Media backup strategy for "the average guy"?

[fiveolddogs]

As my HDs are filling up, and I contemplate upgrading them, I am compelled to revisit the topic of media backups.

I think when it comes to media, I am fairly typical. I have:
- 150GB of family pictures/videos
- 60GB of iTunes music
- 15GB of family l documents

This is not including things like iOS apps, Adobe Premier data, or other myriad files and folders deposited in my media libraries by various software.

The core of these media collections remains unchanged year-by-year, while I add at most 40GB of pictures, 10GB of music, and 3GB of documents each year.

I've created snapshot backups of my media folders from time to time, but the truth is, I don't have a backup strategy. In the past I have been told I should back up to DVDs monthly, or I should back up to a NAS nightly, or I should mirror my media drive to a second drive installed in my desktop continuously, or I should use a subscription-based online service.

I've tried some of these things, to various degrees of success - I could never get the mirroring thing to work properly, and the backup to NAS was painfully slow and sometimes error-prone.

But I figure my needs are not extravagant, and the backup landscape has surely matured. What is the recommended media backup strategy for "the average guy"?

 

[ronbo613]

Back up to a reasonable NAS, 2 TB looks about right for your needs or get a couple external hard drives, stick a 2, 3 or 4 TB drive in a USB or eSATA enclosure. Use a free backup program like SyncBack simplify backup tasks and call it a day.

 

[jkauff]

Next time Staples runs a 20% off sale, buy two Western Digital My Book USB 3.0 external drives for a $100 or so each. Copy all your stuff to each drive, then take one drive to work and lock it in your desk drawer. Bring the offsite one back home every few months to update it. You'll never lose anything under any circumstances.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I have 564 GB of data on a single internal drive. It's backed up to another internal drive through an ordinary backup program (FreeFileSync) at least once a day. The program runs in about 60 to 65 seconds.

Once a month or so, I'll also back up to another standard internal hard drive that I put in an external dock for that purpose. That takes 2 or 3 hours through an eSATA port.

I'd rather use internal drives in a dock than external drives because I can just recycle my older smaller internals to that purpose without bothering with enclosures. I'm currently using a 640 GB internal that was my primary OS hard drive at one time. The dock is left in the closet other than when I'm actually doing the backup, so doesn't clutter my workspace.

Once a month, I backup up 11 GB of my most important files (mostly documents and jpegs) to a USB thumb drive. That takes about an hour through a USB 2.0 port.

I don't see any need for an NAS in my circumstances. Maybe not in yours either.

I wouldn't trust any online service as I don't want an internet connection standing in the way of my backups. They can be painfully slow to upload, not to mention the cost.

I wouldn't use DVDs due to concerns about their long term life span, cost, and difficulty in managing the dozens and dozens of DVDs that would be required.

My Windows installation is separately backed up with Macrium Reflect Free Edition once a month. I could use it to back up data, but I don't because imaging is not quite foolproof. If it fails, I just have to reinstall Windows. Not the end of the world.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Crashplan. If you're going to backup, and you're only backing up to 1 target, focus on a solution that gets your information *outside* of your area. Local backups do nothing if environmental troubles happen (fire, flood, etc).

Go with a reliable cloud storage provider (I like Crashplan alot), and make your own encryption key. Store your data with whatever retention properties and frequencies you desire.

 

[KingFatty]

The average guy should be prepared for the average guy issues:

1) hard drive fully lost - this could be from a power surge, or the computer getting knocked over or something.

2) accidentally losing a file without realizing it - this is your typical situation, you get file corruption or some crap that ruins a file but everything else is fine

3) intentionally deleting a file on purpose, and realizing later you didn't mean to do that - this is the tricky one, where you need to have at least two back-ups to avoid this situation. People that run a RAID system thinking it's a backup will get ruined when this happens.

Anyway, perhaps these issues are also in play for professionals, but just wanted to get you thinking about what you'll be facing and why it's good to have more than one single backup, and better to have 2 or more that you cycle at different times to keep a snapshot of earlier times on hand. Some backup software can emulate this by keeping multiple backups on a single drive, but it's nice to have physical redundancy in the form of multiple different drives.

 

[cruelmelissa]

Use Acronis True Image with its vast and affordable backup options. You can use the cloud storage than Acronis offers, but at the same time you can always backup to an USB, an external disk. You can have full and incremental backup etc.

 

[Charlie98]

I have a two-pronged approach to backups... the first is the OS disk. I run nightly Acronis backup images (using the full method, not incremental) to an internal storage HDD, an external storage HDD and one or two portable storage HDDs. Yes, I have had the opportunity to employ a backup; last year my SSD died suddenly and used an Acronis image and a new hard drive to recover my OS disk. Worked like a charm and worth every bit of effort I put into all this.

