Best choice for backing up your data

TheDarkerSideofYourShadow

L10: Glamorous Member
Apr 12, 2008
792
286
So, on Sunday I got to turn on my computer and listen to the lovely sound of one of my two hard drives, which run in a raid 0, clicking away. Luckily, though I don't back up very often, the majority of my information was saved, and I only lost 1 or two more important items (including the start of my cp contest map), all of which can be rebuilt with just a little bit of effort.

Therefore, at this point in time, I have a unique opportunity that I did not before, in regards to how best to back up my data. You see, my hard drive was under warranty, so it is getting replaced. While considering alternatives (upgrade, etc), I discovered that the same model drive is available, and at about $20 less than a year ago. This means that I could purchase 2 additional hard drives (for a total of 4) and try a raid 10 setup to back up my information.

Or I could use an older, 1 TB external (the total size of my internal drives combined) to back things up to, possibly utilizing some back up type software (the external is a WD my book, and it came with something like that, but the trial expired after 30 days).

Or I could use the same external and just try and remember to copy/paste as needed, rather than do some fancy automatic backups.


Anyways, does anyone have some thoughts on what would ultimately be the best option? Thanks!
 

Rexy

The Kwisatz Haderach
aa
Dec 22, 2008
1,798
2,533
I don't know what the best option is, but if you ask me, I prefer an external hd, I have a newer (6 month old maybe 1 tb external) one that I keep media and occasionally write archived backup data to.

I don't have a software running that constantly makes backups of everything, but if that's the kind of thing you're looking for, I think there's some really good software out there for doing it on a windows machine. My 1 tb Simpledrive came with software already on it, which had the sole purpose of providing backup software. But since I wasn't really interested in this as a backup device, I haven't bothered using it.

I think Windows 7 has a built in software backup feature, although I've never used it, and I don't know how good it works because no one ever talks about it as far as I know. But you could ask around. Someone will have an opinion sooner or later.
 

Exist

L6: Sharp Member
Oct 31, 2009
306
136
I remember reading a python article on making a program for backing up your data. It had full source too, really should have saved it. I personally have 3 8gb sd cards from old cameras and such that I use to hold all my photos an music. If your asking, the sd cards can be put into my phone, so I can show people my photos and junk. I do also have an 60gb external, but I have not gotten much use out of it, since my major isn't computer oriented at all (hello English).

Long story short, if your looking to hold data, get the external harddrive, just make sure to keep your files organized to avoid fragmentation.

//edit
Aforementioned article was found :)
http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Python_en:Problem_Solving
 
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Geit

💜 I probably broke it 💜
aa
May 28, 2009
598
1,161
I keep files that are important to me in my Dropbox and then symlink them to their appropriate location on the drive, an example would be my mapsrc folder. While I have the obvious looming space limit, I have yet to hit it and am more than willing to actually pay Dropbox to increase the limit when I do. - This has the added bonus of Dropbox keeping a revision history of all files for 30 days, so if I make a fatal mistake in a piece of code or a map, I can select a version to recover from the previous 30 days. I can obviously also change the files from multiple work spaces, which is handy.

If your really serious about full Data backup, I would keep an external drive with some backup utility that keeps incremental copies of your drives for x revisions (i.e Backup once per day and keep the previous 15 days of data) and occasionally (once per month) backup the latest stable copy of the drive onto yet another external disk and keep that offsite somewhere (i.e. your workplace), encrypted obviously.
 
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lana

Currently On: ?????
aa
Sep 28, 2009
3,075
2,778
Also, the software that comes with the MyBook is pretty shit anyway.