I know this is not the forum for a long term vent on this topic, but seeing all the problems the forum is having I thought the topic might be relevant.

You can never back up your computer data too much. I did so barely adequately but only saved the most important things -- a years worth of digital photos of my kids. Everything else is gone. You would think I would have learned the lesson about testing your emergency equipment.

Nope, stepped right in that one. My imaging software, Ghost 9, has some configuration problems and my backups don't work the way they're supposed to.

Gee, who would have thought about actually doing a practice run?

I hate being and idiot.

Always have more than one backup via more than one method. IMHO ghost is not a backup tool. I know they have added some backup software like features in recent versions because it gets used that way, but its primary use was to quickly image multiple workstations for IT shops unwilling to learn technologies such as unattended setup. You should use more than one method, for example copy data to an external hard disk each night but burn data to CD's each month.
I have my most important data on a usb flash drive which is part of my edc so even with the complete loss of my systems and backups I still have my most important data (address book and calendar which journals my live for the last 10 or so years), then incremental backups on an external hard disk and copies of important stuff on cd's stored in various locations.

I started wondering about inexpensive backup solutions for relatively small amounts of data. Here's what I came up with. Anyone add anything else?

• Back up to CD-R. Cheap. Really cheap. These days you can get a CD-R drive for next to nothing, and the media is pennies. No excuse not to do this. But, it only stores about ~700 Mb on a disk. That used to be a lot. Not anymore.
• Back up to DVD-R. Inexpensive. Most modern PCs have a DVD-R drive of some type. The media is more expensive than CD, but only a couple of dollars or so. Holds over 4G.
• Back up to internal hard disk. Buy a second (or third!) hard disk. Every now and then, copy your important stuff to that drive. Two advantages here... One, the second hard drive doesn't have to be very big... only as big as your important data, so it can be an older model drive. You might be able to scrounge one from an old (non working) computer, or know someone who has one they'll give you. In the days of 300+Gb drives, no one wants a 20G drive. You do. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Second, it'll protect against the most common type of failures... accidental deletion and hard drive failure.
• Backup to external hard drive. More expensive, these are a great option. I bought one, and leave it at work. When my laptop's at work, I do a backup. That way, I have an "offsite" backup of my data. Over a year ago, I bought a 160 Gb external USB drive at Costco for around $150. I'm sure they've gotten cheaper.
• USB Thumb drives. It's amazing how cheap these are. Newegg has 1Gb flash drives for around $50.
• Gmal. Yes, Gmail. Zip up (and preferrably encrypt) your important files. Mail to your gmail account.
• Friend's computer. Mail the same encrypted zip file to your friends. Have them download it and store a copy locally.
• Other flash RAM media. Don't forget... You can store any type of file on most camera's flash media. Have a digital camera? Then you have a portable backup disk. Copy your really important files to large flash media for your camera / cell phone.
• Most ISPs still offer a small amount of space for personal web sites. It's not much, and most people don't use it, but you can. Find out how to upload / download stuff to it and put copies of your important stuff there (I say important, because even in the 21st century, it's usallly a very 1980's 10Mb or so.)

Of course, this list probably isn't complete, and it only addresses where you can make a backup. Don't forget to also think about the things which could happen to where your back up is stored... fire, theft, earthquake, hurricane, etc. The best way to ensure you'll be able to get your data back is to use multiple, dissimilar backup methods, then store those backups in different places.

Backups are a pain, no question. But the alternative is often much, much worse.

Disadvantages to CD-r and DVD-r are that you can scratch the actual data surface off easily.
Disadvantages to internal hard disk are, theft of computer, electrical surge can take out both, OS glitch, virus, etc can take out both.
Disadvantages to external drive, its still vulnerable to virus and os problems, easier to drop and crash when you move it around.
Disadvantages to USB flash drives or other Flash media are space and speed and dare I say EMP <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Disadvantages to offline are loss due to the inline provider not backing up, same for the friend of ISP.
Good reasons to always use multiple (as was stated)
A couple others are tape and (very unreliable) zip drives.

While we're doing disadvantages...

Don't assume that because you can read your backup (whatever form it may take) today, that you'll be able to a year from now. Even if it's stored in a safe deposit box. I've had CDs go bad. As in, they read fine after I made 'em, now I get read errors.

Redundancy is your friend. Redundancy is your friend. Redundancy is your friend.

I will jump in real quick. I have the benefit of working with folks in the IT industry far wiser than I. There is an adage, and I am sure the other techno-geeks have heard it. "Your backup is only as good as your last restore." The point being a dry-run is a must. Taking on faith that the backup worked AND the restore will work is not a smart thing. Remember you're depending on software which a) was released for economic/profit reasons, not for maturity b) it will be screwed up software/hardware which creates the problem...be very dubious of any software that claims to "make everything better". I will digress....I have an old warhorse who works for me; to quote him "when we were setting up the first IP network..." meanwhile he is a compulsive psychopath when it comes to backups. Why? Because he has been burned *MANY* times by "backup solutions". This is one of those things where "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me”...ok enough quotes...well maybe not:

"If you can't beat your computer at chess, try kickboxing."

Marc

Don't you hate it when that happens. I've been to places where they thought floppies and/or zip drives were a reliable form of backup media and were amazed when about half of their disks wouldn't read. I've had tape and cdr and cd-rw failures as well as external hard disk failures. Most recently my USB flash drive failed and I got it exchanged under warranty (and I was impressed when Lexar sent the e-mail asking if I needed data recovery or not).
Also test restores if you can. I have backed up and verified peoples data and then later found out they saved documents in other places than where they told me (intentional or not) and no longer had them.

Here's our backup strategy.

We have DVD Burners in our computers. We don't use backup software or anything like that, I copy the important stuff to DVD - the stuff that's active now - and burn the DVD. On a weekly basis, I copy ALL the files to an external 200GB Hard Drive which lives in the shed normally. I make CD's of specific folders as well - especially the family photos and I keep those outdoors in an ammo box that's nowhere near the house.

All data storage systems fail...or go obsolete. When you migrate to a new storage system (like I did from Zip Drives to CD then from CD to DVD) you have to go through a migration process to bring your files with you. Most of the time reading an old FILE isn't the hard part - it's reading the old MEDIA that's the problem.
And, of course, if it's REALLY important, print it on paper. Nothing better.


I also have a 1GB keychain drive that I use to carry critical programs - I have a copy of OpenOffice that runs off a keychain drive -that can be critical to recovering your files on another computer.

I store my most important, non-confidential files (like photos) on an offsite array of servers hosted by an enormous company with multiple redundancies and protection against even the largest disasters (for exmaple, backup servers in various locations in the country), and it's all free. Can we say "Yahoo". <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> There are good options out there for off site storage with better redundancies and other protective mesures than most corporations have. You just need to recognize and use the services creatively.