The other backup I have is for my media (of any type... pics, video, iTunes,) and business and personal files. These I also copy individually to the same backup drives even though they are included in Acronis backup images, that way I can retrieve them individually, not having to mount a complete OS drive image.

The portable HDDs I rotate... one out on the PC, the other in the safe... and switch them every week. They are 500GB drives and were 'big' when I bought them... but are starting to show their size limits. My suggestion would be 1TB or larger... HDDs are cheap, again, and it would cost less than $200 to get 2, perhaps 3, 1TB drives backup drives into a normal PC. Acronis is regularly on sale for $25 or so, and if you have a WD HDD in your system (internally, not external) you can download a free limited version of Acronis TrueImage'13 that will work just fine (the same version I use on my HTPC.)

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I have a two-pronged approach to backups... the first is the OS disk. I run nightly Acronis backup images (using the full method, not incremental) to an internal storage HDD, an external storage HDD and one or two portable storage HDDs. Yes, I have had the opportunity to employ a backup; last year my SSD died suddenly and used an Acronis image and a new hard drive to recover my OS disk. Worked like a charm and worth every bit of effort I put into all this.

The other backup I have is for my media (of any type... pics, video, iTunes,) and business and personal files. These I also copy individually to the same backup drives even though they are included in Acronis backup images, that way I can retrieve them individually, not having to mount a complete OS drive image.

The portable HDDs I rotate... one out on the PC, the other in the safe... and switch them every week. They are 500GB drives and were 'big' when I bought them... but are starting to show their size limits. My suggestion would be 1TB or larger... HDDs are cheap, again, and it would cost less than $200 to get 2, perhaps 3, 1TB drives backup drives into a normal PC. Acronis is regularly on sale for $25 or so, and if you have a WD HDD in your system (internally, not external) you can download a free limited version of Acronis TrueImage'13 that will work just fine (the same version I use on my HTPC.)

That seems like a sound strategy. And good advice about free imaging and cloning software. I just posted in another thread some of my experiences with True Image.

It would be interesting to take a survey of world-wide individual computer-users -- including the large cohort of what I'd call "mainstreamers." My idea of a Mainstreamer is someone who buys an OEM HP, DELL or Gateway with Windows pre-installed -- sure to get an extended service contract, net-connected trouble-shooting and upgrades -- the whole enchilada. They may also have occasional credit-card bills showing payment to Geek Squad or some local computer repair enterprise. I'd say a large number may rely on only one, single desktop system at home.

Since I was teaching computer-related material going back to 1987, I had an accumulating infrastructure of computers at home, and I jumped on the LAN bandwagon. Maybe I wasn't the first professor to post lecture notes, homework problems and reading-material (excerpts!) on the web, but I was early to the phenomenon.

so when I retired, old habits don't die. I do two things with older computers: hand them down to the fam-damn-ily, and turn them to other purposes -- chief among them the local or home server.

So I have a multi-sided backup strategy.

1) Clone or image the boot drives of workstations for the fam-damn-ily Mainstreamers (and my own) once every few months
2) Use Windows Home Server 2011 (Win Server 2008 R2) to make daily incremental backups of the workstations' entire OS disks and selected other files to the server -- restorable with a USB key configured from the server so that an entire system can be restored from the server's up-to-date images
3) Store important working files and archives directly on the server (reducing workstation storage burden)
4) Duplicate these important files and archives immediately through a WHS drive-pooling add-in feature
5) Image the individual member disks of the pool and selected "important" folders of the duplicated data maybe twice monthly

Like many, perhaps typical of the "old-timers," I won't use free or subscription "cloud" services. I could probably clone my server backup disks and put a copy in a safe-deposit box. But since I spend most of my time at home, I'd only need to grab a hot-swap caddy/drive on the way out the front door during a fire or earthquake disaster.

But this very perspective of mine is probably why mobile devices and cloud backup services will be embraced by Mainstreamers more readily who can't depend on a fam-damn-ily member like me.

Not a great number of people will have the patience or foresight to deal with "Volume Shadow Copy Configuration" and other things that support disk imaging backups. On a Win 7 system, you'd mostly expect to have "System Protection" turned on -- enabling VSS. And that's probably why the "Protection" menu on Win 7 is simpler and less elaborate than what can be found on WHS-2011, "Server Essentials" or the enterprise server software versions.

 

[Charlie98]

Once you spend the 30 minutes configuring Acronis, it's pretty much of a no-brainer. In my case, I have to go in and delete the previous copy, my images are around 135GB and my tiny 500GB drives can't handle more than 2 OS images at a time.

