Best automatic backup strategy?
Discussion
I have 400GB I would like to keep backed up, I’ve tried burning the files to blue ray discs 50gb at a time but this goes out of date very fast and is a pain in the arse.
Then I started keeping a copy of everything on an external hard drive but this means having to keep the drive plugged in and Windows occasionally gets confused about which files have been updated or what’s new/deleted (unless it's user error). I’m also conscious of the drive being misplaced or damaged etc.
I want to avoid the cloud as some of the data is sensitive and syncing 400GB isn’t practical. Is it possible to get a hard drive that plugs in to my router and backs up over Wi-Fi, does such a thing exist?
Then I started keeping a copy of everything on an external hard drive but this means having to keep the drive plugged in and Windows occasionally gets confused about which files have been updated or what’s new/deleted (unless it's user error). I’m also conscious of the drive being misplaced or damaged etc.
I want to avoid the cloud as some of the data is sensitive and syncing 400GB isn’t practical. Is it possible to get a hard drive that plugs in to my router and backs up over Wi-Fi, does such a thing exist?
File History on Windows 10 works well. Settings > Update & Security > Backup.
It can do it to a local disk or a network location (such as a file server or a disk hanging off your router).
Else if you need Microsoft Office, the Office 365 personal/home plans are a very reasonable way to have the latest office and they come with 1TB of OneDrive storage. I know "no cloud" but it can all get in sync slowly over time and the security/compliance stuff is there.
It can do it to a local disk or a network location (such as a file server or a disk hanging off your router).
Else if you need Microsoft Office, the Office 365 personal/home plans are a very reasonable way to have the latest office and they come with 1TB of OneDrive storage. I know "no cloud" but it can all get in sync slowly over time and the security/compliance stuff is there.
You need a NAS. I use Synology, but many others available. Most come with automatic backup software so every time the PC is on it updates any new or amended files. You can also set the backups to one way so if you delete a file from the PC the NAS wont delete it.
It's not fool proof but as good as it gets for most.
It's not fool proof but as good as it gets for most.
Here is what I do, and its easy. Its also an overkill, and you could replace the RAID Nas with a plain single disk NAS. I use a RAID to limit possible downtime in the event of a disk failure (I work from home).
Primary storage : Netgear Ready Nas Duo - 2 disks 2Tb each, gives me 2TB storage in Raid 1. If a disk fails, the other seamlessly takes over. Mapped drives on Windows to various drives on the NAS. All my working folders are on the NAS with the exception of "My documents".
Hanging off the NAS is a 2Tb USB 3 disk.
Once a week the NAS auto backs up my PC's "My documents" folder (share) to the NAS (incrementally - takes less than a minute, in the background). Then, it auto backs up (incrementally) the whole of the NAS itself, to the USB 3 disk hanging off it.
Now, I have all of My docs backed up twice - on the NAS and on the USB disk, and all of the NAS itself is copied to the USB disk.
So I have 2 copies of everything, raided, and , here is the killer, when I go away on holiday, I take the USB 3 disk with me, or leave at a friend's house. Burglary doesn't matter.
The key here is to have a NAS with a good backup utility built in. It's all driven from the NAS web interface. I have my PC scheduled to wake up at backup time each week using windows scheduler. It also launches an app called insomnia that stops the computer from sleeping if it is already on. Everything else is driven from the NAS, not windows software.
Primary storage : Netgear Ready Nas Duo - 2 disks 2Tb each, gives me 2TB storage in Raid 1. If a disk fails, the other seamlessly takes over. Mapped drives on Windows to various drives on the NAS. All my working folders are on the NAS with the exception of "My documents".
Hanging off the NAS is a 2Tb USB 3 disk.
Once a week the NAS auto backs up my PC's "My documents" folder (share) to the NAS (incrementally - takes less than a minute, in the background). Then, it auto backs up (incrementally) the whole of the NAS itself, to the USB 3 disk hanging off it.
Now, I have all of My docs backed up twice - on the NAS and on the USB disk, and all of the NAS itself is copied to the USB disk.
