Backing Up. Be Careful. Be Very Careful
Mar 4, 2015 10:40:24 #
I regularly backup to two external drives and a NAS using SyncBack SE. A few days ago when I tried to backup, I kept getting errors from SyncBack, so I stopped. I tried again the next day, and it worked perfectly.
Looking at the My Pictures folder today, I saw that the first seven folders were empty. Somehow, SyncBack SE had eliminated all the images from those seven folders. This error was copied from my computer to the two externals and the NAS. Fortunately, I have my previous computer which contains all my files. I copied the missing files to an external drive and made everything right again.
So, be very careful when you backup. Copying errors is not what you want to do. From now on, I will alternate the external drives that I use. Theoretically, I should check all the files I backup, but that would take days. The My Pictures folder along contains 134 other folders, and each one of them has lots of images. I'm just glad that I stopped doing the backup as soon as I did.
Looking at the My Pictures folder today, I saw that the first seven folders were empty. Somehow, SyncBack SE had eliminated all the images from those seven folders. This error was copied from my computer to the two externals and the NAS. Fortunately, I have my previous computer which contains all my files. I copied the missing files to an external drive and made everything right again.
So, be very careful when you backup. Copying errors is not what you want to do. From now on, I will alternate the external drives that I use. Theoretically, I should check all the files I backup, but that would take days. The My Pictures folder along contains 134 other folders, and each one of them has lots of images. I'm just glad that I stopped doing the backup as soon as I did.
Mar 4, 2015 11:02:29 #
A couple of weeks ago we had a backup discussion, oh backup software was safe we were told, I advocated simple copy/paste, hmmm, I still copy/paste, so far I'm safe, Bob.
Mar 4, 2015 11:17:14 #
bobmcculloch wrote:
A couple of weeks ago we had a backup discussion, oh backup software was safe we were told, I advocated simple copy/paste, hmmm, I still copy/paste, so far I'm safe, Bob.
Back when I was working, I backed up to those little 3.5" floppies. Occasionally, I would "backup" the old onto the new.
With your copy and paste, let's say you have a folder with 500 images on your backup. How do you deal with the duplicate situation when you drag and drop from your computer into that folder?
Mar 4, 2015 11:23:59 #
jerryc41 wrote:
Back when I was working, I backed up to those little 3.5" floppies. Occasionally, I would "backup" the old onto the new.
With your copy and paste, let's say you have a folder with 500 images on your backup. How do you deal with the duplicate situation when you drag and drop from your computer into that folder?
With your copy and paste, let's say you have a folder with 500 images on your backup. How do you deal with the duplicate situation when you drag and drop from your computer into that folder?
Windows tells you you have a duplicate file by name, you get to tell it what to do, since all my folders are imported by date I don't get too many to check, filing sequence, import by date, back up recent imports, add names/locations/subject etc to working drives files. Bob.
Mar 4, 2015 11:27:20 #
The common advice is three different backups to three different media.
I'm now using Carbonite online, Carbonite mirror image on an external 2TB drive, and copy-and-paste to an external 2TB drive. That makes four copies including my 2TB internal data drive.
I started this after paying big bucks for a recovery service several years ago.
I'm now using Carbonite online, Carbonite mirror image on an external 2TB drive, and copy-and-paste to an external 2TB drive. That makes four copies including my 2TB internal data drive.
I started this after paying big bucks for a recovery service several years ago.
Mar 4, 2015 11:39:14 #
BTW, The Carbonite online is quite cumbersome with over 600 GB of photo data. However, it came in very handy when my Windows XP machine bit the dust last year, and I needed access to the files while I built a new Windows 7 machine.
The data drives from my old machine were somewhat functional, but interfacing them with my wife's laptop was quite a chore.
The data drives from my old machine were somewhat functional, but interfacing them with my wife's laptop was quite a chore.
Mar 4, 2015 11:43:54 #
bobmcculloch wrote:
Windows tells you you have a duplicate file by name, you get to tell it what to do, since all my folders are imported by date I don't get too many to check, filing sequence, import by date, back up recent imports, add names/locations/subject etc to working drives files. Bob.
