how do you manage your computer backups

[nageov3t]

inspired by http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2295579 ...

I'm currently in the midst of rejiggering my setup since I just bought a 4.5TB NAS, and I figured seeing how other people run things themselves could be helpful.

currently:

desktop -- 2 x RAID1 arrays

2 x 300GB SATA drives (OS, applications/games)​

2 x 2TB SATA drives (documents/data storage)​

backups via external drive, but sporadic at best (I'm pretty lazy about running them... maybe every 6 months at best, but there's not a lot of change data there. maybe a couple gb/month). my truly irreplaceable files (old papers, archived emails from defunct accounts, etc) are synced to Google Drive​

macbook -- no RAID, no backups

what I'm thinking:

desktop -- scale back to 2 x SSD's, no RAID (one drive for OS/games, the other for short-term data storage)

weekly operating system backups via Macrium Reflect written to NAS​

all data storage moved onto NAS (new files getting written to local SSD storage first, and copied onto the NAS as needed)​

macbook -- pictures/downloads backed up via CrashPlan (not really much on that machine, but I occasionally save the odd picture or two on there)

NAS -- backed up via CrashPlan just in case the thing ever explodes (obviously going to have to get the paid version... I'm a little leery about how long the initial backup will take, but once that's completed, I shouldn't have much change data. I won't be backing up my OS backups to cloud, just my music/videos, which don't grow very quickly. 90% of my video downloads are just tv shows that I watch once and delete)

the only major hole I see is how long it would take to backup/restore from cloud if my NAS should ever die, but the alternative is local USB backups which I've already discovered I'm pretty lazy about keeping up with.

 

[Jumpem]

Four duplicate hard drives. Two in my PC (non-RAID), and a separate SSD for OS and applications. The other two external. I use a Thermaltake BlacX with the external hard drives. I use Beyond Compare to quickly synchronize the data across all four.

I do need to get a safe deposit box to keep one of the drives outside of my home. I also contemplate getting blu-ray burner for incremental backups.

 

[Koing]

Qnap using TimeMachine.

No off site back ups...

Koing

 

[Oakenfold]

Thanks for sharing Loki. Why do you prefer Macrium Reflect?

Your post and the user's loss in the inspired thread got me thinking about my setup.
I'm not very good at keeping my backups up to date but for system backups I use Acronis and for specific folder/files I use Karen's Replicator.

The backups go to a NAS (they used to go to an additional hard drive on my computer), I should probably look into a 2nd NAS to backup the NAS or maybe build an freenas box.

Since I have multiple computers in the household I really need to start thinking about a network backup software, something I can manage centrally (most important to me is functionality and scheduling). Does anyone have suggestions?

 

[nageov3t]

Thanks for sharing Loki. Why do you prefer Macrium Reflect?

I haven't actually deployed it yet, but Macrium was recommended to be by AT.

my needs are pretty basic, I just want to do a weekly backup of my operating system, with 2-week retention, to cover my ass in case my drive ever dies (especially if I ditch my internal raid 1... with a backup, I could throw in a spare hard drive, run a bare-metal restore, and hopefully be back up and running within a couple hours).

I could probably use MS system recovery for it, but part of me still trusts specialty 3rd-party software over Microsoft.

 

[nk215]

My main machine has a 128 SSD (M4) and an 8-TB raid5. I use cobian back up to backup critical data (mostly family pictures) from the raid5 to a USB3 external HD (3TB).

The OS SSD get imaged when I install anything new with paragon disk image.

Very important small data (tax, some database for example) are stored on VMWare virtual machine. This file is copied onto external HD. I use this approach to ensure that there's no down time. I can always copy the virtual machine to another physical machine and fire that up.

 

[Anteaus]

I used Beyond Compare to maintain file level mirrors. Each of the internal HDDs I use for file storage has a twin external of equal or greater size that is synced every 1-2 weeks depending on what's changed, with major additions backed up within 24 hours.

I keep the backup externals packed in a small box that can be grabbed quickly in case of a fire or other natural disasters.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Mostly, 2 laptops and desktop back up to 2TB attached to NAS.

Also some important stuff in DropBox.

 

[nOOky]

All my pc's have an SSD as the OS drive, which I don't back up. All my documents etc. are kept on another internal hdd, and I have 2 of those in each of my pc's and one automatically backs up to the other every week via the OS's back up utility. I also have an external drive which backs up the entire pc every week. (So I do back up my OS SSD I was wrong).
This is for 2 of my desktops, my laptop gets backed up to an external drive whenever I remember to do it.
The only online storage is Google Drive which I use for sharing etc. and not for backing anything up.

 

[Shephard]

I don't trust automatic backups unless you have a lot of hard drives in like raid or something. I mean a lot.

I got about 2tb of stuff on backup. It's all on 3 external hard drives.

I think that's best because once unplugged it's safe from any power problems and it safe from heat and dust.