Backup solution for home system?

M

msny

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I have an older computer (3 years), and I've amassed a lot of digital files from vacations ect over time.

Currently, I back up from my C drive to my D drive with Win 7 Backup for everything. I also have a small WD MyBook that is USB, but is almost full. It has no automated backup software.

What I'd like to do is have another back solution like an external drive, with backup software
so I can automate and backup in real time.

Current system is real simple. Windows 7 64bit Home Premium, C: drive is 250gig & D:drive is 250 gig. I also have two other computers in my network. Size is 250gigs each. I dont really need to back these up, but, if something works I'm game.

Here are some links to some things I've looked at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822204092

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...cm_re=backup_drive_usb-_-22-136-749-_-Product

I'm thinkng 1T/ 2T, would be a good size. I may build a new system in a year, so I'm also looking forward. Can go up to $200, thats my budget.

So what the good solution for this?
 
Depending on how fancy you want to get ...

I use the DOS XCOPY command with a bunch of switches. I have a batch file that copies each of the directories I want to backup. It copies just the changed files. You can back up the network drives also. I run it as a scheduled task once a day.

Since you have a budget, I would get the 2 or 3 largest hard drives with external cases that fit the budget. Keep a backup connected to the computer, one not connected to the computer and one off site. Rotate them once a month or so. In case of a disaster you have your stuff.

---

I have a mix of backup drives from 750GB to 2TB. They each have 12-25 copies of our data. (Each month I start a new copy on the same hard drives.) The drives were bought when they were the ones that provided the cheapest space ($/GB). I guess that 2TB drives are the cheapest now.
 
GeorgeHR said:
Depending on how fancy you want to get ...

I use the DOS XCOPY command with a bunch of switches. I have a batch file that copies each of the directories I want to backup. It copies just the changed files. You can back up the network drives also. I run it as a scheduled task once a day.

Since you have a budget, I would get the 2 or 3 largest hard drives with external cases that fit the budget. Keep a backup connected to the computer, one not connected to the computer and one off site. Rotate them once a month or so. In case of a disaster you have your stuff.

---

I have a mix of backup drives from 750GB to 2TB. They each have 12-25 copies of our data. (Each month I start a new copy on the same hard drives.) The drives were bought when they were the ones that provided the cheapest space ($/GB). I guess that 2TB drives are the cheapest now.
Click to expand...

All good advice!
Thanks much!

Do you see any pros or cons to using the drives I have linked from Newegg?
 
Xcopy works fine, but I use Cobain Backup. It's free and basically does the same thing in a GUI fashion. The bonus is that it does the multiple copies thing (new copy once a month or whatever) automatically if you decide to configure it that way. It has the shadow copy and other basic stuff too. The only feature that I found lacking was no built-in scp support but not everyone needs that.

As far as bang for buck, you may be able to do slightly better by buying an internal hard drive and an enclosure. At least, I think the warranty on internals is longer in general than externals. But if you want an all-in-one solution, the drives you linked should be fine.
 
ChrisBenn said:
In the 150-200 price range you might as well pick up a 3Tb drive
Click to expand...

I might just do that.

I noticed the Fantom external drives use both Sata and USB hookups, while
the WB MyBooks are only USB. I'm not sure which one has the better
software either. I want to keep it simple and work in the background most
of the time.

So I'm wondering for full backup times, if the Sata connection speed would be a plus?
Then again, a USB 3.0, for future builds weigns in on that also.

What are your thoughts?
 
I decided on the Fenton Drive because I can use Firewire/Sata/USB.
Its flexible and a one step solution.

I'm ordered it from Amazon here, the price was better:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BXDB28

I think the 2TB should suffice for a very long time.
 
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What is the purpose of creating a new copy once a month or whatever instead of just constantly backing up what has changed and nothing else?
 
Radical said:
What is the purpose of creating a new copy once a month or whatever instead of just constantly backing up what has changed and nothing else?
Click to expand...

Pretend some directories or some files get deleted (a legitimate change) then that "changes only" backup policy diligently vaporizes those changes from the backup set then you don't discover it for quite some time, possibly for such a long time that the now missing legitimate data falls out of your media rotation. It happens.
 
vr. said:
Pretend some directories or some files get deleted (a legitimate change) then that "changes only" backup policy diligently vaporizes those changes from the backup set then you don't discover it for quite some time, possibly for such a long time that the now missing legitimate data falls out of your media rotation. It happens.
Click to expand...

Right.
Full vs incremental backups are the norm...SOP.

One can never be to carefull.
 
Radical said:
What is the purpose of creating a new copy once a month or whatever instead of just constantly backing up what has changed and nothing else?
Click to expand...

Using Acronis I've found that incremental back-ups don't seem to be as reliable as a complete back-up.

It just adds a variable where it's not needed that may make the difference between a successful or unsuccessful restore.
 
Radical said:
What is the purpose of creating a new copy once a month or whatever instead of just constantly backing up what has changed and nothing else?
Click to expand...

It was mentioned that if you delete a file, then the copy goes away. I don't delete anything on the copies. One of the reasons for having a backup is so that deleted files can be recovered.

I have found that from time to time I have a need to restore a prior version of a file. Having monthly backups has aided in that. (I also do incremental nightly backups ZIPping files. But that is overkill for most people.)

Also sometimes the hard drive gets messed up. I have had a couple times where I could not access a directory on my backup copy. But since I have so many backups, I could get the data back.

---

The original poster is saving mostly media files. I expect those don't change over time. I expect that they don't take up much space. (even 1TB of media is a whole lot of stuff.) The space for multiple copies will cost almost nothing.

The big issue is having the copies dispersed so that a disaster at one location does not destroy all the copies.
 
GeorgeHR said:
It was mentioned that if you delete a file, then the copy goes away. I don't delete anything on the copies. One of the reasons for having a backup is so that deleted files can be recovered.

I have found that from time to time I have a need to restore a prior version of a file. Having monthly backups has aided in that. (I also do incremental nightly backups ZIPping files. But that is overkill for most people.)

Also sometimes the hard drive gets messed up. I have had a couple times where I could not access a directory on my backup copy. But since I have so many backups, I could get the data back.

---

The original poster is saving mostly media files. I expect those don't change over time. I expect that they don't take up much space. (even 1TB of media is a whole lot of stuff.) The space for multiple copies will cost almost nothing.

The big issue is having the copies dispersed so that a disaster at one location does not destroy all the copies.
Click to expand...

Your last point is a good one.
I work in IT, our systems are offsite, plus we vault the backups.

For home use, this would be expensive, but there are a few online backup
sites over the web, that might do the trick.

I know about this one:
http://www.carbonite.com
 
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