Spin-off: How do you back up a computer?

[disneychrista]

Do you mean “portable”?

Yes portable.

 

[sam_gordon]

Bumping this looking for suggestions...

Does anyone have a "go to" Network RAID solution that won't break the bank? I currently have 4 drives (3 USB/1 Internal) for storage totaling ~5.4TB, of which just over 2TB is used. Most of these are pictures and videos. Yes, I can probably clean stuff off, but what's the fun in that?

So, I'd like to get a RAID system to back everything up to. I think 4TB should suffice.

Any suggestions?

 

[Praying Colonel]

Apple makes it real easy. I just sync to iCloud. it is subscription but this one I don't mind paying for. My doc folder and photos are automatically synced to the cloud and available across all my devices. I do have an "Important Stuff" folder that I also back up manually on a hard drive and store at my aunt's house.

Yes, we sync to iCloud. I also have our photos going to Amazon Photos.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Oh, okay, thanks. I thought you were speaking of some new 'secret' method. When I take pictures, they are automatically, real time, backed up to my Google Photos account, Verizon cloud account, Dropbox and One Drive.

Thanks again.

I also have our photos going to Amazon Photos.

I forgot, I use Amazon Photo backup also, in addition to the others I listed. Thanks for the reminder, PC.

 

[jlmarr]

My data point:

• I have a hard drive attached to our main iMac, back that one up via Time Machine.
• I have a fairly obsolete Mac mini (2010) in an upstairs closet, with a hard drive attached to it, and use that for networked Time Machine backups.
• Both the main iMac and my MacBook Pro do Time Machine back ups to the old Mini.
• Also back up to our two iPhones to iCloud, paying $10/month for that disk space.

So we have redundant Time Machine backups, and our all-important Photos are backed up both places and offsite.

Looks like this in the Time Machine System Preference:



Minnie being the Mac Mini (heh) and BackupRicky being the hard drive attached to the iMac. When you add the second TM disk it will ask you if you want to replace the first or use both. You want Use Both.

 

[disneychrista]

Can you back-up your music folder on OneDrive? If so how? My Documents & Pictures folders are set to sync but not My Music.

 

[_19disnA]

Unless it is music you recorded yourself, I don't see the point of backing up publically available music files. Maybe you want to back-up a 'play list' you created but that just stores the names of the music files for replaying.

 

[disneychrista]

Unless it is music you recorded yourself, I don't see the point of backing up publically available music files. Maybe you want to back-up a 'play list' you created but that just stores the names of the music files for replaying.

Because I don’t want to lose it all? It is 13,000 songs from various sources.A lot of from CDs I no longer have.

 

[kdonnel]

Bumping this looking for suggestions...

Does anyone have a "go to" Network RAID solution that won't break the bank? I currently have 4 drives (3 USB/1 Internal) for storage totaling ~5.4TB, of which just over 2TB is used. Most of these are pictures and videos. Yes, I can probably clean stuff off, but what's the fun in that?

So, I'd like to get a RAID system to back everything up to. I think 4TB should suffice.

Any suggestions?

RAID is not a backup.

https://www.raidisnotabackup.com/

I have a cheap Synology NAS. Two 8tb drives in a simple mirror.

https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS220j

It is not my backup though, just part of my home storage solution.

 

[sam_gordon]

RAID is not a backup.

https://www.raidisnotabackup.com/

I have a cheap Synology NAS. Two 8tb drives in a simple mirror.

https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS220j

It is not my backup though, just part of my home storage solution.

A backup is a copy of your data, correct? A RAID is a type of storage. So why cant you use a RAID as a backup destination?

 

[kdonnel]

A backup is a copy of your data, correct? A RAID is a type of storage. So why cant you use a RAID as a backup destination?

It can be part of a storage and backup solution but it is not a backup.

From the link:

Having a number of disks in RAID may seem like a backup, especially if you’re using a mirrored RAID mode like RAID-1 or RAID-10. But this is wrong!

RAID protects you against one and only one thing: a disk failure. It does not protect you against any of the following things:

Multiple disk failures beyond the RAID level chosen (e.g. both disks in a mirror, or 3 disks in a RAID-6), including possible UREs.

Failure of the RAID controller itself (if applicable), the computer running the RAID, or the environment containing the servers (e.g. a flood, fire, or theft).

Data corruption from filesystem bugs, cosmic rays, or minor hardware or firmware failures, which can and do happen all the time - you usually just don’t notice and software works around it.

Malicious or accidental deletion or modification of files, including by viruses, bad application writes, or administrative mistakes (e.g. rm-ing the wrong file or mkfs on an existing filesystem).

The adage is simple: “RAID replicates everything, instantly, even the stuff you don’t want it to.”

 

[sam_gordon]

It can be part of a storage and backup solution but it is not a backup.

From the link:

Having a number of disks in RAID may seem like a backup, especially if you’re using a mirrored RAID mode like RAID-1 or RAID-10. But this is wrong!

RAID protects you against one and only one thing: a disk failure. It does not protect you against any of the following things:

Multiple disk failures beyond the RAID level chosen (e.g. both disks in a mirror, or 3 disks in a RAID-6), including possible UREs.

Failure of the RAID controller itself (if applicable), the computer running the RAID, or the environment containing the servers (e.g. a flood, fire, or theft).