So I have 2 copies of everything, raided, and , here is the killer, when I go away on holiday, I take the USB 3 disk with me, or leave at a friend's house. Burglary doesn't matter.
The key here is to have a NAS with a good backup utility built in. It's all driven from the NAS web interface. I have my PC scheduled to wake up at backup time each week using windows scheduler. It also launches an app called insomnia that stops the computer from sleeping if it is already on. Everything else is driven from the NAS, not windows software.
Road2Ruin said:
You need a NAS. I use Synology, but many others available. Most come with automatic backup software so every time the PC is on it updates any new or amended files. You can also set the backups to one way so if you delete a file from the PC the NAS wont delete it.
It's not fool proof but as good as it gets for most.
I've been googling for a NAS, they seem very expensive when all I want is a hard drive with an ethernet cable. It's not fool proof but as good as it gets for most.
Fittster said:
SkinnyPete said:
I want to avoid the cloud as some of the data is sensitive and syncing 400GB isn’t practical.
The cloud is perfectly suitable for sensitive data, many large private it and public use it. Is the 400GB relatively static?RogerDodger said:
Here is what I do, and its easy. Its also an overkill, and you could replace the RAID Nas with a plain single disk NAS. I use a RAID to limit possible downtime in the event of a disk failure (I work from home).
Primary storage : Netgear Ready Nas Duo - 2 disks 2Tb each, gives me 2TB storage in Raid 1. If a disk fails, the other seamlessly takes over. Mapped drives on Windows to various drives on the NAS. All my working folders are on the NAS with the exception of "My documents".
Hanging off the NAS is a 2Tb USB 3 disk.
Once a week the NAS auto backs up my PC's "My documents" folder (share) to the NAS (incrementally - takes less than a minute, in the background). Then, it auto backs up (incrementally) the whole of the NAS itself, to the USB 3 disk hanging off it.
Now, I have all of My docs backed up twice - on the NAS and on the USB disk, and all of the NAS itself is copied to the USB disk.
So I have 2 copies of everything, raided, and , here is the killer, when I go away on holiday, I take the USB 3 disk with me, or leave at a friend's house. Burglary doesn't matter.
The key here is to have a NAS with a good backup utility built in. It's all driven from the NAS web interface. I have my PC scheduled to wake up at backup time each week using windows scheduler. It also launches an app called insomnia that stops the computer from sleeping if it is already on. Everything else is driven from the NAS, not windows software.
No off-site back up then so in the event of a fire, you lose everything (unless you are on holiday)?Primary storage : Netgear Ready Nas Duo - 2 disks 2Tb each, gives me 2TB storage in Raid 1. If a disk fails, the other seamlessly takes over. Mapped drives on Windows to various drives on the NAS. All my working folders are on the NAS with the exception of "My documents".
Hanging off the NAS is a 2Tb USB 3 disk.
Once a week the NAS auto backs up my PC's "My documents" folder (share) to the NAS (incrementally - takes less than a minute, in the background). Then, it auto backs up (incrementally) the whole of the NAS itself, to the USB 3 disk hanging off it.
Now, I have all of My docs backed up twice - on the NAS and on the USB disk, and all of the NAS itself is copied to the USB disk.
So I have 2 copies of everything, raided, and , here is the killer, when I go away on holiday, I take the USB 3 disk with me, or leave at a friend's house. Burglary doesn't matter.
The key here is to have a NAS with a good backup utility built in. It's all driven from the NAS web interface. I have my PC scheduled to wake up at backup time each week using windows scheduler. It also launches an app called insomnia that stops the computer from sleeping if it is already on. Everything else is driven from the NAS, not windows software.
My NAS links to One-Drive and syncs (one way) each night to ensure there is an off-site copy available. When I first set it up it took quite a while (several days) to upload the data but I limited the transfer rate during the day and only increased speed in the early hours. There is currently nearly 700GB on OneDrive but the snyc job only takes a few minutes to add new/amended files.
The most important thing to me is photos which are on the NAS, OneDrive, Google photos, Apple cloud as well as our phones and this all takes place automatically each time a picture is taken.
