posted
I noticed that at least once a year the file storage question comes up and I haven't seen it in a while so I'm curious as to whether or not there are any new latest, greatest methods of job file storage to keep your system running top notch! Still burning everything to CD's, external hard drives or just backing up to Carbonite or Mirra? Or is there something better out there?
-------------------- Tony Vickio The World Famous Vickio Signs 3364 Rt.329 Watkins Glen, NY 14891 t30v@vickiosigns.com 607-535-6241 http://www.vickiosigns.com Posts: 1063 | From: Watkins Glen, New York | Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
I'm using a combination of things: External drives, DVD backup every so often, Mac Time Machine backup which is a regular mirror backup, Mozy online storage backup-
I'm sick of losing files- After losing almost 1500 photos when my Laptop hard drive crashed (hadn't had the opportunity to move any off of my laptop) and then later finding out that my Mozy account had backed them up automatically and I was able to retrieve them ALL- I enthusiastically endorse Mozy- and now have unlimited storage space for less than $5/month...
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com Posts: 1735 | From: Conway Arkansas | Registered: Oct 2001
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But in my opinion.. They are good only as a last resort. I would not use one.
It takes many days to upload a backup.
It will take days to down load a backup of any reasonable size. There is nothing better than a good old onsite system.
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5273 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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Curt, I'm looking at external hard drives, a good move?
-------------------- Frank Magoo, Magoo's-Las Vegas; fmagoo@netzero.com "the only easy day was yesterday" Posts: 2365 | From: Las Vegas, Nv. | Registered: Jun 2003
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Curtis- you are correct, it did take a while to upload at first- but it now does it automatically, and you never even know it's doing it- was it worth the time and trouble? ABSOLUTELY!!!
I use Mozy, not as a last resort, but as an extra precaution and next step in how I already backup stuff- hard drives are gonna fail (every style, size, brand, etc- the question is WHEN), people are gonna forget to manually backup stuff, or burn DVDs- even as great as TimeMachine is, one can even forget to hookup the external harddrive every once in awhile (Ok- that was me, but I didn't lose anything) only keeping backup stuff onsite can be risky as well (fires, floods, theft, etc.)
It is well worth $4.95/month to have an additional secure backup that is easy to retrieve in an emergency- for me anyway...
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com Posts: 1735 | From: Conway Arkansas | Registered: Oct 2001
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I used to work as a tech support geek and our supervisors were always barking at us to save our files to the network, not to the hard drives on our computers.
Being rebellious, I would save to the network, but I also kept copies on my own drive. More than once this strategy saved me a lot of headache.
When the data network would go down, I would still be able to talk a customer through a problem because I had the right files on my local machine. And, more importantly, when there was a failure of the file system, which lost a bunch of data, my files were safe. After that happened, I also started backing them up on a portable drive.
I have several portable drives which hold my backups. Stuff that I really don't want to lose will get backed up to CD or DVD.
I think Mozy would be useful, but I wouldn't trust it as my only backup. I would also be wary of giving sensitive files to a place like that.
We tend to trust businesses to be ethical, but so many have proven that they aren't to be trusted. If Mozy could find a way to harvest demographic profiles from the data they store, there isn't a doubt in my mind that they would eventually do it, and sell it. Call me paranoid.
My mind wanders. And that's not a good thing, 'cause it's too small to be out there alone. Posts: 3129 | From: Tooele, UT | Registered: Mar 2005
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I've got a NAS drive... NAS is Network Attached Storage... and I love it.
It's basically an external drive that connects to your system via a network cable... that way all your computers on the network can access it. You can also set up FTP on it so you can access your files from anywhere else in the world as well... that is very handy for me as I work from several different locations regularly.
Mine is a D-Link and only holds one drive... I bought it from TigerDirect for $35... here's a newer updated version of it that will hold 2 SATA hard drives (it'll do RAID setups too).
posted
I was told the best backup system is one without moving parts that only high end computer type stores sell. No moving parts = less failure. Are any of these systems mentioned here like that?
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I use a RAID 1 NAS box onsite and an off-site file sync for things like financials, quotes, job database etc in case of fire/flood/theft.
