Backup proceedure or program for the "uneducated"

[James Burke]

I've been doing my backups the old fashioned way with external hard drives...basically "copy" and "pasting" the files to copy them onto my backup drives. There must be a better way to do things.

I'm running just a single computer and would like to be educated on my options for speeding up the process using a program / utility.

I'm still a little hesitant to use an online service....don't know why, but I am for some reason.

My current system utilizes a Thermaltake Blac X Duet SATA (double-drive) docking station. Basically it looks like a mini "toaster" you pop the hard drives into and then plug it into a USB port on the computer. I keep the hard drives in a safe.



Thanks,

Jim

 

[jfiscus]

A good friend of mine runs http://www.gorillabackups.com
It is an online backup solution; the best part is that it's a small company, and if/when you need support - you talk to an actual person. We use it for all of our companies' backups.

Local hard drives will eventually fail.
What would you do if there was a fire at your office, or if someone broke in and stole both your computer and the backup system?

 

[rjssigns]

Cloud storage is dead slow unless you only have a couple megs to upload or retrieve. I use time machine on the Mac and put drives in the fire safe when I'm done.
Next step will be a fireproof gun safe with 2 blade servers in it. Dead simple, ultra fast and secure. Plus no monthly charges. I could quote a raft of issues inherent with "cloud' storage, but I won't.

Tidbit: I have a client that is nearing release of a petabyte storage solution that takes up 3 conventional rack slots.
A petabyte=1024 terabytes.

 

[James Burke]

Cloud storage is dead slow unless you only have a couple megs to upload or retrieve.

I was just doing some research and found that some companies tend to "throttle" back the transfer speed after a pre-determined amount of data. That could prove hurtful since the majority of my data will consist of large .AI files



Jim

 

[choucove]

Cobian Backup is a program that I have used in the past that was also discussed on this forum not too long ago as a backup utility. It basically works to just copy/paste data from one location to another so it leaves all the information uncompressed and doesn't make some proprietary single file for your backup which then has to be completely recovered to get one single file back out. Cobian is free,and easy to set up which you can set to run on schedules as well.

I have grown fond of Backup Magic (the new version is now called Copiaris) as it is very flexible and light, there is no constantly running service or program like with Cobian, it just creates a simple little script file which you can execute with a double click on the icon for the backup, or you can create a batch file to be run on a scheduled task in Windows. This takes a little bit more work to set up, but I really have had no issues with this program at all.

If you are running Windows 7, I'd just recommend using the built-in Backup and Restore tool. This can be set up in Windows to run on a schedule as well, and is very easy to manage.

 

[SignBurst PCs]

If you are running Windows 7, I'd just recommend using the built-in Backup and Restore tool. This can be set up in Windows to run on a schedule as well, and is very easy to manage.

+1

The Windows 7 Backup (and system imaging) tools are more than adequate for most folks. I use them and have restored from them several times without incident.

Backing up is good, but knowing how to recover is equally important. Test your backup and restore plan! It is frustrating to think that your backup plan is working, only to find out there has been a glitch in the plan when you need it the most.

 

[James Burke]

If you are running Windows 7, I'd just recommend using the built-in Backup and Restore tool. This can be set up in Windows to run on a schedule as well, and is very easy to manage.

I'm running Windows 7. Where is this located, and how do I access i?

Thanks,

Jim

 

[James Burke]

Cool...I found it in the control panel.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[SignBurst PCs]

Cool...I found it in the control panel.

Thanks,

Jim

Or, like anything else in Windows 7, just type into the Search Bar at the bottom of the Start Menu to find what you want. Just type BACKUP in and it should pop up.

 

[James Burke]

Do you know if this utility compresses the data?


Jim