That most important of subjects

[SuperSparks]

Backing up data

It never ceases to amaze me how many folks (and businesses) have no data backup strategy in place. There isn't a week goes by in these forums where we don't see someone asking how to recover their data because they don't have a backup

So let's discuss the best way of saving your critical data for when you need it.

Up until recently I've been a big fan of Mirrored RAID drives (RAID 1), but things that I've read of late have made me want to have a rethink. The onboard RAID built into motherboards really offer protection only against the failure of one of the drives. A power surge/lighning strike/PSU failure that will take out one driove will most likely take out both. Master File Table corruption will affect both drives, and there is the risk of problems with the RAID controller itself. In light of all that, I've now come to the conclusion that using a backup program to store critical files on both drives set up independantly makes more sense, as well as giving the full amount of space on both drives. What's everyones opinion of RAID?

In any case, I never have relyed on RAID alone, my other primary backup strategy is to transfer important files to another PC on the LAN. And very important files get burnt to CDR as well. What other ways of backing up data do you guys use?

Like death and taxes, there is another certainty in life - your hard drive will fail sooner or later.

[liam858]

I prefer to get the data from the drive onto a different media whether it be a cdr for small files or even a usb pen drive, but usually blanks dvd's come in very handy to back up huge amounts, i dont have raid support but from what i have heard i'm not sure i would set it up if i did upgrade in the future, i welcome the new blu-ray technology, when it comes onto the market that should prove popular as it will be a fast, easy and large source for back ups.


Liam

[JPnyc]

I also use cds or dvds.

[Train]

Network backup, extra hdds installed that are only hooked up when I do my backups, cds, and dvds.

Humm, caddies and external hdds could be used also.

[greengoose1]

Even with XP, I make individual backups of the registries, My Documents, Favorites, and Programs. Also the C Drives are ghosted. Then I burn to disk from individual Files to the complete data from various drives. Also the network is used to transfer info to other drives on other computers. The best of several programs are used. These tasks are done when the computer that is being backed up is not required for other tasks. This makes for unrelated redundancies that are necessary to have 100% backs ups covering all data.

[bistro]

I use RAID 0 for performance/speed. The downside is that supposedly RAID 0 is prone to crashing (never had one crash on me yet though). For data security, I do a monthly backup onto an external hard drive using Acronis True Image, then I keep the external drive disconnected. I also use that drive to archive all my "irretrievable" data such as program downloads, icons, wallpapers, registry hacks, cursors, etc., but I have those burned to a DVD also (I make an updated one about once a month).

[rlbrl]

RAID is good but you should still use a tape or something to get the backup off site. I have my customers rotate at least 5 tapes with at least 1 going off site every month or quarter. This is over and above useing RAID.

[jerryctx]

RAID is good but you should still use a tape or something to get the backup off site. I have my customers rotate at least 5 tapes with at least 1 going off site every month or quarter. This is over and above useing RAID.

Amen. However, tape drives are expensive and rare on personal or small-business computers. Unless the volume of data forces you to use tape, burn your data to CDs or DVDs. Keep all the disks even if it means you have a hundred generations of backups. They use little space and an error in rarely used data may go unnoticed for months (even years).

Speaking of errors, be sure to verify your backups periodically. I know a user who moved a file to a different folder and forgot to change the backup procedure. You can guess the rest. (And yes, its a good idea to put your critical data in one or a few folders for backup, but still verify. There are lots of other potential problems).