Backing up your photos (and other stuff)

Filed under: by: Unknown

So, I spent a couple of hours yesterday backing up files from my harddrive. I TRY to do this every month (sometimes 2x) just so, IF something happens to my laptop...like last year :( , I don't loose everything.

Now, I've always backed up to CD or DVD. I'm now looking at backing up to an array of HD's...ie, NAS (Network Attached Storage). The way I see it, I can set this up to backup automatically ALL of my pc's...as I very seldom backup my wife's laptop (and it has all the business stuff on it)

Here's a few links that I've found:
http://www.nasbackup.com/wiki/Introduction
http://freenas.org/
http://www.storagesearch.com/datalink-nasbackup-art-2.pdf
http://hubpages.com/hub/Three-cool-data-backup-ideas


Also, what about using an "online" backup solution....ie, http://www.carbonite.com/default.aspx ?

I'd like to know what you use...and how. If you want to go into details, that's great. If it's too much to put into a comment here, just shoot me an email...PLEASE

danielburkhead@yahoo.com


I'm looking forward to seeing your comments.

2 comments:

On April 11, 2010 at 2:28 PM , Shane said...

I have two 1TB external USB drives on which the backups are stored. One is always attached to my main PC and is configured as a shared network drive. The other is locked in my desk at work. I swap them once a month so that if I lose the one at home (to fire, flood, etc) I've lost at most one month's worth of data.

On my main PC I have a script that runs nightly to back up my pictures, "My Documents" folders, and all other important documents to the connected external drive. This script uses a free program called Robocopy, which is very fast and smart enough that it only copies new and changed files.

As for our laptops, we don't keep anything critical on them, so backing them up isn't as important. I do back them up though, with similar Robocopy scripts that I run at least monthly, and those backups go to the same shared backup drive as everything else.

For me, the key to a successful backup policy is having two additional copies of everything I may need to recover. It is important that one of those copies be "off-site". That way if your house burns down you don't lose it. Online solutions like Carbonite, BackBlaze, and JungleDisk are good if you're willing to pay for them. For my needs those services weren't worth the cost.

Shoot me an email if you want more details or information.

 
On April 12, 2010 at 7:51 PM , Unknown said...

I'm looking at going this route....LG NAS

Very "doable"...I could even "install" this at my In-Law's house and still network it