What's your backup strategy?

[claylomax]

No backups; everything gets nuked with a yearly fresh Windows install.

 

[AusWolf]

No backups; everything gets nuked with a yearly fresh Windows install.

Everything? Even family pictures?

 

[64K]

Everything? Even family pictures?

I don't see how people can get past at least some backups. Not just pictures but tax forms as well. Here in the USA the IRS can go back 5 years on your tax filings.

 

[Sithaer]

I don't see how people can get past at least some backups. Not just pictures but tax forms as well. Here in the USA the IRS can go back 5 years on your tax filings.

In my household my family is oldschool enough to still use paper form of official papers and all that stuff. 'from what I know this is still the majority in my country'

Everything? Even family pictures?

I don't have family pictures or at least nothing of importance. 'I don't even like being a part of family pictures in the first place, not my cup of tea'
I'm not saying I wouldn't be slightly pissed if my HDDs would get nuked suddenly but eh I wouldn't actually lose really important data to be honest.

While that question wasn't aimed at me but since I also don't have backups, thought I would also answer it.

 

[sam_86314]

I'm also planning to arrange family photos for blu-ray M-disc backup later

This is something I've done. I've backed up my family photos and videos to M-disc Blu-rays and put them in a fire safe. I also have a 64GB USB drive with those same backups in that same safe.

I also just have those files backed up to nearly every computer I own that has enough space. After my dad "accidentally" wiped his NAS and deleted all sorts of sentimental stuff that wasn't backed up, I've been taking backups as seriously as I can. I really hope tape storage becomes affordable so I can use that.

 

[pf100]

Using Macrium Reflect Home Edition, I do an automated backup from my boot SSD to a spinning hard drive in the same pc case with a full backup once a month, a differential backup once a week, and an incremental backup every day. Really important items that should be off-site I almost always put on google drive, and for sensitive things I put on google drive I put them in an encrypted winrar file.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

I do two cold HDD , a plug in easier backup, but no off-site, I will have to fix that but it won't be cloud, I will place a cold drive backup in a alternative building miles away IE my mother's house.

 

[WhitetailAni]

The important stuff goes on Google Drive and whatever flash drive I grabbed, I have local backups of almost everything on a 3TB HDD.

 

[lexluthermiester]

No backups; everything gets nuked with a yearly fresh Windows install.

WTH? Seriously?

Everything? Even family pictures?

I don't see how people can get past at least some backups. Not just pictures but tax forms as well. Here in the USA the IRS can go back 5 years on your tax filings.

It's 7 years, but yeah, no backups at all? That is next level jank there..

I do two cold HDD , a plug in easier backup, but no off-site, I will have to fix that but it won't be cloud, I will place a cold drive backup in a alternative building miles away IE my mother's house.

What do you mean by "cold"?

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

WTH? Seriously?


It's 7 years, but yeah, no backups at all? That is next level jank there..


What do you mean by "cold"?

On drives that are not fitted in a computer or even a caddy.

I always have a surplus of drive's though not great one's.

So I do also have a bought by me decent 8TB disk To do direct but occasional backup's to.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Weekly backup of my C drive with windows backup. I have a Dynamode USB3 external thing to just slot the HDD into. It's a very handy thing. Has a backup button, but never even tried it.

 

[sLowEnd]

I don't backup nearly as often as I should. Important files only, once or twice a year to 2 hard drives. If it's critically important for the present (e.g. active project or work engagement) then I'll pay more attention to it.

As far as the OS goes, I don't find reinstalling Windows to be that much of a hassle if needed. The games I play don't store saves locally.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I don't backup nearly as often as I should. Important files only, once or twice a year to 2 hard drives.

You really should do monthly or bimonthly backups. Twice a year is better than nothing, but at least every 2 months would be greatly better. Just my personal and professional advice, I don't mean to offend or insult you at all.

 

[not_my_real_name]

GitHub for code and docs, same git repositories on multiple PCs, cloud drives for everything else. Everything is in manual mode.

