Octopus Overlords

All the time I've been on computers, the only backup I've ever used has been loose floppies or CD-ROMS. Now I think I need a solution for regular, full backups of everything I've got going, but I don't know the first thing about it. Please advise!

Questions I have:

1) This is for a Desktop Win 7 PC. What should I buy?
2) How does it work? Is it like an external hard drive or what?
3) How does it know what to copy over? Do I have to manually tell it what to preserve, or does it keep a whole copy of my internal hard drives, or what? (As you see, I know nothing.)

The Crisis:

Besides realizing for a long time that I really should have better data protection, I just had the experience of my computer not recognizing my second hard drive (where I keep games and everything else important) when it booted up. On a reboot everything is fine, but should I take this as a sign that my second hard drive is about to fail?

Thanks!

I would get an external drive and set Windows Backup up to back your junk up to that drive, and I'd also highly [highly] (very highly) recommend an online backup. I use BackBlaze and have been happy with them. It's $5/mo for unlimited data coming from one PC, and the backup agent is lightweight and doesn't impact your system's performance significantly.

Carbonite and Mozy are other options that have solid followings. I also like JungleDisk if you have a relatively small amount of data--more control but you pay by the GB.

Crashplan user here. The only data I am truly worried about is my 30+GB of kid's pics/movies. My concern with an external HD is if something happened to my house (fire, theft, etc). I bit the bullet and installed crashplan and it's been fairly seamless and easy to use. Realtime and unlimited backups. Cost is about $50/year. With everything else stored, I currently have 61GB stored and I NEVER give backups a second thought or mess around with hardware.

Yep, I can't imagine not having an online component to my backups. External HD only protects you from a small subset of the problems you can hit. I've got 105 GB on BackBlaze with no issues.

I personally have a WD MyBook sitting on my desk. It's USB3, but backwards compatible with USB2. It's 1.5TB, so it'll backup multiple PCs, and it has its own backup program, the WD Smartware, which backs up by file type.

You can always use your own backup app. With something like Box.net's 50 GB offer (to all Android users) you can backup a lot of stuff there too.

I was a long time Mozy customer but had to jettison them when they tried to increase their rates by 500% for me. Since then, I've been using Crashplan. For a basic scenario, where you want to back up everything in one system, the Crashplan software is free.

You get an external HD that holds more data than is in your PC, install Crashplan, select all your internal drives, and tell it to use the external drive, and you're done.

If you want to get more selective with your backups (defining multiple backup sets that get backed up to different locations), or if you want to backup to the cloud, you pay. I've got about 400GB of data that is being pushed to their servers at the moment.

The other handy feature of Crashplan is that if you want offsite protection, and you don't want to pay for it - you can do that. You just need a friend that uses Crashplan, and you can then backup to each other's system. A friend of mine backed up his PC to an external HD and then just gave me the HD. I hooked it up, and now his computer automatically backs up to mine. Much more convenient (and cheaper) than backing up to the cloud, although not quite as reliable.

I use externals, i have 5. But most of my programs i have on disk. Just in case i have to reload windows. In the 3D world of rendering piracy is and always has been an ongoing issue, so going to an outside company for data storage i honestly never considered. I just might check these out.

Although not the best technical person here i am sure, have you tried to do scandisk with the repair features checked? I use Win XP Pro at this moment, so i don't know if Win 7 has the same type tools for disk clean up. But my tera-byte drive did just this as yours is doing, and scan disk fixed whatever it was. Then i put it on an external. Sounds simple but often the simple things slip our minds.

However it goes i wish you luck.

Ariana

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I am investigating.

Ariana_FFD wrote:I use externals, i have 5. But most of my programs i have on disk. Just in case i have to reload windows. In the 3D world of rendering piracy is and always has been an ongoing issue, so going to an outside company for data storage i honestly never considered. I just might check these out.

In the services I've used, the data is heavily encrypted on your machine before it hits the intertubes. If you use a private decryption key, the service you are using can't decrypt the data, even if they wanted to. 256-bit encryption is no joke.

This is one area where I have really failed in the past few years. I used to back up to CDR's. Then I tried Acronis software, to an external.

Currently I back up to an external solely dedicated to backups. As a back up to that (fire, theft, flood, etc), I back up to a WD Passport drive (extremely small and portable) which I take to my office. Problem is I don't do this NEARLY often enough, and long for something completely automatic and lazy proof. I even considered creating a Windows Home Server box for that very reason, but never got around to it.

Shoot me, I'm lazy.

Carpet_pissr wrote:I back up to a WD Passport drive (extremely small and portable) which I take to my office. Problem is I don't do this NEARLY often enough, and long for something completely automatic and lazy proof. I even considered creating a Windows Home Server box for that very reason, but never got around to it.

This is exactly why you need an automatic online backup. There's just no substitute.

