How do you back up your computer data?

[light_emitting_dude]

Just wondering how others here backup their valuable computer data. Just also wanted to share how I do it.

I use microsoft synctoy to daily synchronize my documents on my desktop comuter to my laptop computer upstairs. That way I always have a current backup of my documents just in case one computer fails.

On my desktop I use this back up software...... http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/
which creates a workable backup copy of your hard drive. I have a scheduled task to run casper xp to copy my desktop hard drive to an external usb hard drive once a week. If my desktop hard drive ever fails, I just have to install the backed up usb hard drive and I am back up and running.

This software also works great for upgrading to a larger hard drive. I have used it for my laptop.

So do you backup your computer data and if so how do you do it??

 

[greenLED]

I'm doing daily backups on a USB drive (only files modified that day).
Weekly backups of My Docs on DVD-RW's
Monthly backups of my entire HDD onto an external drive, and I burn everything onto DVD-R's every 3 months as well.

I keep backup media in a separate location from my computer.

I haven't decided on which backup software to you. I tried a couple but they all seemed to have proprietary formats and I'm really afraid I could get stuck with some obscure file format and no way to recover the data from it. Aside from Casper (which seems not to use a proprietary file format for its backups), what are other people using?

 

[jtr1962]

I backup on DVD-RWs. This is a big step up from CD-RWs in that I can get most of my important data on only a few discs. I also back up to hard drives in my older computer, and back up some unchanging data like pictures on CD-Rs. Redundancy is the key word here. The more copies of my data, the greater the chance that it will actually be there if my main hard drive crashes.

 

[greenLED]

Acronis vs. Ghost? Other options?

 

[raggie33]

i cant wait to blu ray for computrer is cheaper droools over keyboard

 

[will]

Most of what I have on the laptop and desktop can be replaced or is not really necessary to save.

I have an external USB 40 gig hard drive I back my digital photos to. Every once in a while I back them up to a CDR.

I use gmail - sometimes I will use an attachment as a backup copy.

Or I copy items back and forth between the 2 computers.

If you really look at what you are saving ( I am not talking about business systems here ) a lot of it is probably not necessary.

How many emails are of the variety of chit chat - nice to have but not really needed to be saved.

OK - just to take this a little off topic -

How many people have saved, printed or other wise have a method of recovering those phone numbers stored on your cell phone?

 

[RadarGreg]

Floppies. Big stacks of floppies. You know, hard drives can crash, CDs and DVDs can get scratched, but floppies, they will last forever, right? They are kind of the cockroach of storage media.

 

[meuge]

So do you backup your computer data and if so how do you do it??

I use "Second Copy" to sync the files on my Windows machine to an external hard drive every other day.

I use "grsync" to sync the data on my Ubuntu Linux laptop on an external drive every week. I also use it to sync my laptop and my desktop documents folders.

I use the OS-integrated backup solution to make 2-fold redundant images of my Ubuntu Linux laptop hard drive onto an external hard drive once a week.

I am planning to set up a dedicated, encrypted, RAID1 protected network-attached storage system using a passively-cooled AMD PC and a pair of 500GB hard drives. It would be protected by a voltage-regulating UPS and would be connected to my home network via a 1000Mbps line, and would be accessible via the internet for remote backups and data access.

 

[WNG]

I have my system disks partitioned where OS and data are separated.
The OS partitions are imaged periodically whenever a significant change takes place. Or once/month, which ever comes first.
Disk images and Data are backed up to external USB drives. Then get burned to DVD-Rs (pics, mp3s, docs) and DVDRWs (images, favorite software, drivers, etc.)

Mp3s get a dedicated external USB drive for songs I haven't burned to DVD-R.

Most important stuff have triple redundancy, if it's irreplaceable, don't chance it.

I use Acronis True Image 7, which replaced my Powerquest Drive Image 2002 (now Ghost).
I also use Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8. A great app.
For simple copying and syncing I use 2BrightSparks' SyncBack.
For burning, it's Nero 7.

