HD sounds like a lawnmower mowing sticks.

daal · #1

Aaack! My hard disk is making horrible grinding noises! The ship is sinking! Women and children first!

fwiffo · #2

Oooh, that reminds me... It's been a week or two since I've run a backup...

tj86430 · #3

fwiffo wrote:

Oooh, that reminds me... It's been a week or two since I've run a backup...

Backups should be taken automatically.

fwiffo · #4

I backup to an external drive, which I don't want to leave on and plugged in all the time.

CarlJung · #5

fwiffo wrote:

I backup to an external drive, which I don't want to leave on and plugged in all the time.

Same here. On Windows it can also assign different drive letters to the disc if the usual one is already taken, which makes any automated task difficult. Note to self: see if there are software that takes care of that somehow.

freegame · #6

CarlJung wrote:

see if there are software that takes care of that somehow.

I have a whole bunch of external HD's. In Windows you can manually assign a letter to them.
If I then remove the HD, use it somewhere else, and plug it back in it uses the same letter I set manually.

You can do this in win 7 (work similar in Xp, and Vista) by going to the Control panel --> Administrative tools --> Computer management --> Storage --> Disc management(local)
There you get a list with all station and partitions. You can manually assign letters to them (right-click on the partition and thee will be "Change drive Letter".)

Redbeard · #7

tj86430 wrote:

Backups should be taken automatically.

Where do you automatically backup? The Cloud?

Linus Torvalds wrote:

Only wimps use tape backup: _real_ men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it.

CarlJung · #8

freegame wrote:

CarlJung wrote:

see if there are software that takes care of that somehow.

I have a whole bunch of external HD's. In Windows you can manually assign a letter to them.
If I then remove the HD, use it somewhere else, and plug it back in it uses the same letter I set manually.

You can do this in win 7 (work similar in Xp, and Vista) by going to the Control panel --> Administrative tools --> Computer management --> Storage --> Disc management(local)
There you get a list with all station and partitions. You can manually assign letters to them (right-click on the partition and thee will be "Change drive Letter".)

Ah yes, that's probably the easiest way.

My problem comes from the fact that if I normally use H: for the external backup drive and that letter is already taken when I plug it in it gets the next letter i.e. I:. But I could just assign it a sufficient large letter like X: so that it won't be taken by other drives.

tj86430 · #9

Redbeard wrote:

tj86430 wrote:

Backups should be taken automatically.

Where do you automatically backup? The Cloud?

I store all data on a mirrored network disk. From that I take backups to a couple of external disks. In a perfect world at least one of a disks would be in a different physical location, but unfortunately that is not the case for me.

CSamurai · **#10**

tj86430 wrote:

Redbeard wrote:

tj86430 wrote:

Backups should be taken automatically.

Where do you automatically backup? The Cloud?

I store all data on a mirrored network disk. From that I take backups to a couple of external disks. In a perfect world at least one of a disks would be in a different physical location, but unfortunately that is not the case for me.

You run your house on business best practices?

You sir, are dedicated.

Note to self: Buy media for backups. I've been a bad monkey.

CarlJung · **#11**

CSamurai wrote:

You run your house on business best practices?

You sir, are dedicated.

Note to self: Buy media for backups. I've been a bad monkey.

Also, make sure your backup drives are not stored in your house in case of fire. That way, you'll still have your backup once you get a new computer (and house). Also use disc encryption in case someone breaks in and steals your computer. That way they only get your hardware, not your files. That goes for the backup disc too ofcourse in case it gets in the wrong hands.

To quote Helel, "It's not paranoia if they are really out to get you" :-)

Bantari · **#12**

CarlJung wrote:

CSamurai wrote:

You run your house on business best practices?

You sir, are dedicated.

Note to self: Buy media for backups. I've been a bad monkey.

Also, make sure your backup drives are not stored in your house in case of fire. That way, you'll still have your backup once you get a new computer (and house). Also use disc encryption in case someone breaks in and steals your computer. That way they only get your hardware, not your files. That goes for the backup disc too ofcourse in case it gets in the wrong hands.

To quote Helel, "It's not paranoia if they are really out to get you" :-)

Lol.
What the heck are you guys storing on your drives?

CarlJung · **#13**

Bantari wrote:

CarlJung wrote:

CSamurai wrote:

You run your house on business best practices?

You sir, are dedicated.

Note to self: Buy media for backups. I've been a bad monkey.

Also, make sure your backup drives are not stored in your house in case of fire. That way, you'll still have your backup once you get a new computer (and house). Also use disc encryption in case someone breaks in and steals your computer. That way they only get your hardware, not your files. That goes for the backup disc too ofcourse in case it gets in the wrong hands.

To quote Helel, "It's not paranoia if they are really out to get you" :-)

Lol.
What the heck are you guys storing on your drives?

If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret any more, would it?

No seriously, I just happen to like privacy for its own sake.

tj86430 · **#14**

CSamurai wrote:

You run your house on business best practices?

Well, there is my employers data and my wife's business' data stored as well, so I try to be careful, but no, it's not even close to real "business best practices".

In the past I've had a couple of disk/computer failures, and I have learned that having all data separate and well backed up saves a huge amount of time when that happens.

daal · **#15**

I haven't yet figured out how to automate the backup process, so I tend to copy the "important" files to an external disk when the mood strikes me. It had been a few weeks since the last backup, but luckily, the failing disk was able to spit out a few files before grinding to a stubborn halt, so except for it ruining my day, not too much damage was done.

kirkmc · **#16**

tj86430 wrote:

Redbeard wrote:

tj86430 wrote:

Backups should be taken automatically.

Where do you automatically backup? The Cloud?

I store all data on a mirrored network disk. From that I take backups to a couple of external disks. In a perfect world at least one of a disks would be in a different physical location, but unfortunately that is not the case for me.

I make backups, and backups of backups, and have a safe where I store additional backups (it's not off-site, but it protects in case of fire or other problem). I also back some data up to a client's server; the files I have for that client. I have some that are automatic, others that are manual (with external disks), and my calendar reminds me when to run the latter. I once lost data, a very long time ago, and now haven't lost data in ages because I back up regularly.

CarlJung · **#17**

My latest worry is that I corrupt an important file without noticing and then backup the corrupted file. That way the backup is unusable. Version control is the next step I need to take

tj86430 · **#18**

CarlJung wrote:

Version control is the next step I need to take

Yes, version control is important. I take daily incremental backups and keep three latest increments and weekly full backups and keep three latest of those as well.

topazg · **#19**

Ah, but do you also have a proper disaster recover plan that you test on a regular basis as well?

Wow, I'm glad I don't even try to do my work backup procedures at home, I just don't have time!

kirkmc · **#20**

CarlJung wrote:

My latest worry is that I corrupt an important file without noticing and then backup the corrupted file. That way the backup is unusable. Version control is the next step I need to take

Us Mac users have a feature called Time Machine, that saves files every hour, then stores the backups once a day (past the latest 24 hours), then once a week (past the last week). This means that whenever I have files that I find are corrupted, there's a fair chance that one of the backups will not be corrupted. I use this only for my home folder, but it has helped me get back files that I either accidentally deleted, or were corrupted.

Going beyond that, though, there are plenty of backup programs that let you keep every version of a file. I find that to be overkill.

HD sounds like a lawnmower mowing sticks.

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