I used to be a blind sheep... rocking my pre-built Dell with no worries. But, then, I realized it was getting old and I had better think about backing up my files... so I bought my first Seagate portable HDD... and haven't looked back.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Once you spend the 30 minutes configuring Acronis, it's pretty much of a no-brainer. In my case, I have to go in and delete the previous copy, my images are around 135GB and my tiny 500GB drives can't handle more than 2 OS images at a time.

I used to be a blind sheep... rocking my pre-built Dell with no worries. But, then, I realized it was getting old and I had better think about backing up my files... so I bought my first Seagate portable HDD... and haven't looked back.

I fancied that I should save every computer file I created since about 1985!! For posterity!! Fu-tshure generations -- so they can benefit from my wisdom!! But only NSA would have the resources to scour over the backups together with those of narcissist millions such as myself.

At least I won't be a good prospect for "Hoarders" in this regard. Except for the server, there's only about six USB drives and five hot-swap caddies cluttering the room. That's not the kind of chaos that Hoarders-devotees relish . . .

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I run backups on my servers every night, which go directly to a NAS. My VMs and data are backed up every night, but not my ripped movies. Additionally, I use Crashplan+ to back up everything except my VMs -- movies, data, etc.

 

[edro]

I have very poor upload speed (256k), but 8mbps download.
Online backup is not an option for me. (Crashplan/Carbonite)

I am investigating a NAS.
I like the newer NAS solutions that allow remote uploading.
The 2TB versions from Seagate and WesternDigital are ~$150.

With cameras (my digital SLR) taking 12MP+ and HD video, backing up pics and videos needs much more space.

I'm not worried about fire or flood. I'm more worried about some meth head breaking in and stealing the "blinking computer box" and selling it at a pawn shop.

 

[edro]

I am looking at these 2TB NAS drives from Seagate and WD.

$130 - http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Centra...ds=STCG2000100 (no USB connection? Network only?)

$143 - http://www.amazon.com/Cloud-2TB-Pers...TL0020HWT-NESN (seems to have better reviews on Amazon and Bestbuy)

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I am looking at these 2TB NAS drives from Seagate and WD.

$130 - http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Centra...ds=STCG2000100 (no USB connection? Network only?)

$143 - http://www.amazon.com/Cloud-2TB-Pers...TL0020HWT-NESN (seems to have better reviews on Amazon and Bestbuy)

Why is the WD unit called "My Cloud?" I assume your files are going to be stored on your physical disks in that thing. Maybe they have some cloud backup feature. Or maybe you can gain remote access to your files on the WD device.

Frankly, before I give up my WHS box, I'd want to experiment with integrating a NAS on our network.

 

[Charlie98]

I don't 'cloud' anything... my files on my drives, thank you very much.

 

[owensdj]

A simple backup strategy is to have 3 or more external hard drives and do a weekly full backup followed by 6 incremental backups on one drive then switch to the next one. You can also keep recently used drives in a safe deposit box until their time comes around again to protect against fire or other disasters that might destroy your live data as well as your backups. Use a good backup program like Macrium Reflect.

 

[VeroK]

I just found this extensive related thread:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2303211

 

[VeroK]

Why is the WD unit called "My Cloud?" I assume your files are going to be stored on your physical disks in that thing. Maybe they have some cloud backup feature. Or maybe you can gain remote access to your files on the WD device.

Yes, the WD "MyCLoud" offers:
- Backup to a (paid) cloud and/or Backup to the drive itself
- It has it's own WiFi, so you can access it from all your home network.
However, the reviews re:connectivity are pretty abysmal.

The software that is pre-loaded is a light WD-brand version of Acronis, but some Acronis fans claim is pretty weak. If you do want to try Acronis, the good news is that (according to the Acronis sales people) if you install the WD version you qualify for an upgrade price for Full blown Acronis True Image. I think is a $20 difference per PC.

 

[VeroK]

A question (a plea!) for those of you that do full image backups: Using your software of choice: Have you (or do you know anyone who has) been able do a restore from the WinPE environment using your software's recovery CD; in a non-bootable machine running Windows 7 with OEM propitiatory partitions (i.e. Dell, HP).

I've been trying many different sw packs and studied their manuals & forums (Nova, Easus, Macrium, Retrospect, Shadowprotect, Ginie, etc) and they all offer (in the premium versions) to create a restore environment of some kind using WinPE. Many even allow for HIR (hardware independent restore). To be able to use that function, however, you have to first create a full image and then create the WinPE disk, both using their SW, so that when you boot from winPE you can access your full image/images and restore the whole drive. If they include HIR; maybe to a whole different system.

