backups - online, portable hard drive or via router?

[zetec786]

I saw a thread touch on the topic of online backups viewtopic.php?f=2&t=78195&p=816832&hilit=online+ba ckup#p816832 ... but am wondering if anyone has some experience with home use wireless routers and the simplest way to back up two computers; and old PC, a newer PC and the wife's Mac.

Should I consider getting a drive that is shared via the router and accessed by both computers?
Should I get a portable drive like a Lacie type thing and just do a wired up back up monthly?
Should I consider on line backups like Mozy or Drivehq?

The aim is for a simple and straightforward system which will provide the best access to files if one or more of the computers crash.

Nothing really precious on my computers but the boss has a couple of thesis and lots of research.

And if the place burned down, I would grab my car keys and damasko and leg it ... and of course Mrs Zee ... it goes without saying.

Thanks.

[rfrazier]

At least one off site. I don't trust cloud computing[1], so I use sneaker power to get mine off site. So, what I do is keep a copy of my office filesystem at home, and a copy of my home file system at work. (This is probably only possible because of the sort of "environment" I have at work). I transfer the filesystems via a portable HD, which is another backup, actually. If I'm really keen to back something up from work when I'm at home (or the other way round), I use rsync over a ssh connection.

[1] For a while, I did use IBM's Tivoli backup, but that was at work, and done within the university.

Best wishes,
Bob

[zetec786]

so, if one of your systems crashed (God forbid) then would you have to reinstall your programs or when you say file systems are you talking the whole lot?

[millie-mail]

I saw a thread touch on the topic of online backups viewtopic.php?f=2&t=78195&p=816832&hilit=online+ba ckup#p816832 ... but am wondering if anyone has some experience with home use wireless routers and the simplest way to back up two computers; and old PC, a newer PC and the wife's Mac.

Should I consider getting a drive that is shared via the router and accessed by both computers?
Should I get a portable drive like a Lacie type thing and just do a wired up back up monthly?
Should I consider on line backups like Mozy or Drivehq?

The aim is for a simple and straightforward system which will provide the best access to files if one or more of the computers crash.

Nothing really precious on my computers but the boss has a couple of thesis and lots of research.

And if the place burned down, I would grab my car keys and damasko and leg it ... and of course Mrs Zee ... it goes without saying.

Thanks.

I have one of these portable units and am really pleased with it. I back up 2 pc's and 2 laptops.
http://www.clickfree.com/

Dave

[rfrazier]

so, if one of your systems crashed (God forbid) then would you have to reinstall your programs or when you say file systems are you talking the whole lot?

The filesystem with my stuff on it, e.g., documents and pictures. If the system crashed and took a disk with it, I would do a new install, which is no big deal with linux, especially since I also backup up all the configuration files for my system (which are simple text files). Consequently, I can easily get it back into the configuration I like.

Best wishes,
Bob

[chrisparker]

I'd have a networked drive, like you suggest accessed via your router on both machines.

Partition the drive for two separate back-ups, install back up software on each machine and run an automatic daily back-up schedule (set-up at different times).

Important data such as written thesis and research should be burned to 2x CD's every month, keep one at home the other off-site.

At worst if you got burned down you should have the important stuff copied and it would only be a month (at worst) out of date.

Archive stuff off regularly so at least you don't have too much on your computer. Photos and music might not seem that important but if you don't have them stored elsewhere when they're gone, they're gone.

Chris.

[zetec786]

I have one of these portable units and am really pleased with it. I back up 2 pc's and 2 laptops.
http://www.clickfree.com/

Just saw the demo video on the site, appeared to be really straight forward. Thanks for the link.

[ralphy]

I use Apple's Time Machine to back up my Mac machines, it does it automatically and seamlessly; when I bought another Mac last week it re-installed evertyhing from my older MacBook onto the new one.

I assume you could also use it for PC backup too, albeit you may have to do that manually.

R

[millie-mail]

I have one of these portable units and am really pleased with it. I back up 2 pc's and 2 laptops.
http://www.clickfree.com/

Just saw the demo video on the site, appeared to be really straight forward. Thanks for the link.

The portable is usb powered and I carry it with me which means I can connect to any computer and view all my files and media from all four of my units. It also has it's own music player! It sorts your files into video, photo, documents, projects, presentations etc. At start up it counts down 20secs to auto back up, you can stop it by clicking on view files.
If you need any more info let me know.

Having just read this back, I would like to say I am in no way associated with this company.
I have owned this product for about 9 months and I just happen to think that it's very good. :D


Dave.

[alexandr0s]

If you need to backup just documents and photos, I'd suggest both an online soution (aka "the could way") and a hard disk/usb stick.
The former solution gives you immediate access from wherever you are while the latter is much more straightforward and these days quite cheap. You could get a cheapo 16gb usb stick from the bay for around a tenner, and that should be more than enough to hold all your important files

Alex

[Fschwep]

The more frequently the better, and offsite backup is always a good idea. For the rest it's a matter of how important your data are to you and how much financial and technical effort you want to put into it.
Some of my most important files (ongoing work, this year's finances, electronic calendar, bookmarks, passwords in an encrypted database) are sitting on at least one USB stick that itself sits in a trouser pocket. If the house burns down and I have to make a run for it I'll have those files with me; I can then get a cheap netbook or use a friend's PC to get my e-mails and continue working. I have programmed my mail software to leave messages on the ISP servers for several weeks after I download them, so I can get to them using another computer and restore things that way.
Against a computer crash the best protection is to have another computer with the same software and data. For me, the difference between my desktop machine (laptop actually) and my travel laptop (subnotebook) is what resides on the aforementioned USB stick. I can copy that to the machine that is still working, log into my mail accounts to update and I won't have lost much; more importantly, I can continue working without the hassle of having to find, buy, borrow or beg another computer and installing all my beloved software on it (I went through that once or twice, it's not funny).

I don't want to use commercial online 'cloud' services for storage of most of my my data as I don't want them or shady government agencies rifling though my files.
As for the risk of photos going up in flames: yes, that is a risk. It was even greater when we had physical photo albums and folders with negatives and contact sheets. Nowadays family snapshots tend to multiply to the faraway computers of parents and siblings, so at least some of them could be restored after a house fire.

I can imagine more exotic options, like a large wifi-connected external hard drive that sits physically outside the house (in a shed, garage or someplace similar). That would protect against a house fire and even somewhat against burglary.

[Seamaster73]

I use Apple's Time Machine to back up my Mac machines, it does it automatically and seamlessly; when I bought another Mac last week it re-installed evertyhing from my older MacBook onto the new one.

Ditto. It just does its thing in the background, and on the few occasions I've had to call upon it, it has been great.

I appreciate it won't do me much good if my house burns down, but if that happens I suspect I'll have more to worry about than my iTunes collection.

[Cookie]

I use a product called AISBackup on my PC http://www.aiscl.co.uk/ and Timemachine on my MAC. I backup to a USB drive and periodically create a DVD copy. Timemachine is completely automatic. AISBackup needs to be setup for the data you want to save but it works well and is cheap.
Cheers

[Crusader]

I have computers in at least three locations, and I am running a system of mutually exchanged physical backups much like Bob Frazier has described.

While I was aking for a "colud computing" solution for my (non-sensitive) bookmarks earlier this week, and appreciate the ready convenience of having my voluminous bookmarks available on every computer I log on, I would never consider putting all my files "in the clouds", not to mention the more sensitive stuff that is stored on AES-encrypted flash drives only (to protect against theft of a computer).

Cloud computing is only good for non-sensitive stuff, and for joint working on a document by people physically apart, IMHO.