QOTD: How Often Do You Backup Your Data?

[powerbaselx]

Usually i backup my data twice a year (more or less).
Actually i don't have much critical data (data i should not loose) as my desktop is not used for work.
I keep many things on a second hard drive (a Raptor 74GB which is a luxury for this use!!).
I use an external USB drive to concentrate the stuff, and the photos and other important files i save them also to DVD.

 

[Guest]

I use a Seagate FreeAgent USB drive that comes with backup software. I backup every day

 

[DjEaZy]

How Often Do You Backup Your Data?
... after first big data loss... and now, not just in one place, but the backup is in several places...

 

[mickey21]

For all those saying RAID isnt a backup solution...

Well no it isnt, but it does lessen the need for a backup solution due to hardware failure which is the most likely way you will lose your data. Quite honestly if someone breaks into your home/work and steals your computer, well they have it dont they? Not a lot of times a backup would be much comfort now that your computer is gone...

As for me, I dont backup much because backing up 12TB isnt exactly convenient, cost effective, time sensitive, or did I mention cost effective and time sensitive... I mean it would take me over a week just to perform the backup to a locally stored RAID and any means of the backup for 12TB wouldnt be practical at all... What 3000 Single layer DVD's? 1500 Dual layers? 6x2TB drives? 12TB over USB2.0 hard drives? Forget it...

At some point RAID5 and so on is a perfect means of backup because the process of actually backing up isnt practical, the larger your data source becomes... You think major manufacturers/banks/corporations backup to USB hard drive? Please... They multi site disaster recovery / business continuance to other RAID storage... And maybe just maybe, they write to tape backup if they get the time...

So if you are suggesting that the average user buys an offsite alternative home/office to store their precious data on a server that replicates/synchronizes to the original source data, well that just isnt practical at all...

In short, RAID is actually a form of backup when other means prove less effective due to cost, source data size, or just plain time to perform...

Not to mention in cases like my storage array, I have exhausted all of my hard drive connections internal and cant connect any more drives... Backing up to an external source would be next to impossible...

BUT, I do backup offsite to webserver storage, the most important data for an extra layer of protection... That only pertains to about 20GB of data or so for things like family pictures, emails, accounting data, and taxes.

 

[zolz]

backup my files weekly to external hds

 

[JimmiG]

I can't be bothered to schedule a "full" backup.. if a drive goes down or there's a software problem preventing the OS from starting, I'll just reinstall the OS and my programs. It's a good opportunity to get a nice, clean install anyway.

I do have copies of my music/movie library on both my internal drive and the 500GB external drive. This backup rarely needs to be updated as the library is pretty static (only adding an album or two a month). I just drag and drop any new file added to the external drive manually.

When I'm working on something important, I'll make sure the files are saved in two places right away, especially when I've worked for long hours. Usually they go to my C: drive as well as my external 500GB drive, and sometimes also to my SkyDrive.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

I let Time Machine do my main backups onto another internal drive. However, I also regularly sync my photos, music and documents folder to my other machines using a custom terminal script that uses the rsync command.

 

[Guest]

I have a 4TB (five Hitachi 7K1000 1TB) RAID5 array on a Promise SuperTrack EX8350. Then I backup any super-critical files to my other computers and friends' RAID5 arrays.

 

[libraryeli]

I backup a few files manually every couple of months. Nothing too critical going on at my place.

 

[Miharu]

I made a manual backup every 2 months with rar file.

I'm not interresting in RAID5, buy 3 HD x 1TB in RAID5 for an 8-14GB backup its not really a good idea.

I see Norton Backup running at the job, the app kill the machine...
This a good solution but the software take too much.

So if you have any recommandation for backup or system backup ?

I still looking for a system backup solution since I preorder Win7 Premium (the blue one) and I want backup it right after a fresh install.

 

[thiswillkillthat]

Every hour, when I'm at home, wirelessly.

Say what you want about macs, but Time Machine is a great backup solution.

