I assume there’s a story I assume there’s a story behind this poll.
Doofrat
August 23, 2012 @
5:44 PM
I keep all my important (non I keep all my important (non photo) files on an encrypted volume created using a single large file on my USB drive. I run Truecrypt from the USB drive itself (it’s only one executable and one .sys file). I then copy the single encrypted file from my USB to my work laptop periodically (usually every one to two weeks) and then keep about 5 of these backups on the laptop and periodically delete the oldest ones. It takes about 5 minutes to copy.
Second, I have 2 – 1 TB USB drives that I keep all vacation photos on. One is kept at the house, one in the safe deposit box. Every 6 months or so when we go on vacation, these get swapped along with a copy of said encrypted file from the USB drive and the newest vacation photos.
This system works like a charm, been doing it for about 8 years and have had two USB thumb drives go bad with very minimal loss (running encryption on a solid state drive can be hard on it’s lifespan). By encrypting everything onto a single file, I only need to backup one file, and if the USB key falls off my keychain, nobody can get my tax returns, etc.
Since I’m not backing up my whole system, it’s totally hardware agnostic.
The key things to know is:
It’s not if, but when your storage system will fail. ALL computer storage systems fail at some point.
If your backup system is too burdensome, complex, expensive, etc. you will not do it.
moneymaker
August 24, 2012 @
4:43 AM
Sounds like you know what you Sounds like you know what you are doing there doofrat. I was going to use a TB drive that I used to use on my old Rovi DVR, but for some reason even though the drive is recognized it doesn’t show up in My Computer. So right now I’m using good old fashioned DVD’s until I can get to Costco and pick up some Thumb Drives that are on sale now. It looks like I’ll be using 3 DVD’s so 1 16GB thumb drive should be sufficient, so I’ll get 3 of them.
OK figured out why it wasn’t showing up, just went into disk manager,initialized,formatted and now I’m ready for some major serial backups.
DataAgent
August 24, 2012 @
7:44 AM
Mozy rules. Mozy rules.
an
August 24, 2012 @
7:58 AM
I have backplane to back up I have backplane to back up everything. I used to have Mozy until they stop doing unlimited data backup. I also have documents (non sensitive stuff, but still important) at both MSFT Skydrive and Google Drive. Then I also have a RAID 1 media server at home.
sdduuuude
August 24, 2012 @
10:17 AM
I’m somewhere between “all I’m somewhere between “all the time” and “occasionally”
I have a system set up to move data over to a linux backup server daily, but sometimes I shut it off because it’s loud.
I also rely on dropbox. Dropbox moves my most commonly used files to the cloud and my work PC. That’s the stuff that would be the worst to lose so I’m less worried about backups than I used to be.
spdrun
August 24, 2012 @
11:21 AM
Anything that’s important Anything that’s important (business, taxes, invoicing, some music) is saved on a Linux server in my apt that I also have remote access to. Other than e-mail, no kloud krap for me.
The server itself has RAID-1 and is automatically backed up daily to an external drive.
August 23, 2012 @ 3:58 PM
I assume there’s a story
I assume there’s a story behind this poll.
August 23, 2012 @ 5:44 PM
I keep all my important (non
I keep all my important (non photo) files on an encrypted volume created using a single large file on my USB drive. I run Truecrypt from the USB drive itself (it’s only one executable and one .sys file). I then copy the single encrypted file from my USB to my work laptop periodically (usually every one to two weeks) and then keep about 5 of these backups on the laptop and periodically delete the oldest ones. It takes about 5 minutes to copy.
Second, I have 2 – 1 TB USB drives that I keep all vacation photos on. One is kept at the house, one in the safe deposit box. Every 6 months or so when we go on vacation, these get swapped along with a copy of said encrypted file from the USB drive and the newest vacation photos.
This system works like a charm, been doing it for about 8 years and have had two USB thumb drives go bad with very minimal loss (running encryption on a solid state drive can be hard on it’s lifespan). By encrypting everything onto a single file, I only need to backup one file, and if the USB key falls off my keychain, nobody can get my tax returns, etc.
Since I’m not backing up my whole system, it’s totally hardware agnostic.
The key things to know is:
It’s not if, but when your storage system will fail. ALL computer storage systems fail at some point.
If your backup system is too burdensome, complex, expensive, etc. you will not do it.
August 24, 2012 @ 4:43 AM
Sounds like you know what you
Sounds like you know what you are doing there doofrat. I was going to use a TB drive that I used to use on my old Rovi DVR, but for some reason even though the drive is recognized it doesn’t show up in My Computer. So right now I’m using good old fashioned DVD’s until I can get to Costco and pick up some Thumb Drives that are on sale now. It looks like I’ll be using 3 DVD’s so 1 16GB thumb drive should be sufficient, so I’ll get 3 of them.
OK figured out why it wasn’t showing up, just went into disk manager,initialized,formatted and now I’m ready for some major serial backups.
August 24, 2012 @ 7:44 AM
Mozy rules.
Mozy rules.
August 24, 2012 @ 7:58 AM
I have backplane to back up
I have backplane to back up everything. I used to have Mozy until they stop doing unlimited data backup. I also have documents (non sensitive stuff, but still important) at both MSFT Skydrive and Google Drive. Then I also have a RAID 1 media server at home.
August 24, 2012 @ 10:17 AM
I’m somewhere between “all
I’m somewhere between “all the time” and “occasionally”
I have a system set up to move data over to a linux backup server daily, but sometimes I shut it off because it’s loud.
I also rely on dropbox. Dropbox moves my most commonly used files to the cloud and my work PC. That’s the stuff that would be the worst to lose so I’m less worried about backups than I used to be.
August 24, 2012 @ 11:21 AM
Anything that’s important
Anything that’s important (business, taxes, invoicing, some music) is saved on a Linux server in my apt that I also have remote access to. Other than e-mail, no kloud krap for me.
The server itself has RAID-1 and is automatically backed up daily to an external drive.