Comments on: In Backups I (Should) Trust

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:39:16 +0000

Ya my bad, on a re-read I see that. I personally don’t trust any backup that isn’t redundant myself. For instance, I used to think (long ago) that uploading to my server was fine.. Until I had several RAID-5 clusters die. Irrecoverably.

Now I’m paranoid about it like you.

By: Rubes

Rubes — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:03:46 +0000

@Jason: Excellent comments. I don’t actually use Dropbox as a backup source, I was just including the copies of files stored with Dropbox as a potential source for files if any of the backups failed. Because of Dropbox, I have three sets of Vespers files available (one on the desktop, one on the laptop, and one with Dropbox) if any/all of my main backups happens to fail. But you’re right, it’s not a true backup source solution. I use it in order to keep an up-to-date version of the latest Vespers build (and a number of other unrelated files) available on my laptop.

I also agree that it’s not a good idea to group all backups within the same machine, and this is why I keep two backups on external drives. One of those is actually a NAS device, which I keep separate from the desktop.

I also put one backup on MobileMe, for the off-site copy. I don’t particularly like MobileMe, though, so I’ll look into Jungledisk.

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:07:11 +0000

Actually, you’ve got the right idea, but a mistake in implementation.

Dropbox isn’t a backup source. The data on there isn’t guaranteed at all. Since your primary backup is in the same PC, that’s a huge risk.

I’d suggest you drop Dropbox for backup and use something like Jungledisk or Mozy. Jungledisk is my preference since the Mozy software is kind of crap. It backs your data up onto Amazon S3.

Then for your primary backup, backup onto a different machine. Preferably one hidden in a closet somewhere, or if you want to get super fancy – in a fire safe.

That protects you from the two feasible ways you can lose your data – theft and/or PC destruction and theft and/or destruction of your primary backup. Remember, hard drives are fragile – and if you have both in one machine, all it takes is one power supply going crazy to lose both of them.

By: Rubes

Rubes — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:57:11 +0000

True, I think two local and one off-site backup is a good way to go. And great point about making sure all are continuously viable copies. I’ve gone a little overboard, but I’ll clean that up a bit in time.

By: Aaron Reed

Aaron Reed — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:23:18 +0000

Wow, that trumps my three systems. My general rule of thumb (since losing the first version of Blue Lacuna back in 2006) has been that major projects are backed up on another computer in my house, a remote computer that I have full access rights too, and a private remove backup service like Mozy. The theory is that after any one point of failure (house burns down, Mozy goes out of business) I still have two other backups of the data.

The trick is to remember to verify every couple of weeks that all of them are still working. I’ve had all three silently stop working on me.