Backup software solutions

# 1 28-02-2013 , 10:59 PM

EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Toronto

Posts: 3,374

I'm assuming everyone here backs up their data on a regular basis. So, I'd be glad to hear opinions on backup software. I'm looking for a new software solution (my current system is starting to be unsustainable) for backups to a NAS and other external hard drives. I've been looking around, but nothing has jumped out at me. It's a really important thing to get right, obviously.

I don't need anything super fancy, just incremental daily (or more frequent) backups of certain folders and drives. The thing is, windows backup system, mac time machine, and some other systems that I've seen seem to create images, catalogs, weird zipped buckets of data that can be restored using the same software. I don't trust that. I just want my files AS IS in another location. I don't get why there has to be a complicated system that can't be accessed by mounting the drive and looking at the files.

So, any thoughts?

-stwert

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# 2 01-03-2013 , 12:21 AM

SM Tea Boy
Join Date: Apr 2002

Location: Prague

Posts: 3,228

honestly for me it's not a backup if it's in the same physical location as you are. I use amazon s3 and amazon glacier to backup everything that's large data. All my data is saved on a linux nas then bash scripts do the uploads when i'm asleep

For day to day stuff like Maya project files and images i'm working on i use dropbox i just save everything in my dropbox folder and it's sent straight to dropboxes servers.

My linux nas also has two drives and mirrors everything in case the first drive goes down. That's about all i do. I store about a TB of data at amazon and pay around 15 bux a month.

Dave

From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"

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# 3 01-03-2013 , 12:29 AM

EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Toronto

Posts: 3,374

Thanks, that's good to know. I've got a mirrored NAS here and I've also got two hard drives alternating homes in a safety deposit box at the bank. My only trouble is getting a nice simple file & folder backup going, because I don't care about making disk images (clonezilla works for that) and I don't want to rely on software licenses to restore my data.

I'm not sold on the cloud thing yet, because if my internet goes down (which happens) then I can't backup nor access my data. And I don't like paying monthly fees user added image

-stwert

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# 4 01-03-2013 , 12:51 AM

SM Tea Boy
Join Date: Apr 2002

Location: Prague

Posts: 3,228

all my backups stay local at all times as well as go to the cloud, there is never a situation where i need to go to the cloud to pull data (to slow) the only time that would happen is if my local drive goes bang and i need to get my backups back.

As for fees well if you store 100gb of your most important stuff in the cloud with something simple like google drive (that's a lot of maya projects user added image

) it does a great job of seamless file & folder backup, everything stays local for speed and if your hd goes bang just reinstall the software on a new system and everything is back.

now it's true that while your internet is down it wont be backing up but you still have access to the data and as everything is backed up minute to minute the most you will lose is the file you are working on while the net is down, that is if your computer blew up at the exact same time the internet was offline user added image

give the free google drive a go 5 gb for free 100 gb is $4.95

Anyway enough cloud backup evangelising lol I'm sure other people with have solutions that might fit you better user added image

Cheers
Dave

From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"

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# 5 01-03-2013 , 05:07 AM

Acid44

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Posts: n/a

Erm. Obvious solution for what you want would be to just buy another hard drive and copy/paste user added image

But you want it automated, which I have no idea about. I've never had a need for it, myself. I back up my work manually, regularly, and if something goes horribly wrong, anything that isn't backed up is usually disposable.

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# 6 01-03-2013 , 01:19 PM

EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Toronto

Posts: 3,374

Yeah, that's definitely an option. But I would like a set it and leave it system. I don't want to have to think about it or wonder if it's doing the job. I'd also ideally like some exclusion filters, which is tricky with a manual system.

-stwert

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# 7 01-03-2013 , 01:24 PM

EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Toronto

Posts: 3,374

My problem is mainly in the "disk image" creation type software. I know it has it's benefits, but at the end of the day, your files don't actually exist in an accessible way, if things go wrong. Even with time machine from Mr. Steve it just works Jobs, we almost couldn't recover the files from whatever weird system it uses on my wife's macbook. I read reviews for this type of software and most people have no issues, but there's always a few people that say "I lost all my data, stay away"... It just scares me.

Even with cloud solutions, you still need software to control and monitor the backups, right? I miss rsync terribly.

-stwert

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# 8 01-03-2013 , 03:35 PM

Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2004

Location: Michigan, USA

Posts: 2,998

I am running windows and use acronis. I make daily differential backup and weekly full backups of my projects to a separate disk. I can't afford offisite or network solutions like carbonite. But I do have separate disks to store all my project backups and system/software images.

Whenever, I make significant changes to software on my system I use acronis to make an image of my system disk. I keep my data/projects on a separate share then my OS. This way system images are just the os and software installed on the system.

Unfortunately storage is finite so I just keep my current system image and the last one or two images and I have been bitten a couple times when something sneaks in undetected and I have imaged the disk a couple times and the last clean image has been deleted. But in almost all cases I just had to identify and remove or fix the problem in the current setup and then make a new image.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 01-03-2013 at 03:40 PM.

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# 9 01-03-2013 , 05:17 PM

EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Toronto

Posts: 3,374

Thanks Rick... that sounds just about what I'd like. I've read some reviews for acronis, and with all of them, there are a small fraction of vehement naysayers. I think I just have to commit to something and be smart about redundancy and onsite/offsite.

For your project weekly full-backups, do you also have a limited number? Can acronis remove the oldest full when the drive gets full?

-stwert

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# 10 03-03-2013 , 01:43 AM

Lifetime Member
Join Date: May 2003

Posts: 132

I'd have to agree with ctbram re: acronis
I have a 15 TB NAS, configured as raid 6,
that everything gets backed up to on a daily basis.
Raid 6 because I have the ability to lose 2 drives at once, and still able to rebuild.
Have settled on Acronis after trying 1/2 dozen different programs,
and it seems to work the best, with the best options and compression.
*edit* of course mine is also a Windows system.

I'm not lazy, I'm just resting before I get tired

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