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Question about offline backup

by Harvey Segal
16 replies
I currently use an offline service which backs up new or
changed files overnight.

My ISP Virgin Media is offering a (free) service which backs
up files up as they are changed.

The few occasions that I have needed to use the restore
facility in the past were when I overwrote an existing file
and knew about it immediately.

It would seem that this is not possible with the ISP service
as I would only be able to retrieve the changed file.

This looks like an either/or situation - unless anyone has
other thoughts ?

Harvey
#backup #offline #question
  • Profile picture of the author LB
    I don't like the sound of a service that decides for me what does and doesn't need backed up. Seems like there is a lot of room for error there.

    Personally, I backup most of my work onto an external drive that is stored offsite...which is the most important part of the equation IMO.

    I do a ton of audio/video so online backup has never really been much of an option for me.
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    • Profile picture of the author Harvey Segal
      Originally Posted by LB View Post

      I don't like the sound of a service that decides for me what does and doesn't need backed up. Seems like there is a lot of room for error there.
      No - we can choose which folders can be backed up

      Harvey
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  • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
    Hey Harvey

    Have you looked at this:

    Backup2Net - Online and Offline Backup software, for automatic secure backup

    Peace

    Jay
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  • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
    I do believe PCFort has a good service too, although I've never used them

    Peace

    Jay
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  • Profile picture of the author jasonvthomas
    I would suggest using a raid system if it is a desktop for the data to be duplicated instantly to the other harddrive. Even new laptops have this option nowadays. After all harddrives have become so cheap nowadays and moreover you will save a lot of money compared to what you will be paying to online data backup services.

    Another disadvantage here is that you are again wasting time and bandwidth to uploads these data everyday to the online backup services.

    here is another online backup system:
    Dell DataSafe Online Backup & Sharing
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    • Profile picture of the author Harvey Segal
      Jason

      Originally Posted by jasonvthomas View Post

      I would suggest using a raid system if it is a desktop for the data to be duplicated instantly to the other harddrive.
      I don't necessarily want my data instantly duplicated

      Originally Posted by jasonvthomas View Post

      Another disadvantage here is that you are again wasting time and bandwidth to uploads these data everyday to the online backup services.
      There is no problem with time as it is automated and bandwidth
      should not be too affected as it is only changes which are uploaded.

      The big problem of having just a harddrive solution is
      if your equipment is stolen or your house burns down.


      Harvey
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  • Profile picture of the author techinik
    I will suggest you to take backup yourself onto some external storage device.
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  • Profile picture of the author DwayneCoaching
    I would have to agree with the opinion that having complete control of your information is important. I would recommend an external hard drive. They are very cheap today.
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    • Profile picture of the author jmidas
      I'm not sure exactly why, but I have always been nervous about using online back up services - who knows if they are really going to be there when I need them?

      So, I just recently bought a new external hard drive - I went with a 500GB Seagate FreeAgent drive - and am very happy with it. Only about $100 and is easy to use through a usb connection. And, I control it so I dont have to worry about where my data is. The big negative, of course, if the house burns down, I lose both my main and backup.
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      • Profile picture of the author Harvey Segal
        Originally Posted by jmidas View Post

        The big negative, of course, if the house burns down, I lose both my main and backup.
        and - for many marketers - their business

        Harvey


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      • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
        Originally Posted by jmidas View Post

        The big negative, of course, if the house burns down, I lose both my main and backup.
        Keep it in a fire-proof media safe. Or get a media safe and put it in there and then put the media safe inside a fire-proof cabinet. And, if you get a water-resistant fire-proof safe or cabinet, so much the better.
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        • Profile picture of the author IMChick
          This thread seems like it was started just for me. I'm tech savvy enough to be dangerous, but of course, don't currently have a back up program in place...

          Not that I'm looking for sympathy, because I know how stupidly dangerous I just came to losing it all, but, read and heed the advice in this thread and implement your own backup immediately.

          I'm going to do a physical media stored off site, like ProductCreator outlined in his post. I think I'll also do some type of a 'raid' system, too.

          Here's how quickly my life took a turn for the worse, and more important, why I am now a backup-convert; The night before last, I was leaving the office and had a program running in the background, so I figured I would leave the pc on all night and it would be finished when I came in the following morning. No problem, I do that alot. But when I got a look at the monitor in the morning, it was filled with those little warning boxes that you have to click 'ok' on, and everything was pixelated so I couldn't really see the backgrounds, etc. Crashed or froze at some point while I was gone.

          One message on the screen stood out, though, and that was that some memory couldn't be saved so the volume had been lost. Well, several hours later of trying to boot or reboot by turning the pc on and off because the safe mode wouldn't work, and hours after chekdsk froze up and then finally worked, I found out that the lost volume was one of the external hard drives. Disaster. One of the drives is all IM stuff, one of the drives is business stufff for my B&M office, so either way, I was not goint to be able to duplicate the work, and I was dead in the water. Not happy. I worked on it all afternoon and somehow ended up replacing the lost master boot sector and reinstalling the drive, so I recovered my date and it all worked out. But, hey, I may not be that lucky next time.

          So, don't let this happen to you!!
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  • Profile picture of the author WereBear
    If you aren't backing up off-site as well, you aren't really backing up.

    The odds of a meteorite hit are pretty low, but there's lots of other things that can target that One Room on Earth where your life is stored. Water leaks, either from plumbing or a roof, tend to target one room, and can destroy everything in it.

    Portable hard drives are inexpensive and are easily swapped. It doesn't matter if you keep it at your Mom's when you stop by for dinner; it's off site.
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