SkinnyPete said:
Road2Ruin said:
You need a NAS. I use Synology, but many others available. Most come with automatic backup software so every time the PC is on it updates any new or amended files. You can also set the backups to one way so if you delete a file from the PC the NAS wont delete it.
It's not fool proof but as good as it gets for most.
I've been googling for a NAS, they seem very expensive when all I want is a hard drive with an ethernet cable. It's not fool proof but as good as it gets for most.
Fittster said:
SkinnyPete said:
I want to avoid the cloud as some of the data is sensitive and syncing 400GB isn’t practical.
The cloud is perfectly suitable for sensitive data, many large private it and public use it. Is the 400GB relatively static?https://alternativeto.net/software/rsync/?platform...
I'd think you'd be looking at initial painful/slow sync as you get the 400GB to the cloud but the weekly incremental syncs shouldn't be too bad.
Running your own backup solution (and remembering to do it properly, after a couple of weeks are you going to really remember to take the backups offsite) is a pain.
RogerDodger said:
Here is what I do, and its easy. Its also an overkill, and you could replace the RAID Nas with a plain single disk NAS. I use a RAID to limit possible downtime in the event of a disk failure (I work from home).
Primary storage : Netgear Ready Nas Duo - 2 disks 2Tb each, gives me 2TB storage in Raid 1. If a disk fails, the other seamlessly takes over. Mapped drives on Windows to various drives on the NAS. All my working folders are on the NAS with the exception of "My documents".
Hanging off the NAS is a 2Tb USB 3 disk.
Once a week the NAS auto backs up my PC's "My documents" folder (share) to the NAS (incrementally - takes less than a minute, in the background). Then, it auto backs up (incrementally) the whole of the NAS itself, to the USB 3 disk hanging off it.
Now, I have all of My docs backed up twice - on the NAS and on the USB disk, and all of the NAS itself is copied to the USB disk.
So I have 2 copies of everything, raided, and , here is the killer, when I go away on holiday, I take the USB 3 disk with me, or leave at a friend's house. Burglary doesn't matter.
The key here is to have a NAS with a good backup utility built in. It's all driven from the NAS web interface. I have my PC scheduled to wake up at backup time each week using windows scheduler. It also launches an app called insomnia that stops the computer from sleeping if it is already on. Everything else is driven from the NAS, not windows software.
I use a very similar system - my difference is that i have multiple (4 at last count) USB disks that hang off the NAS - i rotate them weekly; current attached to NAS, last 2 weeks are kept in our fire safe and the oldest is kept offsite. They are all labeled and marked as the weeks are rotated, and replace the labels when full.Primary storage : Netgear Ready Nas Duo - 2 disks 2Tb each, gives me 2TB storage in Raid 1. If a disk fails, the other seamlessly takes over. Mapped drives on Windows to various drives on the NAS. All my working folders are on the NAS with the exception of "My documents".
Hanging off the NAS is a 2Tb USB 3 disk.
Once a week the NAS auto backs up my PC's "My documents" folder (share) to the NAS (incrementally - takes less than a minute, in the background). Then, it auto backs up (incrementally) the whole of the NAS itself, to the USB 3 disk hanging off it.
Now, I have all of My docs backed up twice - on the NAS and on the USB disk, and all of the NAS itself is copied to the USB disk.
So I have 2 copies of everything, raided, and , here is the killer, when I go away on holiday, I take the USB 3 disk with me, or leave at a friend's house. Burglary doesn't matter.
The key here is to have a NAS with a good backup utility built in. It's all driven from the NAS web interface. I have my PC scheduled to wake up at backup time each week using windows scheduler. It also launches an app called insomnia that stops the computer from sleeping if it is already on. Everything else is driven from the NAS, not windows software.
The USB disks are so cheap these days that i tend to replace them every 12-18 months.
Of course, the ultimate test is when you actually need to use a backup - no good having backups if you never check to make sure they work.
