptop is backed up using the Windows 10 built in backup to a NAS as it isn't always on the desk and doesn't have as much on it as the desktop.
In addition the more import files are backed up daily to Microsoft Azure using the Azure Recovery Service so I have an offsite copy of that stuff.
The laptop is backed up using the Windows 10 built in backup to a NAS as it isn't always on the desk and doesn't have as much on it as the desktop.
I've made a couple of changes to the routine...
1. iCloud - Primary files, for keeping documents in sync between devices
2. Timemachine - 2x external drives in rotation
3. Amazon Drive - Photos backup
4. Google Drive - Primary files backup using Arq (encrypted, versioned backups)
5. Amazon Glacier - All files (primary + photos) using Arq (encrypted, versioned backups) for long term storage and last resort emergency recovery
I am somewhat paranoid. Mostly about photo storage as i have 15yrs+ of images.
Cost of this is all very minimal. Arq is ~$50 (one time purchase), iCloud is 79p/month, Amazon Drive is free for photos, Google Drive is part of my Apps package i use for email, Amazon Glacier is ~£4/month.
All of this except Amazon Drive (photos backup) is fully automated and needs zero input from me.
I have hundreds of gigabytes on Amazon Drive, and even more on Amazon Glacier.
1. iCloud - Primary files, for keeping documents in sync between devices
2. Timemachine - 2x external drives in rotation
3. Amazon Drive - Photos backup
4. Google Drive - Primary files backup using Arq (encrypted, versioned backups)
5. Amazon Glacier - All files (primary + photos) using Arq (encrypted, versioned backups) for long term storage and last resort emergency recovery
I am somewhat paranoid. Mostly about photo storage as i have 15yrs+ of images.
Cost of this is all very minimal. Arq is ~$50 (one time purchase), iCloud is 79p/month, Amazon Drive is free for photos, Google Drive is part of my Apps package i use for email, Amazon Glacier is ~£4/month.
All of this except Amazon Drive (photos backup) is fully automated and needs zero input from me.
I have hundreds of gigabytes on Amazon Drive, and even more on Amazon Glacier.
Just an fyi in case you missed this (I know I did).
Amazon now supports synching - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/drive/download-apps
Not tried it yet but it's on my to do list.
Amazon now supports synching - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/drive/download-apps
Not tried it yet but it's on my to do list.
I can add some thoughts on Syncthing.
My backup solution is:
(a) DIY NAS (essentially a low power PC) running OpenMediaVault which contains 2 x 3TB drives. One drive is made available via samba to my network and a daily rsync cron task mirrors changes to the second 3TB drive.
(b) my NAS also runs Syncthing and backs up my primary 3TB drive to a raspberry pi 2 (note the original raspberry pi doesn't have the horsepower for the syncthing indexing task) located in the loft of my parents' home. A 5TB external drive is connected to the raspberry pi for this purpose.
I'm very pleased with the set up and like the fact Syncthing operates peer-to-peer, without passing my data through a third party.
My backup solution is:
(a) DIY NAS (essentially a low power PC) running OpenMediaVault which contains 2 x 3TB drives. One drive is made available via samba to my network and a daily rsync cron task mirrors changes to the second 3TB drive.
(b) my NAS also runs Syncthing and backs up my primary 3TB drive to a raspberry pi 2 (note the original raspberry pi doesn't have the horsepower for the syncthing indexing task) located in the loft of my parents' home. A 5TB external drive is connected to the raspberry pi for this purpose.
I'm very pleased with the set up and like the fact Syncthing operates peer-to-peer, without passing my data through a third party.
Auto Back up selected folders when change is detected to an external USB hard drive, also dupe of external hard drive stored off site every month or so, worst case scenario for me would be if my primary comp & back up got killed I'd lose a months worth of data (which actually isn't generally that much if I'm honest)
Not technically complicated or reliant on the internet, the only manual thing I need to do is to copy USB 3.0 drive 1# to USB 3.0 drive 2# every month or so
Not technically complicated or reliant on the internet, the only manual thing I need to do is to copy USB 3.0 drive 1# to USB 3.0 drive 2# every month or so
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