Data Backup Questions- Tech Advice Needed (long post)

[player]

I am struggling with backup. Some of my setup details:

I have a C drive (solid state 500 gigs) with Win7 and programs.

My data is stored on a second 2 terabyte hard drive called B.

I bought a fanless QNAP that has two 4 terabyte drives in a raid 0: The second drive is backing up the first 4 terabyte drive. The QNAP is plugged into a router, as is my computer, Roland printer, network connection and other computers / devices.

I own a copy of Acronis 2014.

I am able to clone disks with Acronis, and I have the QNAP running and backing up 2 folders on my data drive.

QUESTIONS:

1: I want to clone my data drive, which I can do with Acronis and a hard drive plugged into USB. Can I back it up in a way that the data is easily accessible, but when I back it up again, it only copies changes, not the whole drive?

2: I am struggling with the QNAP. I thought it would allow me to easily copy and ghost my hard drives, but it apparently only does folders. It seems to be geared more
towards using the QNAP as a network data drive and reading/writing to it, not as a backup system. I am having difficulty figuring out how to add more folders and sort out all the different icons/programs that come with it. I have called their tech support and got some help, but they seem almost as confused as I am.

3: For my C drive is the best option periodic clones when I add programs? Is there a way to update the C clone without re-copying the whole drive? As this drive is solid state, in the event of a failure, will a clone of the SSD drive onto a disk drive boot up and run properly or will the clone need to be transferred to a new SSD drive to function properly?

Thanks for reading and any suggestion you may have.

Note: I am trying to cover all my bases from disk corruption to "Ransom-ware". If I get hit with ransom-ware I want to be ready to wipe my drives and not lose anything.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Firstly, you mention RAID-0 which spreads the data across both drives, and not duplicates the first drive.
For peace of mind, please confirm that you have it running in RAID-1 mode.

Now to your questions:
1. I believe Acronis can do differential copies. Which version are you running?
2. Used plenty of NAS devices but not a QNAP, so can't easily help with this one sorry.
3. As per answer 1. Depending on which Acronis you have, differential copies will allow you to backup only data that has changed since the last full backup.

You should be able to restore to either another SSD or spinning disk and the machine should operate as normal.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I had Acronis 2014 (which should work as that is what you said you had) when I was last using Acronis, but it's been awhile since I've seen all the menus.

1. When you are talking about just having it do the changes after the initial backup, you want to set it to "incremental backup". Last copy I had was 2014, which is the one that you list, so it does work like that, however, if I recall correctly, you have to set it up that way on initial setup of the backup regiment.

2. I'm not too sure I understand the problem that you are having. When I was using Acronis, I didn't have any issues with using the Qnap as a backup for the TIB files.

3. You can transfer the backup to a regular mechanical drive or another SSD drive. The problem would be more of read/write/transfer speeds depending on which one you do and if you have done any other major hardware changes. Windows, and Adobe (and typically other like programs) "attach" themselves to various hardware components (or rather those component's UUID numbers), if those change, that may result in a broken install of some programs and even Windows.

 

[player]

Yes raid 1.

I will read your helpful answers later... I need some free time, which I don't have right now.

Thanks!

 

[Speedsterbeast]

This is a low-tech post, and most likely obvious to most, but in case it isn't- ransom ware will destroy anything that is plugged into the computer when it hits- external hard drives included. Please make sure that they are unplugged when not doing backup.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Do you have some type of off-site backup in place? if not than you are not backed up.

Here is our setup:

we have 7 computers around the shop, each computer has only the programs it needs to run the piece of equipment it's assigned to (with the exception of the office and design computers which have all the usual stuff). Nothing gets saved to these computers!

We have a regular desktop computer set up as a server, all client files, accounting files etc gets saved to this, it has 3 HDD in it set up to mirror each other automatically, and it is set to back up to Carbonite instantly.

We had a fire at our shop 4 years ago, we lost everything, but our server was backed up online, so i was able to completely restore everything to it from the internet (not fun downloading 200GB!) and since the regular computers don't have anything on them except programs that can be reinstalled from the CD, I can hook up a new computer and have it running in it's place in less than an hour.

It's not a perfect setup, but I think it works well.