I'll do a periodic check (restore to a mule laptop and selective file recovery) every month or 2. I once lost a laptop drive and all the data on it - cost me a lot of time and money to recover the data (and my rep with my client at the time) - vowed never to get into the same situation again.
gr1340 said:
RogerDodger said:
Here is what I do, and its easy. Its also an overkill, and you could replace the RAID Nas with a plain single disk NAS. I use a RAID to limit possible downtime in the event of a disk failure (I work from home).
Primary storage : Netgear Ready Nas Duo - 2 disks 2Tb each, gives me 2TB storage in Raid 1. If a disk fails, the other seamlessly takes over. Mapped drives on Windows to various drives on the NAS. All my working folders are on the NAS with the exception of "My documents".
Hanging off the NAS is a 2Tb USB 3 disk.
Once a week the NAS auto backs up my PC's "My documents" folder (share) to the NAS (incrementally - takes less than a minute, in the background). Then, it auto backs up (incrementally) the whole of the NAS itself, to the USB 3 disk hanging off it.
Now, I have all of My docs backed up twice - on the NAS and on the USB disk, and all of the NAS itself is copied to the USB disk.
So I have 2 copies of everything, raided, and , here is the killer, when I go away on holiday, I take the USB 3 disk with me, or leave at a friend's house. Burglary doesn't matter.
The key here is to have a NAS with a good backup utility built in. It's all driven from the NAS web interface. I have my PC scheduled to wake up at backup time each week using windows scheduler. It also launches an app called insomnia that stops the computer from sleeping if it is already on. Everything else is driven from the NAS, not windows software.
No off-site back up then so in the event of a fire, you lose everything (unless you are on holiday)?Primary storage : Netgear Ready Nas Duo - 2 disks 2Tb each, gives me 2TB storage in Raid 1. If a disk fails, the other seamlessly takes over. Mapped drives on Windows to various drives on the NAS. All my working folders are on the NAS with the exception of "My documents".
Hanging off the NAS is a 2Tb USB 3 disk.
Once a week the NAS auto backs up my PC's "My documents" folder (share) to the NAS (incrementally - takes less than a minute, in the background). Then, it auto backs up (incrementally) the whole of the NAS itself, to the USB 3 disk hanging off it.
Now, I have all of My docs backed up twice - on the NAS and on the USB disk, and all of the NAS itself is copied to the USB disk.
So I have 2 copies of everything, raided, and , here is the killer, when I go away on holiday, I take the USB 3 disk with me, or leave at a friend's house. Burglary doesn't matter.
The key here is to have a NAS with a good backup utility built in. It's all driven from the NAS web interface. I have my PC scheduled to wake up at backup time each week using windows scheduler. It also launches an app called insomnia that stops the computer from sleeping if it is already on. Everything else is driven from the NAS, not windows software.
My NAS links to One-Drive and syncs (one way) each night to ensure there is an off-site copy available. When I first set it up it took quite a while (several days) to upload the data but I limited the transfer rate during the day and only increased speed in the early hours. There is currently nearly 700GB on OneDrive but the snyc job only takes a few minutes to add new/amended files.
The most important thing to me is photos which are on the NAS, OneDrive, Google photos, Apple cloud as well as our phones and this all takes place automatically each time a picture is taken.
SkinnyPete said:
Road2Ruin said:
You need a NAS. I use Synology, but many others available. Most come with automatic backup software so every time the PC is on it updates any new or amended files. You can also set the backups to one way so if you delete a file from the PC the NAS wont delete it.
It's not fool proof but as good as it gets for most.
I've been googling for a NAS, they seem very expensive when all I want is a hard drive with an ethernet cable.It's not fool proof but as good as it gets for most.
Personally, I have everything I wouldn't want to lose backed up on weekly schedules to Acronis' cloud and when I move any new RAW files over etc I run it, I image my C drive single version with Acronis probably bi-monthly and all my other drives periodically, storing the images on external USB drives. Need to get around to having the C drive images to cloud too, the two USB drives are in the house. C drive image gets copied to both though the other images go where they'll fit.
Edited by mizx on Wednesday 6th March 13:58
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