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General discussion

Why haven't you backed up your data?

Feb 21, 2012 7:53AM PST

Why haven't you backed up your data?

-- I have nothing important to back up.
-- I don't know how to. (Visit our forums or do a Google search on the subject.)
-- I'm lazy. (I hope we don't see you in the forums when failure does happen.)
-- I don't have the time. (How much time do you think it will take to
recover your important data?)
-- I've been meaning to, but haven't gotten around to it. (Have you
heard of Murphy's Law?)
-- I like living on the edge. (I hope we don't see you in the forums
when failure does happen.)
-- I used to, but I'm so far behind, I gave up. (It's never too late.)
-- Other excuses (What's your reason?)
-- I do backup already.

Discussion is locked

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Doing backups!!! -- I do religiously!!!!
Feb 21, 2012 8:46AM PST

If you have ever lost everything on your computer hard drive in the past, you are likely going to do backups on a regular basis. I just use the Microsoft Back Up on Windows 7 that is set to back up every week, and also use an HP USB hard drive that backs up data every 5 minutes, and when the computer finishes a boot, the HP drive does an immediate back up on things that have changed since it was last backed up. Both the full back ups and interim back ups are automatic and I don't have to take any action to complete them. Large back up hard drives are relatively cheap today, and there is no reason to avoid doing things like this. Both of these programs require some set up, but after that you can leave them along and they will take care of things.

I can still remember having to do back ups to tapes, and that could be an exercise in futility.

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Backup the backups
Feb 21, 2012 9:09AM PST

I use Windows 7 Pro backup, that comes with the OS. I also do regular manual backups.
I have 2 extra hard drives that I use for backing up and storage of data etc.
Backing up is simple and important. If you have pictures, movies, documents and other important stuff on you computer, then you should be backing it up onto a second drive, or even put it onto CD/DVD disks, it's better than having a bad crash or failure of some kind and losing it all...right?

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Backups
Feb 21, 2012 10:09AM PST

I back up to the internet using both Mozy and Carbonite, plus an external USB hard disk. I paid for a Carbonite subscription, then I got Mozy for free from my work. Both work well, The good thing about the internet backup is that it's always available, whereas you can have problems with a USB external disk. Between the two of them, internet backup and a local USB disk , you have pretty good odds of not losing anything. I use Retrospect to backup to the USB disk.

I've used the backup on the external USB disk to recover specific files, and used the the internet backup (Carbonite, specifically) when I re-installed a Windows XP desktop. It was very useful to have all the data files, photos, bookmarks, etc. available for selective download/re-installation on a newly re-installed system.

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I guess I'm old fashioned!
Feb 21, 2012 10:18AM PST

If I feel something is so important that I don't want to lose it on the computer, I print it and save the printed copy. I use the computer several hours a day, but not for data storage. I don't trust it for that!

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Setup and forget
Feb 21, 2012 10:30AM PST

If you have to think to do backups, in my oppinion you have already made an error.

A few years back I regular made mirrors of my laptop to an USB harddrive. One time I needed to restore my computer - and the USB harddrive crashed in the middle of the process. I lost everything! Since I am a freelance graphic designer is was quite critical.

Today I take my backup serious (besides always having my antivirus application updated). I have transformed an old workstation into a fileserver, fitted it with a raid-controller and a bunch of discs in raid-5.
I do, have a tape station but the backup/restore process takes ages with the amount of data that I have today, And with the low price on hard drives today, it is faster and more flexiable if you have terabytes amount of data. So the tape station is for sale Happy
On the fileserver I have installed Super Flexible File Synchronizer. Every 20 minutes it copies files from my current workstation to the server. If files are deleted it moves the files to seperate folder. I do have to manually emty that folder now and then, but if I accidently deleted a file on my workstation, I know I can find it on my server.

Besides the server I backup the most essential files to a clould server. I also always install the OS on a seperate hard drive, so the OS and data files are never on the same.

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Why Cant It Do It by Itself????
Feb 21, 2012 11:50AM PST

what I dont understand is that why computers cannot back up themselves without me having to worrying at all???? Aint they smart enough to do that all by themselves?? We already have robots that can walk ,huh? Duh ?????????

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Because, by definition, a backup is not in the computer
Feb 21, 2012 4:13PM PST

In order to qualify as a backup, it must be stored somewhere other than the computer. In fact, it is recommended that critical backups be stored completely off-site (at someone else's house, for example). You can back up your computer automatically, but it is going to cost you something. Companies like Carbonite don't just offer their services for free. Even then, the system is not going to be backed up and neither will very large files. If you want it done right, you are going to have to oversee it yourself. If you want something important done, then do it. Don't expect it to be automated for you.