Data corruption from filesystem bugs, cosmic rays, or minor hardware or firmware failures, which can and do happen all the time - you usually just don’t notice and software works around it.

Malicious or accidental deletion or modification of files, including by viruses, bad application writes, or administrative mistakes (e.g. rm-ing the wrong file or mkfs on an existing filesystem).

The adage is simple: “RAID replicates everything, instantly, even the stuff you don’t want it to.”

Again, it comes down to how you USE it. A RAID can be the destination of a backup.

By the "definition" above, an external HD is not a backup. Actually, according to the article, what DOES qualify a storage solution as a "backup"?

 

[kdonnel]

Again, it comes down to how you USE it. A RAID can be the destination of a backup.

By the "definition" above, an external HD is not a backup. Actually, according to the article, what DOES qualify a storage solution as a "backup"?

A backup is a copy of your data.

A RAID array can be a backup if it is a copy of your data but not if it is the primary source of your data.

It can be part of a storage and backup solution.

RAID is about resiliency and availability. Something generally really important to a business but not as important to an individual.

The site even mentions that RAID can be part of your storage strategy:

• A good rule of thumb is three copies: the original (RAID or otherwise); one onsite copy on a different, preferrably offline, medium; and one offsite copy. Store the offsite copy in the cloud, a data vault, or at a friend’s house, just keep it somewhere else.

For most individuals I believe you can get by with just two copies as long as one copy is on a RAID and the other copy is a versioned cloud based copy like BackBlaze.

Some scenarios where a RAID fails an individual as a backup:
1. A house fire, your supposed backup is destroyed.
2. Ransomware, your supposed backup is encrypted and lost forever.

In both those cases I would be protected with BackBlaze.

 

[sam_gordon]

A backup is a copy of your data.

A RAID array can be a backup if it is a copy of your data but not if it is the primary source of your data.

It can be part of a storage and backup solution.

RAID is about resiliency and availability. Something generally really important to a business but not as important to an individual.

The site even mentions that RAID can be part of your storage strategy:

• A good rule of thumb is three copies: the original (RAID or otherwise); one onsite copy on a different, preferrably offline, medium; and one offsite copy. Store the offsite copy in the cloud, a data vault, or at a friend’s house, just keep it somewhere else.

For most individuals I believe you can get by with just two copies as long as one copy is on a RAID and the other copy is a versioned cloud based copy like BackBlaze.

Some scenarios where a RAID fails an individual as a backup:
1. A house fire, your supposed backup is destroyed.
2. Ransomware, your supposed backup is encrypted and lost forever.

In both those cases I would be protected with BackBlaze.

Good for you. I'm not interested in a subscription based solution. I agree cloud would be the best. I dont want to spend that kind of money though

 

[disneychrista]

It seems to me the best solution is BOTH a physical & cloud backup. There are situations where either one could fail.

 

[Imzadi]

Can you back-up your music folder on OneDrive? If so how? My Documents & Pictures folders are set to sync but not My Music.

One Drive has a drag & drop feature. Just be aware, you have to log into your One Drive account a couple times a year. If you are just planning on using it as a back up and leaving stuff there, and not backing up often, it might NOT be there later if you don't log in during the necessary time frame.

That happened to me. Microsoft cut DOWN the amount of GBs it was giving out for free AND they imposed a log in every so often. They informed people - in their Microsoft emails - which I never use. I only opened the MS email account for the backup storage. My real email is elsewhere. So, I missed the deadline to log in and they deleted all my backed up data on 2 accounts.

Thank God, I had also backed up the data on my Google Drive accounts. This is why I firmly believe in the Rule of 3, in the article I linked to earlier.

 

[kdonnel]

Good for you. I'm not interested in a subscription based solution. I agree cloud would be the best. I dont want to spend that kind of money though

$70 a year to ensure that 20 years worth of digital photos are never lost is a very small price to pay.

 

[disneychrista]

One Drive has a drag & drop feature. Just be aware, you have to log into your One Drive account a couple times a year. If you are just planning on using it as a back up and leaving stuff there, and not backing up often, it might NOT be there later if you don't log in during the necessary time frame.

That happened to me. Microsoft cut DOWN the amount of GBs it was giving out for free AND they imposed a log in every so often. They informed people - in their Microsoft emails - which I never use. I only opened the MS email account for the backup storage. My real email is elsewhere. So, I missed the deadline to log in and they deleted all my backed up data on 2 accounts.

Thank God, I had also backed up the data on my Google Drive accounts. This is why I firmly believe in the Rule of 3, in the article I linked to earlier.

Thank you. I will give that a try. I am still figuring out one drive.

 

[sam_gordon]

$70 a year to ensure that 20 years worth of digital photos are never lost is a very small price to pay.

Ok, THAT kind of pricing IS good. With the amount of pics I have (2+ Tb), I was seeing $70 per MONTH..

 

[kdonnel]

Ok, THAT kind of pricing IS good. With the amount of pics I have (2+ Tb), I was seeing $70 per MONTH..

The initial backup can take some time depending on your internet upload speed. If you have data caps that can be problematic.

I have had a RAID failure. If I had not also used BackBlaze I would have had a much more difficult recovery.