-------------------- David Fisher D.A. & P.M. Fisher Services Brisbane Australia da_pmf@yahoo.com Trying out a new tag: "Parents are the bones on which children cut their teeth Peter Ustinov Posts: 1450 | From: Brisbane Queensland Australia | Registered: Nov 1998
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quote:Being rebellious, I would save to the network, but I also kept copies on my own drive. More than once this strategy saved me a lot of headache.
No,, that is just plain smart..
There is no better backup than one we have in our drawer. Onlines are nice. The online network should be the ultimate last resort only.
why? I just observed a client getting his stuff back down and it only took 4 days... One hour getting his machine back up and 4 days to get his data..
Its all too easy to have an automated backup system right on your machine. You can setup autobackup using software such as genie backup to an external drive with just a few mouse clicks.
From there you make your online backups. That is because your local backup software will compress your files reducing the upload or down load times.. Also you can encrypt your files and password them so no one can look into them.
Then all you have to do is occasionally check your back up folder to make sure a back is being made on a regular schedule.
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5273 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
4 days doesn't sound too bad to me. My husband's laptop recently was sick with virus. He had just signed up for carbonite and was in the process of the first day or 2 of initial backup. Took a week to get the computer back from the hospital, and another week to get all the software loaded back on. Luckily, technician had backed up data files before reinstalling OS. Now he has carbonite so maybe next time it won't take so long to get the machine back.
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Still using in PC Raid along with 2 Hotswap drives and 2 externals for the shop..
In the house I now run hotswap drives in my PC which replaced all my DvD and Blue rays as my PC is hooked up to the plasma. Now all my movies are saved to Hard drives.. Its so nice to just pop in a drive and have a selection of over 100 movies to chose from.
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Yes, it could take 4 days to get ALL of your data back but if you need one or 5 files, it takes about 2 minutes. I agree that a combo is the best approach.
-------------------- Kimberly Zanetti Purcell www.amethystProductivity.com Folsom, CA email: Kimberly@AmethystProductivity.com
“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” AA Milne Posts: 3722 | From: Folsom, CA | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
I got my 1500+ photos back in less than 3 hours from Mozy, and then I also made a DVD backup of the restore- it was MUCH better than losing them forever (physical damage to the harddrive). It did take a couple of days to upload when I backed up EVERYTHING from 4 different computers and an external harddrive- it would probably take the same amount of time to restore it, but Mozy will allow you to pick and chose files to restore as well.
again- just another part of my backup process.
Bill- curious about the hotswap drives- how long did it take to get the movies over to hard drive?
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com Posts: 1735 | From: Conway Arkansas | Registered: Oct 2001
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Got an Iomega 500gb portable hard drive. Excellent value at 80 euros over here. Initial backup using time machine about four hours. Backups after that not even noticeable. Great peace of mind
-------------------- Kevin Gaffney Artistik Signs Kinnegad County Westmeath Ireland 044-75187 kevingaffney@eircom.net Posts: 628 | From: Ireland | Registered: Oct 2003
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Curtis - what do you think of this arrangement:
I have 3 internal hard drives - 1st drive is the 15K rpm SAS boot drive, which I keep only loaded programs on, the 2nd drive is a customer drive, and the 3rd drive is another customer drive.
I separate my customers onto the two drives... and use a software program called MEMEO Backup Premium and have that customized to backup selected folders to two external hard drives; Internal drive 1 to external drive 1, and internal drive 2 to external drive 2.
As soon as I "save" a file, MEMEO Backup Premium detects the save and automatically sends a backup copy to the corresponding/selected external drive.
I never have to fiddle with anything, or remember to make a copy, etc. MEMEO does it automatically.
Like Doug, I also have a Buffalo Terrastation, which I want to hook up as another secondary backup to my two externals.
I do think Michael is onto something with Mozy service because it's *offsite* and like he says, if you have a fire, flood, mechanical failure, etc... you at least have some recourse - - which I guess is what you're saying about a "last resort".... which I would agree, because it would be much simpler to restore copies from a local external than over the internet. But still, offsite is a great safety valve.
Michael - how do you like Mozy? Do they keep each backup file stored indefinitely? Seems like I was checking into Carbonite once and they had some disclaimer that files that weren't used/updated in a certain period of time were deleted. I could be wrong.... how does that service work?
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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