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This is probably the reason most of us decide to go moible c
Feb 21, 2012 11:59AM PST

In case you dont noitce .... smartphones dont come with any hard drives except SD cards. We dont store data like before.. We dont wanto save thousands of photos or letters anymore.. We toss it out daily! No more old memories of our young days ! la la la la !

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I Use Macrium Reflect free edition
Feb 21, 2012 12:14PM PST

Macrium reflect is easy and I understand it fairly easy.

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My RAID-1 configuration IS my backup
Feb 21, 2012 12:16PM PST

I want a new answer to the question "Why haven't you backed up your data?" added to this Community Poll Forum.
The answer that I want added says " I use a Raid-1 Mirror configuration" as my backup.
I have used RAID-1 configurations since 1998 and while I have lost more than thirty (30) hard drives from IBM, Maxtor, Hitachi and Western Digital, my Promise card RAID-1 configurations have never lost one byte of anything. We used "Prime and Dupe" drives on IBM mainframes starting in 1968, and we still use them today. When a drive fails, we replace it "on the fly" while the system stays up and running. I simply can not understand why the entire PC based, and Mac based, installed user base do not use RAID-1 configurations. Microsoft and Apple ought to be held criminally liable for supporting systems that do not issue warnings when no disk mirrors are present. Disk mirroring should be required by the Operating System if any network is supported by a computer.

It's like having automobile brake linings that are not riveted or bonded to the shoes or brake pads.

To me, not using a RAID-1 configuration, or some sort of disk drive mirroring, on a PC or Mac used by the pubic ought to be made criminally negligent behavior.

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Why is backup so difficult?
Feb 21, 2012 4:13PM PST

I have used several "back up" progs over the years but none are really satisfactory. They are all incomprehensibly complex to use and most don`t work when you need them.I use Maxtor at the moment, but despite getting my local "nerd" to try and sort it out, it is currently not working properly.
In my business we religiously backed up every night and took a disc off site, but when we finally needed
it, the disc was empty!
Why do they make a simple operation so difficult?

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How important is your data?
Feb 22, 2012 12:44AM PST

I can only speculate since I do not know Maxtor. But I think the main challenge is to find the best solution to your needs. Not necessary go with what came bundle with your USB drive.

I am not an expert on this field, but I have my own experience in loosing data and the cost of it. Below may not apply to your needs if you are a home user.

If you need a real-time backup, to avoid hard drive crashes the solution could be having a RAID-1 configuration that mcgarig1 is talking about. RAID-1 is two hard drives that mirrors basically real-time. So every time you save a file, it is written on two physical disks.
If you also want to have a backup, so you can find a file deleted by mistake, I can only recommend having a dedicated computer on the same network, that real time or on a schedule base, copies files from your computer. See my earlier post.
None of the two secure you from data loss in an event of virus or fire. In that case use a cloud service or backup on tapes or separate USB drive that you keep offsite.

It all come at a cost. So ask yourself how important your data is? How much automated the backup should be to fits my needs? And how much can I find in my budget?
My experience, from friends and small business partners is, that they do not have a budget. But they do have insurance covering the house, lost income due to an accident, on their cars etc.

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Data Backup
Feb 22, 2012 1:18AM PST

I am afraid to back up my data because I slowly starting to get confidence in working and right now I am afraid if I start backing up with a program and something goes wrong I am not sure that I will be able to back out of it successfully.

Jerry

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Luckily I had a close call
Feb 22, 2012 2:37AM PST

I always meant to get around to backing up. With ten years of digital photos it was something that was always on my list. Then I had a motherboard die on me. Luckily it was a simple matter to order an adapter to read the old type of hard drive into a USB port. I now regularly back up to two different terrabyte external drives. As has been said, external terrabyte drives are very inexpensive now.

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Why Haven't You Backed Up Your Data
Feb 24, 2012 3:56AM PST

I used to use a copy of Retrospect Xpress that was bundled with one of my external drives. When I got a new Windows 7 machine, that software wasn't compatible. Rather than buy an upgrade, I began doing a drag and drop backup from each of my program and data drives to my backup drive. Unfortunately, that process is a resource hog and still takes all weekend. I've gotten serious pushback from my User base. Happy

As a result, I haven't done one for a while.