Zaxxon wrote:

Carpet_pissr wrote:I back up to a WD Passport drive (extremely small and portable) which I take to my office. Problem is I don't do this NEARLY often enough, and long for something completely automatic and lazy proof. I even considered creating a Windows Home Server box for that very reason, but never got around to it.

This is exactly why you need an automatic online backup. There's just no substitute.

Agreed...for me. I am sure the at-home external back up + off site external system works for Type A people, or the very organized/sensible.

So I am looking at the Backblaze site. Are you concerned about the company being around in 5 years? Just wondering if it would be better to go with the largest player in the space (I have no idea who that is...Carbonite maybe?), but I would imagine that should any of the smaller companies fail, their client base/assets/accounts would be bought up by one of the bigger companies. One would hope.

Carpet_pissr wrote:Agreed...for me. I am sure the at-home external back up + off site external system works for Type A people, or the very organized/sensible.

Sure, it can work OK. But it's never going to be a replacement for something like BackBlaze--you're not going to get every previous version of files for X days, immediate off-site backup right after creating a file, etc with a simple off-site HDthat you manually create yourself every X days.

So I am looking at the Backblaze site. Are you concerned about the company being around in 5 years?

Not particularly. I use them just as a backup--if they go belly-up, I'll have my data on a competing platform in a matter of days (and would immediately have a local backup in the meantime).

Zaxxon wrote:

Carpet_pissr wrote:Agreed...for me. I am sure the at-home external back up + off site external system works for Type A people, or the very organized/sensible.

Sure, it can work OK. But it's never going to be a replacement for something like BackBlaze--you're not going to get every previous version of files for X days, immediate off-site backup right after creating a file, etc with a simple off-site HDthat you manually create yourself every X days.

So I am looking at the Backblaze site. Are you concerned about the company being around in 5 years?

Not particularly. I use them just as a backup--if they go belly-up, I'll have my data on a competing platform in a matter of days (and would immediately have a local backup in the meantime).

Good points, both. I am convinced. Online it is.

Way to blow $200 on unnecessary external drives recently, CP!

Carpet_pissr wrote:Way to blow $200 on unnecessary external drives recently, CP!

You can never have too many backups.

RunningMn9 wrote:

Ariana_FFD wrote:I use externals, i have 5. But most of my programs i have on disk. Just in case i have to reload windows. In the 3D world of rendering piracy is and always has been an ongoing issue, so going to an outside company for data storage i honestly never considered. I just might check these out.

In the services I've used, the data is heavily encrypted on your machine before it hits the intertubes. If you use a private decryption key, the service you are using can't decrypt the data, even if they wanted to. 256-bit encryption is no joke.

OK, so there is no way my programs will be compromised by a hacker, or hi-jacker? Not being too familiar with this, if this is the case i would feel very secure then.

ThanX for the info!
Ariana

To those using crashplan, can you answer a question?

On the crashplan site, it says that you can store UNLIMITED data from 1 Computer for $3/month. Is that the total price? Are there other fees? It seems like a great price. Almost hard to believe. I'm looking for the catch.

Yes and no. The price is under $3 if you buy a 4 year plan. For a 1 year to year it's $49 which is what I did.

Check out the pricing options.

I haven't seen any hidden fees. I have the family unlimited plan, and the price they list is what I pay.

I just signed up for Crashplan because I like the upload to cloud PLUS backup to external drive option (although to be honest, not sure how much I will be doing that now)

Signed up for the 2 year plan for some savings.

Should have done this 2 years ago...I can't tell you the weight that has been lifted from my mind, knowing that all my shit is in a constant state of backup protection. It's been weighing on my mind for a long time, the more pictures and videos of my family I store.

Thanks, all in this thread, not only for suggestions, but also for the impetus to get me to go ahead and do it.

Speaking for me, I have about 400 GB to push to the cloud (or to retrieve if my pc goes belly up). You'll find that a local backup really speeds that up. Locally I can backup/restore that data overnight. It takes months to move that much data to/from the cloud (without paying for drive seeding).

Can you throttle crashplan on the upload like Mozy? I ditched Mozy because of their ridiculous cost increases, but really should get a family plan going.. I'm ok with a 2-3 month seed to the cloud, but if I can't throttle it I'll have my ISP up my ass in no time.

FishPants wrote:Can you throttle crashplan on the upload like Mozy? I ditched Mozy because of their ridiculous cost increases, but really should get a family plan going.. I'm ok with a 2-3 month seed to the cloud, but if I can't throttle it I'll have my ISP up my ass in no time.

Yes...I adjusted my upload speed to be painfully slow. It took about 2 or 3 days to upload...but now I am feeling mighty fine, as now it just needs to do minimal, incremental uploads as I add files.

