Computer Back-up Options

[Master slacker]

Fox, computer guru, sir, how do you go about performing your backups? Specifically, how would one best do it with Ubuntu if it makes any difference.

 

[knight1fox3]

I use a program called Acronis True Image. Which can be had anywhere from $25-$50 (worth it IMO). And it works independently from the operating system. Because ultimately, if you have a drive failure, how will you get to your operating system to run your back-up/restore program? I use a bootable CDROM disk that has networking capabilities. I create an exact image of all main operating system drives I have in the house on a monthly basis. Which are then stored directly to my network drive system. I run the back-ups over a gigabit connection so it doesn't take long at all to transfer 100GB or so. I have quite a few systems so each system will create an image file of however much data you have stored. For instance, if you have 64GB of data on your main OS drive, your image file size will be close to 64GB (it does get compressed a little). I probably have close to 500GB of drive images on my network. But an external drive could also be used in this manner but would take longer to transfer over a USB 2.0 or 3.0 connection.

The restore process is just as easy. Just point to your latest image file and follow the steps to restoration. Your Ubuntu OS will likely have an ext3/4 file system. Acronis should be able to handle that no problem but I have not tested it with the latest version of Ubuntu. HTH.

 

[Master slacker]

Damn this learning curve. ext3/4 is beyond my comprehension at the moment besides the basic way they are maintained. I may just invest in a separate HD to put in my Rosewill external HD case and use that as a backup medium. Or maybe just install second HD in the case for occasional backups. Ugh. I shall research further.

 

[snickerd3]

mr snick bought one of those external harddrive tower things and just busts it out once a month and copies everything to it.

 

[csb]

I use Mozy.

(waits for K1F3 to point out fatal flaw)

 

[knight1fox3]

Damn this learning curve. ext3/4 is beyond my comprehension at the moment besides the basic way they are maintained. I may just invest in a separate HD to put in my Rosewill external HD case and use that as a backup medium. Or maybe just install second HD in the case for occasional backups. Ugh. I shall research further.

LOL. Well, don't concern yourself with the file system itself. It shouldn't matter if it's FAT32, NTFS, EXT3, or EXT4. The imaging software will preserve the file system and restore it to it's original configuration when needed. All you are doing, is taking a snap shot of the whole hard disk. That snap shot is stored in a single file (like a ZIP archive). You just need to figure out where to put that large snap shot. It can be an external drive, a secondary internal drive, etc. Does that clarify a bit more?

 

[knight1fox3]

I use Mozy.

(waits for K1F3 to point out fatal flaw)

LOL. I do tend to be a bit critical at times don't I? Sorry about that. But it's only because I do a TON of reading on this stuff to seek out the "best of the best". :blush2:

And congrats csb, Mozy made "the list". http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2288745,00.asp

But I assume you are backing up just documents and multimedia files specifically, correct? Not your entire operating system and corresponding programming files? There are a ton of cloud storage options out there (see link above) but I'm not a fan of paying monthly subscription fees for something I can do for free on my own. Plus I'm always paranoid about the cloud storage company having some type of catastrophic failure or getting hacked and my personal files going <whoosh>. So for now, I stick to a local on-my-own terms back-up solution.

 

[Master slacker]

^^^ Cloud drives - I just don't like having all my information on someone else's machine.

 

[envirotex]

^^^Why not? The NSA already has it all anyway...just call them when you need it.

 

[csb]

I go for offsite storage because I'm paranoid about house fires and floods. If my computer burns, most likely the hard drive burns, too.

And my daddy is a professional computer nerd, so I don't worry about OS. He just wipes the computer clean and reloads for me. I said in college, "I suppose if my dad was real into cars, I'd have a badass muscle car. My dad's into computers, so I have a super machine."

 

[knight1fox3]

I go for offsite storage because I'm paranoid about house fires and floods. If my computer burns, most likely the hard drive burns, too.

I have an external hard drive that lives in the fire safe so I'm not worried about fire. And depending on the nature of a home disaster, after first making sure the fam/pets were safe, I'd grab my network server machine and probably my side arm (never know, there could be zombies out there too!). Both of which are always in close proximity. And no flooding here. Unless Lake Michigan decides to rapidly rise one day.

And my daddy is a professional computer nerd, so I don't worry about OS. He just wipes the computer clean and reloads for me. I said in college, "I suppose if my dad was real into cars, I'd have a badass muscle car. My dad's into computers, so I have a super machine."

ZOMG! I think you just described the future me! A wipe/reload means losing quite a bit of personal data I have spanned across a lot of installed programs. Not as simple for me to go that route.

 

[envirotex]

I go for offsite storage because I'm paranoid about house fires and floods. If my computer burns, most likely the hard drive burns, too.

I have an external hard drive that lives in the fire safe so I'm not worried about fire.

Fire safes don't work...I've seen it up close. Don't waste your money.

 

[knight1fox3]

I go for offsite storage because I'm paranoid about house fires and floods. If my computer burns, most likely the hard drive burns, too.

I have an external hard drive that lives in the fire safe so I'm not worried about fire.

Fire safes don't work...I've seen it up close. Don't waste your money.

Depends on the manufacturing process. The test data I've acquired for my safe suggests otherwise. As do the real-world demonstrations.

 

[csb]

I seem to recall Tex's info was based on real-world.

 

[knight1fox3]

^ so is mine. I'd have to dig into the "archives" though.

 

[envirotex]

Your fireproof box might work, but I'd just rather not chance it. I didn't see a single one survive...store your stuff in duplicates in multiple locations.

And for the record, the only things you need to take with you are your spouse, your kids, your pets, and a photo ID...

 

[Flyer_PE]

I use a pair of USB hard drives in rotation. One drive in use and connected to the machine, the other drive in a safe deposit box at the local bank. Every so often the drives get swapped out so the one at the bank is at most a month or two out of date.

 

[knight1fox3]

Your fireproof box might work, but I'd just rather not chance it. I didn't see a single one survive...store your stuff in duplicates in multiple locations.

And for the record, the only things you need to take with you are your spouse, your kids, your pets, and a photo ID...

There's no might about the one I have. I know for a fact it works. Just sayin'. I don't trust my sensitive data anywhere else outside my home.

And for the record, it's already been discussed with LadyFox. We have quite a bit of digital information relating to family stored on the server. It's coming with us.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I use a pair of USB hard drives in rotation. One drive in use and connected to the machine, the other drive in a safe deposit box at the local bank. Every so often the drives get swapped out so the one at the bank is at most a month or two out of date.

Good plan.

Nice place for some extra cash and go documents.

 

[Master slacker]

Whew! What a day. Finally got the beater back up and running, got all my wife's useful / pertinent data and files transferred from her 9 year old laptop to the new Ubuntu box, and am performing the first (on disk) backup. It ain't the greatest backup method, but better than nothing for now.