So you can check the box to have it treat all duplicates the same way. Got it.
Mar 4, 2015 11:45:37 #
BurtLehman wrote:
The common advice is three different backups to three different media.
I'm now using Carbonite online, Carbonite mirror image on an external 2TB drive, and copy-and-paste to an external 2TB drive. That makes four copies including my 2TB internal data drive.
I started this after paying big bucks for a recovery service several years ago.
I'm now using Carbonite online, Carbonite mirror image on an external 2TB drive, and copy-and-paste to an external 2TB drive. That makes four copies including my 2TB internal data drive.
I started this after paying big bucks for a recovery service several years ago.
Right, but my problem was that an error was backup to three different locations.
From now on, I'm going to keep my three backups and also have a fourth, and I'll use Bob's drag and drop system for that.
Mar 4, 2015 12:01:31 #
jerryc41 wrote:
Right, but my problem was that an error was backup to three different locations.
From now on, I'm going to keep my three backups and also have a fourth, and I'll use Bob's drag and drop system for that.
From now on, I'm going to keep my three backups and also have a fourth, and I'll use Bob's drag and drop system for that.
Carbonite online will save your deleted files for 30 days. The Carbonite local mirror image (a bit cumbersome for recovery) will provide recovery points.
I do not actually use drag-and-drop. I've accidentally dropped things in the wrong place. If it is a whole batch of data, it creates quite a mess. I use the mouse to select > CTRL-C > CTRL-V (on a PC).
Mar 4, 2015 15:03:32 #
BurtLehman wrote:
If it is a whole batch of data, it creates quite a mess. I use the mouse to select > CTRL-C > CTRL-V (on a PC).
Right - very handy.
Mar 5, 2015 06:12:23 #
jerryc41 wrote:
I regularly backup to two external drives and a NA... (show quote)
Jerry, that's why I still stick to the tried and true backup system...manual. I used to do system administration some years ago. It was a very simple program and worked flawlessly. However, as things got more involved with multiple backup systems, I just don't trust the software. I d/l the files from my camera, back them up to three locations, then start working on the files in the working directory. This is done with checking each backup as I progress. Yeah, it takes a bit of time, but it works.
--Bob
Mar 5, 2015 07:03:38 #
Mar 5, 2015 08:11:37 #
I've been using Memeo for some years to back up what get stored on my C drive. It works in the background and makes a back up of whatever was changed immediately after the change was made - and, it tells me so.
Other than that my external drives are RAID configured and they back themselves up.
Other than that my external drives are RAID configured and they back themselves up.
Mar 5, 2015 08:45:09 #
Another option for those running Windows 8 -- it has a feature called "Storage Spaces". Basically, they took the key feature from Windows Home Server and moved it to the base OS.
It allows you to take several drives and combine them into one large "space", from which you can create new virtual drive-- with the option for automatic mirroring. I have 4 2TB drives dedicated to those. From that I've created a mirrored drive to hold all my photos & MP3 etc. If one of the drives fails, I just have to replace that drive, with no data loss and in the meantime, the system as a whole still keeps working, although, now data is at risk if a second drive fails before a replace the first --- actually, as soon as the first drive fails, the system will try to duplicate the data that was on the failed drive on the remaining three.
It allows you to take several drives and combine them into one large "space", from which you can create new virtual drive-- with the option for automatic mirroring. I have 4 2TB drives dedicated to those. From that I've created a mirrored drive to hold all my photos & MP3 etc. If one of the drives fails, I just have to replace that drive, with no data loss and in the meantime, the system as a whole still keeps working, although, now data is at risk if a second drive fails before a replace the first --- actually, as soon as the first drive fails, the system will try to duplicate the data that was on the failed drive on the remaining three.
Mar 5, 2015 08:48:13 #
JamesCurran wrote:
Another option for those running Windows 8 -- it h... (show quote)
Thanks. Good to know.
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