 

[light_emitting_dude]

I like the idea of off site backup. I guess if you had a devestating fire it could destroy all hard drives and media in a house. I never thought of that. Even though hard drives can take some intense heat they have their limits also. Insurance can't replace digital memories. I currently have about 7000+ picutes and 300+ movies on my computer! Going to burn all of my documents and important data tonight on a DVD and store it at the parents house .....(in a safe place of course)

Glad to hear alot of people backup their data. I work with computers alot at work and hear the same old story over and over.

 

[zipplet]

For large files like video, I regularly sort them and burn DVD+R discs which I store in a folder.

Everything else, including my programming projects, music, etc is backed up regularly to a large external USB harddrive using a batch file which compresses them into archives and puts them neatly on the drive. A secondary backup of the most critical of that data is also burnt onto DVD-RW.

On that note I am actually backing up to reinstall my system for the first time in 18 months as it's really messed up now... I've been putting it off all week because whenever I remember I find myself browsing CPF! And it means I have to do without CPF for an evening I have a laptop so I could drag that out I guess.

Gonna bite the bullet tonight and go for it ......

 

[Lite_me]

Floppies. Big stacks of floppies. You know, hard drives can crash, CDs and DVDs can get scratched, but floppies, they will last forever, right? They are kind of the cockroach of storage media.

Ummm... no! They are the most unreliable media for storage. They are magnetic media. It's like tape. Easily damaged or corrupted. Many develop unreadable sectors just sitting on the shelf. The head of the drive actually touches the disc when reading & writing. And most drives are cheaply made. Get your stuff off-a-there.
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/fdd/confReliability-c.html

 

[knot]

2 drives, 4 partitions, True Image, ERUNT.

 

[Sub_Umbra]

I have everything duplicated on three hdds -- going to four hdds in a few months. I rotate them out of the machine and through an external box before I get rid of them. In addition to the hdds I also have some things on CDs and DVDs.

 

[jumpstat]

I myself use DVD-R with the higher capacity than CDR its more convienient and cost effective.

 

[meuge]

Ummm... no! They are the most unreliable media for storage. They are magnetic media. It's like tape. Easily damaged or corrupted. Many develop unreadable sectors just sitting on the shelf. The head of the drive actually touches the disc when reading & writing. And most drives are cheaply made. Get your stuff off-a-there.
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/fdd/confReliability-c.html

Without fail, the most reliable means of storage is also one with the lowest capacity and highest cost per megabyte - solid state.

 

[LukeA]

I like the idea of off site backup. I guess if you had a devestating fire it could destroy all hard drives and media in a house. I never thought of that. Even though hard drives can take some intense heat they have their limits also. Insurance can't replace digital memories. I currently have about 7000+ picutes and 300+ movies on my computer! Going to burn all of my documents and important data tonight on a DVD and store it at the parents house .....(in a safe place of course)

Glad to hear alot of people backup their data. I work with computers alot at work and hear the same old story over and over.

Why not in your box at the bank?

 

[Sinjz]

I use Cobian to backup specific files I can't afford to lose and edit often enough that I wouldn't want to keep manually copying or imaging.

I also keep copies of good videos and mp3 on either a second internal drive or an external drive. Simply using a different partition won't help if the HD fails. You could just copy mp3s and videos cause imaging woun't shrink it any.

 

[RCatR]

I do manual backups to this monster:

Isolated from water, shock, sunlight, and more!. The PSU is arctic alumina'd to the can wall for better heatsinking, and the switch/circuit board is mounted&potted with 2ton epoxy.

The power cord, USB cord, and PCMCIA card all fit inside.

Grab your files and go! Best of all the undertoned flat black paint job blends nicely with all your other tacti-cool items.

 

[RA40]

Of my two systems, they are clones of each other as far as data goes. Each system has a hot swapable SATA rack and a drive is plugged in and the updated files transferred. Each drive is a clone of the current one, so if/when they fail...it's a plug and go deal. A new drive is bought at 12-14 month increments and added to the rotation. In total, 6 hard drives with additional data on DVD.

I'm considering off site back-up but then updating those drives will be a PITA. I haven't figured that out yet.