If you have a W7 OEM system like Dell, however, where they add their own propitiatory partition plus the system partition plus you logic partition, apparently these can be a huge problem for the backup software: The backup sw can't access those OEM partitions to map them properly. If your sw is a "volume-based" backup solution, for example, if you try to recover just the C partition in the HDD, it will wreak havoc in the system.

And here is the BIG catch 22: The only way to verify if your shiny WinPE created with software X will boot up your crashed system, is to create the disk & try to restore an image created with that software. BUT the trial version of many of these backup tools don't include this more advanced "restore from winPE" feature. Even when they do: it is impractical (and probably disastrous) to install these backup tools on top of each other. They don't play nice together.

So I'm hoping I can get some priceless info from the vast personal experience and knowledge held by the members in this forum to this very specific question:

Do you know; by personal experience (yours or someone you trust is not BSing you); if your favorite backup software can, in fact, recover from the WinPE recovery environment; a non-bootable Dell W7 system with the typical 3-partition HDD (or 4 partitions, if you have the silly D "ON" reader).
I ask specifically about W7 because in W8 you have the whole other can of worms with MBR/Bios vs UEFI, safeboot, etc. That's extra.

Thank you in advance. Pardon my likely numerous errors. I'm obviously struggling to catch up.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Verok:

I don't use OEM PCs, but I know that OEMs often place critical files (such as boot files) on partitions other than C. These partitions would have to be restored along with C---unless you have copied the critical files to C before making the image.

When you use an imaging app, are you also including these partitions other than C in your image, or at least making a separate image of them?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Verok:

I don't use OEM PCs, but I know that OEMs often place critical files (such as boot files) on partitions other than C. These partitions would have to be restored along with C---unless you have copied the critical files to C before making the image.

When you use an imaging app, are you also including these partitions other than C in your image, or at least making a separate image of them?

I think it's possible to exaggerate the proprietary snares of OEM PCs. You may have to buy "special RAM" modules with SPD identifiers loaded for those OEMs. Or, they may tweak the motherboards with some proprietary limitations. But they all come bundled with Windows; they all use the NTFS file system. And the fact is -- on the machines I've only built myself, Windows creates those unlabeled system volumes <=100MB.

If you clone the disk, all those logical volumes will be duplicated. If you take images of the disk -- even with selected files and folders -- you can also include these unlabeled volumes.

As to "verifying that it all works." Acronis, in their TI-2014 users manual, explains how you might do this with the bootable CD you create with the software.

But this is why I have "backup" backup strategies. If one doesn't work, I can count on the other.

 

[VeroK]

Verok:

I don't use OEM PCs, but I know that OEMs often place critical files (such as boot files) on partitions other than C. These partitions would have to be restored along with C---unless you have copied the critical files to C before making the image.

When you use an imaging app, are you also including these partitions other than C in your image, or at least making a separate image of them?

Depends on which imaging app: Some create a single image that includes all partitions present in the HDD (Easus Todo) and some (ShadowProtect) create a separate image for each partition, or volume. The Dell propitiatory partition is FAT formatted. The Windows Recovery partition & the C partitions are NTFS. The problem w/the single volume backup software is that you need to be extremely careful if you want to recover the full disk (w/all partitions). It needs to be to the same location, in the right order. The problem with the full disk software is that you don't know what the heck the software will do with the partitions when recovering. Is a lot more wizzardy: less visibility.

Because these other programs create a single image, I'm weary of how they will be able to handle those partitions that are "blindly" backing up.

So, again, if anyone here has tested any of these software programs (Macrium, Easeus, etc) in a non-bootable system with a OEM multiple partition disk such as Dell, and it worked (meaning it managed to reproduce all the partitions w/the proper one active and resulted in a bootable system) that would be very valuable information for mainstreamers like me w/very limited resources. You wouldn't believe how much time I devoted to find this information w/o any luck.

The technical support people, of course, claim that it should work, but I'd love to hear from someone unbiased that has tested it. Specifically, with a OEM disk that has a hidden FAT partition such as Dell.

Anyone?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Because these other programs create a single image, I'm weary of how they will be able to handle those partitions that are "blindly" backing up.

Not sure I am following you. Macrium will include the partitions you tell it to include, in one or more images. Some people include multiple partitions in a single image; others include just a single partition in each image. There's nothing "blind" about it.

There are some highly experienced imaging application users at sevenforums; on Dells, self-builts, and other OEMs. I'd suggest you try a post there.

As I said, I have no personal experience with imaging on OEMs, but some of the members at sevenforums do.

Or maybe try Macrium's own forums.

 

[VeroK]

There are some highly experienced imaging application users at sevenforums; on Dells, self-builts, and other OEMs. I'd suggest you try a post there.

Extremely useful suggestion. I'm still searching & reading. Huge knowledge base.
Thanks!!