 

[bob dobalina]

Daily, thanks to windows home server. Honestly, aside from the initial bugs that are now fixed, that OS is just awesome. It's cheap, the features work as advertised, and it runs efficiently on almost any pc spec, and it's very user friendly. My WHS backs up a laptop, a netbook, an htpc, and my gaming rig perfectly every night. I built my WHS out of an old core 2 6300 system that I took out of service but you really could get away with a much less powerful system. By the way, it also serves as my 4TB media server that streams blu-ray rips over gigabit e-net. WHS has already saved me 2 times from major data loss. Seriously, there's no reason to utilize some half ass backup system or no backups at all when you can build one of these for $300-400 or just buy the OS for $99 and install it on any old crap pc to turn it into a server/backup machine.

 

[bob dobalina]

Daily, thanks to windows home server. Honestly, aside from the initial bugs that are now fixed, that OS is just awesome. It's cheap, the features work as advertised, and it runs efficiently on almost any pc spec, and it's very user friendly. My WHS backs up a laptop, a netbook, an htpc, and my gaming rig perfectly every night. I built my WHS out of an old core 2 6300 system that I took out of service but you really could get away with a much less powerful system. By the way, it also serves as my 4TB media server that streams blu-ray rips over gigabit e-net. WHS has already saved me 2 times from major data loss. Seriously, there's no reason to utilize some half ass backup system or no backups at all when you can build one of these for $300-400 or just buy the OS for $99 and install it on any old crap pc to turn it into a server/backup machine.

 

[lamorpa]

Are you asking if I 'back up' my data (an action), or are you referring to a 'backup' (a set of data)? The sentence does not make sense.

 

[Guest]

I don't.

There aren't any files I'm particularly attached to, certainly not enough to hassle with backups.

 

[Guest]

For the computers at home
Documents -> Backed up to a NAS upon modification (RAID 6).
OS -> Snapshots daily (Stored on a separate local drive).
Whole images of my drives -> Weekly to NAS Array dedicated to backups (RAID 5).

The primary NAS array is backed up weekly to a separate backup array.

I figure I need to loose at least 6 drives more or less simultaneously to completely loose my data:
1 for data on the client computer (assuming no RAID 1 there, which depends on the computer)
3 for the primary RAID 6 array to go down
2 for the backup RAID 5 array to go down

 

[Guest]

About every year or two I create recovery DVD's of most necessary stuff on my laptop.
About every month my important data goes to an SD card, or USB stick.
I don't really own important data that can get lost.
My Nero burning rom edition key and SN I save. If I'd lose it, I could always download an illegal copy from bittorrent, and use my original purchased key. I think that applies to much of the software I own, but I've only had that happen once to me when my CD became unreadable through scratches.
I also have an external HD, but I tend not to rely on them as I had one previously break due to a small fall (fell from chair's height on a wooden floor).

I tend to keep a backup mail for software licence keys I purchased online, so I always try to have at least 2 ways to get my previous programs running again.

 

[eyemaster]

I don't backup at home. Never did. I did lose a partition and all information on it. I'm running RAID in Mirror configuration on 2 500GB HDD with a slow Rocket Raid card. It does the job. It didn't stop me from losing the partition, oops.

 

[fooldog01]

I backup about every other week if I am not doing anything important. If I am recording music I backup when I am done for the day.

 

[marsax73]

Use SyncBack and just do backups to my other internal HD. About once a month, burn critical stuff to a DVD-R. For documents and images, I backup to my web host drive. Unlimited space!!!

 

[aziraphale]

Every now and then on a Raid5, 5TB (~3.6TB in the end) NAS. Has not failed me yet; but adding disks to it or replacing them takes ages. I added a fifth disk recently and it took from thursday evening to tuesday night...

 

[aziraphale]

Every now and then on a Raid5, 5TB (~3.6TB in the end) NAS. Has not failed me yet; but adding disks to it or replacing them takes ages. I added a fifth disk recently and it took from thursday evening to tuesday night...

 

[aziraphale]

oops; doublepost. sorry.

 

[leon2006]

1x per week for c:\ (OS) Drive and for all Data Drive. I use acronis drive image. The entire drives are image.

 

[TEAMSWITCHER]

On my MacBook Pro I back up every single day. Time Machine is awesome backup software that makes doing it every day a practical reality. On my Windows 7 box, almost never. I have TruImage, but I find that it is unreliable and cumbersome to use.