 

[lemonadesoda]

One of the problems with doing backups is the poor clarity on how to manage the process in the most effective way. For example, i have a synology NAS and there are do many different apps for backing up, so many different methods and a lack of clarity which app is best suited for backing up the PC, which for backing up the NAS itself, and which app plays archive server to other NAS. Etc. And there are alternative apps, and now the new „synology drive“ app, and it is unclear which is better for what situations and which ones will have a longer maintenance future.
Add to that, that you hear if failed backups or incompatibility or lost files on NAS mirroring, and you end up in a situation where implementing mught be more risky than the risk of HDD failure itself.
So i RAID mirror a dedicated fileserver. Over the last ten years i have list teo drives, but rebuilt and lost no data

(Finger typed while queuing, will update later)

 

[Deleted member 24505]

I just use windows backup to do mine. No other software required and if i have to i can reinstall and restore the backup, simples

 

[neatfeatguy]

I use both methods for local backups, automated and manual. I do an automated backup of my plex server once a month. I will manually do one if I add a lot of content and want to make sure it's all backed up sooner than later.

I manually back up all my pictures and phone videos to multiple locations, one spot is on the movie HDD on my plex server (once a month all data is backed up on another drive, so I guess I actually have two drives on my plex server that has pictures/videos saved) and I have them backed up on two other drives on my main computer. My wife would have a meltdown if all the photos/videos of our kids and dogs over the years were lost.

I used to do DVD backups of important files, but I haven't had my DVD burner installed in my computer for the past 4-5 years. As for important files, I back them up manually on a couple of different drives. Maybe I should dig out my DVD burner and make some hard copies as well.....eh, I'm kind of lazy and probably won't.....but then again, I do have a good 100+ blank DVDs I should probably make use of.....

I have nothing on the cloud. They don't get my stuff.

 

[newtekie1]

It wouldn't let me pick two options.

I follow a 3-2-1 strategy.

 

[JC Denton]

I built an external SSD and I do a manual backup every three months. Once the files are on there, I can view the files on my phone, laptop, console and TV.

I was using an external USB hard drive for some time, but now that I can afford multiple SSDs, I've got an MX500 in my daily rig and another used in an external enclosure.

Building an external SSD is also very easy. I was able to open up my external HDD enclosure and swap the drive over for the same sized SSD. I recommend building your own external SSD as it's way cheaper than buying one.

 

[plastiscɧ]

Does windows system restore count? that's just one strategy I use atm.

beside manual backup to different drives i do the same. shadowcopy FTW.

 

[wheresmycar]

I see some of you guys don't use cloud storage. I can't live without it. I use OneDrive (personal) and dropbox (work). Onedrive on my PC, phone and tablet. Dropbox on my PC, office PC, laptop, phone and shared with partners. Both Onedrive and Dropbox are installed on the main PCs as local storage and act as primary destinations for saving everything. Secondly, all PCs are backed up incrementally (weekly) and Full (monthly) to a HD. On top (when I remember), once in a while I make full backups manually too and place everything on a second machine in the home. To simplify, 1-2-3 backup solution on the roll for some added confidence.

The main reason for the cloud solution: on-the-go access to everything and sharing, and to-date both onedrive and dropbox have served flawlessly. I admit I have some reservations in trusting "personal" data in the hands of not so "personal" external solution providers (esp. the big corps). But, too lazy to look into alternative methods, eg. a private cloud network or some sort - if thats a thing(?)

Now looking into cloning/imaging.... i know 20 years late lol but I don't mind fresh installs with personal data already safeguarded.

The poll should have multiple selections as I know several people who use cloud and local backups collectively.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I see some of you guys don't use cloud storage.

That's because we care about privacy. When you store your files on someone else hardware, you have no privacy and they're not really your files anymore as you can be denied access to them on a whim or a change in the wind. Cloud storage has it's usefulness but not as a form of backup, especially when you need to backup many TB of data at a time.

So good luck with that.

 

[wheresmycar]

That's because we care about privacy. When you store your files on someone else hardware, you have no privacy and they're not really your files anymore as you can be denied access to them on a whim or a change in the wind. So good luck with that.

You might have missed the rest. I do local backups (both full and incremental) too both on the same machine and full exports to an external build hence 'access denied' not a huge problem for me. Although I agree the "privacy" issue remains which i've simply accepted for the time being and adding caution i dont save sensitive data/passwords via the same methods... those all go on a second internet-less device + USB stick for backups

Don't get me wrong... i'm all ears for advice but for the time being I definitely need cloud sync across devices

 

[lexluthermiester]

You might have missed the rest.

You're right, I stopped reading after the first few sentences. My bad. Sorry.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

trying to build my own local network storage cheaply (with what I have) and maybe turn it into a proper NAS box down the line.