Backing up a hard drive, What to use?

[Steve A.]

What R.G. said. I've always set up my computers this way, unless they were laptops with no room for a second disk. Having two physical disks speeds up audio editing too: you put your temp files on the OS drive and your audio on the other drive, so the data just spools between the two drives instead of thrashing the heads around. Of course in these days when everyone has 2GB of RAM, that probably doesn't matter any more...

The only gotcha is that Windows insists in keeping stuff in C:\Documents and Settings\*your user name*\ and that is on your OS drive...

I was thinking the exact same thing. Also many programs expect to be installed in the default folder which is on the OS drive.

So I let all of the little sh*t files store themselves in My Documents, but for the bulky audio, video or graphics files I save them on my collection of external drives.

I added a _SUITCASE folder to My Documents which I use when I want to upload a file to a site. That makes things a lot easier because the default file open dialog box lets you click on My Documents (rather than have to navigate through My Computer to a specific folder, usually nested deep) and _SUITCASE will appear up near the top of the list.

When you get as old as I am you don't want to waste your remaining time clicking through directory trees looking for files- I try to use the default associations to my advantage.

Steve Ahola

P.S. To help me recover from OD disc crashes I have been keeping an INSTALL folder on one of my external drives with all of the programs I have downloaded along with the install keys, etc. I used to copy the install floppies that came with hardware but that usually isn't necessary anymore. I keep the INSTALL folder backed up regularly and haven't had to use it to recover from a disastrous crash for a long time (knock on wood).

[bob p]

Does anybody partition their big hard drives into 4 smaller ones?
I was taught you have one partition with you operating system on it
And the rest for your files.

That way you can replace or fix the operating system without losing the rest of you stuff

Close, but no cigar...

IMO, you're both right, but for different reasons.

Like RG said, to perform an effective BACKUP you need to store the data on different physical devices, not different virtual devices or drive partitions. Its actually better to have the physical devices in separate physical locations, to get that added degree of protection from fires, floods, natural disasters, etc. Being a linux g33k, I have a dedicated firewall, dedicated internal and external virtual file servers, and several dedicated workstations.

The file servers use an automated back-up procedure that scans for updated files at fixed intervals during the day, and updates a shadow copy of the data that is stored on a different physical device within the same box. In the middle of the night all of the data is automatically sync'd over a secure socket shell to another computer in a remote location that stores a mirror image of my fileserver's data directories to provide redundancy.

There is GREAT enterprise-level software that you can obtain for FREE to automate the entire process. The price that you pay for remote backup administration though, is a rather steep learning curve. If you're interested, google for "bacula".



The idea of putting the OS and the /home user data on separate drive partitions is very popular in the linux community, as it helps to compartmentalize and separate the OS from the user data. In traditional unix installations, this would routinely be done on separate physicial devices on the network.

On a desktop, the drive partitioning method you suggested makes it much easier for and end user who might want to try out different linux flavors to perform OS changes/upgrades. compartmentalization prevents their users' personal data from being co-mingled on the same drive (or partition) with OS data. volumes that have the OS data stored on them are routinely reformatted by installation programs, while /home volumes typically are not. at least that's true in the non-windows world, where some of the installation software is actually somewhat intelligent. :P

If you're automating your backups by scripting methods, using a bash script to back up a volume can make things easy from a conceptual standpoint, but like RG said, for safety and security, copy the data for backup to a separate physical device to achieve maximum protection.


oh, and about RAID -- i don't see that anyone has yet mentioned the critical differences between RAID that is performed at the hardware level vs. the software level. IMO, you should NOT EVER use software raid. once cpu hickup and your volumes are corrupted. Always use hardware RAID, or steer clear of RAID altogether.

HTH

[tommy d]

Warning TMI

Bob has enterprise level networks with backups and an obvious expertise as a system administrator, which is required of his setup.

oh, and about RAID -- i don't see that anyone has yet mentioned the critical differences between RAID that is performed at the hardware level vs. the software level. IMO, you should NOT EVER use software raid. once cpu hickup and your volumes are corrupted. Always use hardware RAID, or steer clear of RAID altogether.

HTH

I'll go further and say never use software RAID,

Never build a system partition on a RAID drive (in the event of hardware failure you will need exactly the same RAID card or you will never access your OS again which is why generic file sytems NTFS/SATA are preferable)

Never use RAID 0 "performance striping" because if you lose any data, you risk losing the both drives! You are actually increasing your risks of losing data and for music it is totally wasted b/c SATA II is blazing fast for audio.

The smartest safe way to use raid is: RAID 5, Non O/S data, Redundant Array from a hardware card that is common as dirt. Now you have data and what not on a redundant disk array that will "rebuild" itself in the event of the loss of one disk. The price is you lose the capacity of one disk per redundant array, a size efficency bonus above that of RAID 1 which is 1 to 1 copying.

The problem with network backups is that they are SLOOOOOWWWWWWW and if you are at all inclined to tinker will find yourself upgrading your perfectly fine 10/100 to gigabit routers/switches CAT6 for a pretty penny and toal reconfiguring for wireless including new security protocols and router restriction schemes. Wireless data backup? --> Shoot me now!

The way I recommend for super ciritical data is RAID 5 for data (like DAW) and a non-partitioned NTFS for system with regular "images" from Acronis or the like. The problem wtih partitioned images arises when the original disk has died and the new disk is different --> Norton ghost fails on this one all the time b/c it can't adapt partitions with new size geometry and messes up the MFT. In fact, if ghost loses one bit of its backup taken to DVD or CD the, whole thing goes south. Why can't it just skip the bad data and move on? BTDT

With non partititioned fat32/NTFS system disk you can totally blow away the entire disk and be back up and running in 30 minutes after catastrophe and your precious data is umolested on different drives. BTW I follow all the basic take the important stuff off site (which isn't much but I know it will survive the apocalypse) For DAW clients/projects burn a DVD set of the files and give them to the client or take them offsite.

The cool thing with images is that when I get a virus/spyware (rare) or I update a batch of drivers and one of them sucks - I just wipe the whole disk back to the last known good state and problem solved. This way you just have a few files to save manually between images to say a thumb drive or something. An invlauable strategy for people who view computers as tools and not hobbies.

BUUUT - just imaging with Acronis regularly to an eSata or USB will serve you very well with the caveat that actually test your backup with a real run through!

[aferaci]

I use carbonite. (carbonite.com) It's $49 a year and it constantly updates and backups my harddrive as long as I'm online and it doesn't affect my computer's speed at all. If your hard drive ever goes bad, you just go to their website and restore it. This is my 3rd year with them and I have no complaints.

[oc disorder]

Anyone tried or using this ?
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-windows.htm

Um I don't want this to sound like an advertisment but..\
Image for Windows is an affordable, reliable drive image backup and restore solution that provides an easy and convenient way to completely backup all your hard drive's data and operating systems. Your backups can be saved directly to external USB and FireWire™ drives, to internal or network drives, and even directly to CD or DVD. The Image for Windows package includes an easy-to-use MakeDisk wizard for creating a recovery boot disk. To restore your data and operating systems back to the way they were when the backup was created, simply boot the recovery disk and restore the partition(s) or drive(s) you need to recover

I normally keep anything precious on a big external usb drive.