Randy Cassingham's Blog

Posted by Dianka, Wisconsin on May 9, 2009:

Is it a better option to copy your important stuff to a jump drive than a CD?

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Both have pros and cons. Both can fail. Doing both is a better idea. Doing either is better than doing nothing. -rc

Posted by Geoff - Cheshire UK on May 9, 2009:

I have been a specialist in the disaster recovery industry for many years. In those years I have seen just about every type of data failure and have lost count of the people and companies that thought they had a good backup and didn't.

One of the most common preconceptions is that CD's and DVD's are a good backup medium. Unfortunately, they are not. Neither of these media perform CRC error checks, so although you think you've got a good backup, there is no certainty unless you restore it all and check it.

My recommendation would be to buy a low cost tape drive and back up to that. Make sure that it is verified then buy a fireproof case (make sure it is data, not paper safe) and leave it with a neighbour. Then you can put your tapes in the case, off site.

Unfortunately, most people do not think about backups until they lose data. Most people think it won't happen to them, but it does, all the time.

Posted by Troy - Readong, PA on May 9, 2009:

Great to see you have a NAS. I purchased a Buffalo TeraStation about 5 years ago when a TB was unthinkable for home storage. It is the greatest little thing I ever bought! I store all my music and copies of all my software (like those downloadable jobs that you never get back if you loose it!) It has been a life saver once or twice. I also use it to Ghost (HD imaging software) my machines as well as a few close friends. If something happens, I can bring it back with all the software already installed and ready to go in minutes. After all that, I have about 1/3 of it left. Good Luck and Bless My Buffalo (and yours!) !!!!

Posted by Andara - Long Beach, CA on May 9, 2009:

I've had a number of drive crashes over the years, including one that took a couple of years worth of writing work with it.

These days I've taken to keeping the really important stuff online by emailing it to myself through Gmail. I've also got a decent amount of stuff also through Google Docs.

Luckily, my last hard drive issue happened a month before my scheduled purchase of a whole new computer system and was a boot sector issue, so the data itself was intact. I still need to pull the data off the second drive, though.

Posted by Rich, California on May 9, 2009:

I use an online backup service from CARBONITE. Once installed, it automatically and constantly backs up any file that is changed to their internet site. You don't even have to think about it. It just does it.

Posted by Anthony (Virginia) on May 10, 2009:

Just one thing to beware of when putting computer media in a fire safe: A lot of fire safes are intended to protect paper. Paper will be fine even if its heated to several hundred degrees Fahrenheit; computer media will not be: do not expect it to protect for anything near the rated time.

(Personally, I use Amazon S3.)

Posted by Peg, Davenport, IA on May 10, 2009:

Re: your off-site backups. If the house/office burns down and all your backups are in the same place, they'll burn up with the current data.

I used to work as a computer operator in a huge data center. Every night we backed up all newly created/modified files from the past 24 hours. Every Friday night, we backed up all newly created/modified files from the past 7 days. And every month we did a full system backup.

Granted, we used computer tapes, but we then sent them off-site to another company location on the other side of town.

The hyper-critical files were then taken for ultra secure storage inside a mountain, a good distance away.

Your scheme of trading CDs [or even DVDs] to which you'd burned backups, is an excellent idea and everyone should do so. I also like the idea of backups online somewhere.

Posted by Dennis - Costa Rica on May 10, 2009:

I use a Mac Pro Desktop running Leopard with 4 bays for hard drives. It has an automatic backup in the background every hour onto a second drive (or to an external drive if so desired). It is called "Time Machine". I had the occasion to reload my main (C) drive and after I updated the OSX I simply went into the Time Machine and reloaded everything and nothing was missed. Apple also has facility to upload to their cyberspace too which would take care of "what happens if my house burns down?"

Posted by Aria (Ridgway, CO) on May 10, 2009:

My best strategy for making backups simple is breaking my data up in chunks. I have a folder for each year (Well, one within photos, one within my private stuff, and one within my published works folder).

Backing up gets a lot easier since I can burn a few copies of each year, and then not have to touch the bulk of my files again.

And contrary to what's said above, CDs and DVDs do have error-checking codes -- they use Reed-solomon error correction/detection codes. I don't trust them not to degrade over time, so I refresh my backups periodically, and try to use good media. But so far, so good.

I don't consider whole-system backups a good plan for me, since I can get a fresh start as quickly as I can restore a backup, and if my data's intact, I'm all good.

Posted by Cyber Cowboy, Seattle, WA on May 10, 2009:

You still aren't protected with a single drive backup. Please, I recommend a multi-drive backup solution. A RAID5 array (minimum of three hard drives all working together to form one drive) is best. That way, if one drive fails, the other two can work until you replace the third. If you can afford it, have a fourth drive as a "hot standby" so when the one drive crashes, the fourth just picks up and you continue working. Yes, at little pricey, but what is the time and effort lost if things crash around you!

Enjoy your posts and keep 'em coming.

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Please read my post again, Cyber. It is very clear that I don't depend on a single backup. -rc