I think my wife has around 300gb of RAW photos she needs backed up.. With Mozy my ISP put me in the penalty box for letting it rip after a week or so. I think I'm looking at a 2-3 month windup without anyone getting pissy.

In the meantime I'll shove one of my many external drives on her PC for a local backup.

Zaxxon wrote: Sure, it can work OK. But it's never going to be a replacement for something like BackBlaze--you're not going to get every previous version of files for X days, immediate off-site backup right after creating a file, etc with a simple off-site HDthat you manually create yourself every X days.

Backblaze offers unlimited storage for ~$4 a month?

I assume that's a for a single PC?

Right now I've got a "media pc" that has ~200 GB of video and backups of all my music and photos. I presume I could throw Backblaze on it and it would backup everything?

Seems...cheap.

I recently signed up with CrashPlan as well. I like it. The peace of mind is well worth it. I had stuff backed up to an external drive but I've had two previous bad experiences with external drives so I was always very nervous about it.

I just cranked the upload to unlimited. If my ISP screams I'll tell them to drop my prices and then I'll drop my bandwidth usage. Until then, suck it Trebek.

Exodor wrote:

Zaxxon wrote: Sure, it can work OK. But it's never going to be a replacement for something like BackBlaze--you're not going to get every previous version of files for X days, immediate off-site backup right after creating a file, etc with a simple off-site HDthat you manually create yourself every X days.

Backblaze offers unlimited storage for ~$4 a month?

I assume that's a for a single PC?

Right now I've got a "media pc" that has ~200 GB of video and backups of all my music and photos. I presume I could throw Backblaze on it and it would backup everything?

Seems...cheap.

Actually, after I did some shopping around, most of the online solutions, if you factor in a year or so, come out to about that same rate (within the $50-$60 window. I was surprised at the consistency of the pricing considering the number of vendors.

Before I sign up is there some referral benefit for crashplan? I'll be trying it out.

Carpet_pissr wrote:

Exodor wrote:

Zaxxon wrote: Sure, it can work OK. But it's never going to be a replacement for something like BackBlaze--you're not going to get every previous version of files for X days, immediate off-site backup right after creating a file, etc with a simple off-site HDthat you manually create yourself every X days.

Backblaze offers unlimited storage for ~$4 a month?

I assume that's a for a single PC?

Right now I've got a "media pc" that has ~200 GB of video and backups of all my music and photos. I presume I could throw Backblaze on it and it would backup everything?

Seems...cheap.

Yep, they're all in the same ballpark. It is cheap for geeks like us that have hundreds of GB of stuff. I think they're hedging on the fact that the overall average will be much (much) lower than that. Also, if you need to restore that huge amount of stuff in a hurry, they make a pretty penny providing it on an external hard drive.
Actually, after I did some shopping around, most of the online solutions, if you factor in a year or so, come out to about that same rate (within the $50-$60 window. I was surprised at the consistency of the pricing considering the number of vendors.

I'm now a crashplan customer.

Conundrum for the nerds on password. I use KeePass for password management so my passwords are basically unrememberable (is that a word). In case of a data loss, I won't have my password. Where can I back up my KeePass database so I can find it when I need it? I think I'll start a new topic about KeePass smartphone apps...

coopasonic wrote:I'm now a crashplan customer.

Conundrum for the nerds on password. I use KeePass for password management so my passwords are basically unrememberable (is that a word). In case of a data loss, I won't have my password. Where can I back up my KeePass database so I can find it when I need it? I think I'll start a new topic about KeePass smartphone apps...

I use Keepass with a free Dropbox acct, that I have set up with a diceware password (which is very secure, yet pretty easy to remember).

I use keepass and store the file in Dropbox. I also use the KyPass app on iOS, which syncs to my Dropbox account, so that I have cut and paste access on my phone.

RunningMn9 wrote:I use keepass and store the file in Dropbox. I also use the KyPass app on iOS, which syncs to my Dropbox account, so that I have cut and paste access on my phone.

OK, that is almost too easy. Thanks!

How does Keepass compare to LastPass?

Carpet_pissr wrote:How does Keepass compare to LastPass?

I don't know. Years ago, when I looked for a password manager, KeePass was the first open source utility that popped up. It's the only one I use.

I use Lastpass because of xmarks which was acquired by Lastpass and removed the password functionality. Lastpass is free and works fine.

Jag wrote:I use Lastpass because of xmarks which was acquired by Lastpass and removed the password functionality. Lastpass is free and works fine.

Lastpass Premium is not free though, and AFAIK, is the only way to use it on iOS. I believe they do have a package deal if you buy both Xmarks and LastPass premium though.

Yeah, I don't use it on ios because I'm terrified of losing my phone with a global password manager on it. I use Lastpass free right now, but I'll probably switch to premium to support xmarks which i love.

To anyone that finds my iPhone, good luck cracking the password to get in the encrypted KeePass file.

Is it 54321?