Keeping you memories alive

[Hornet3d]

Best heading I could think of for a boring if important subject - backing up.

Having worked in a computer repair shop for a few years between career and retirement I am keenly aware of the heartache losing data can cause, not only that it made me paranoid with my own data. With this is mind I have started this thread for two reasons, firstly I am very interested in what procedures others have to secure their data and second, it just might prompt a few people who do not back their data to do so. If you have ' loss my data story' I am interested in that as well, as long it is not too painful for you, and it also might help the latter reason for starting this.

My back up process is to back up to a second drive hard drive any new purchase, with a weekly back up stored to a NAS server. This back up includes the Poser software, Poser Content and any of my creations as well as my vast collections of music CDs that I have digitised and all of my photos. I am slowly digitising my audio tapes and the LPs and backing them up in the same way. I use Karen' replicator to do this which is a brilliant piece of software and it does incremental backups but keeps the folder structure intact making restoring data a simple, if possible, long process. The good news is the program is free, the bad news is I have been informed the person that created it is now writing code in a much happier place. It is therefore no longer updated and I do think it has problems running with Windows 10 ( I would love to know if anyone has it working in W10 and how).

A selection of my data, that which I regard as most important, is further backed up to CDs and more recently to M- Drives which are meant to last 1000 years. While I am very suspicious of that claim I do believe they are will live a lot longer than a standard CD. The reason it is only a selection is that the M-Disc are expensive and have a maximum capacity of 50gig although I use 25Gig disks due to the cost.

More recently I have been experimenting with backing up to the cloud via Amazon Drive (there are other solutions available) which should run out cheaper than M-discs. The upload is slow due the restricted broadband upload being so slow but the download should not be a problem. At least you can get it running an leave it to do it's thing.

So that is where I am at. Happy for anyone to point any flaws or possible improvements in this set up and really interested in any thoughts anyone has.

 

[Bonnie2001]

I backup to an external drive and also to Google Drive, which is popular with students because of its 15GB of free storage. 15GB is very generous, so long as you don't go crazy and start uploading movies and music.

 

[Glitterati3D]

I back up to an external hard drive just for backups.

 

[Hornet3d]

I backup to an external drive and also to Google Drive, which is popular with students because of its 15GB of free storage. 15GB is very generous, so long as you don't go crazy and start uploading movies and music.

15GB is good for free storage and I can understand why it is popular with students. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I have collected a lot of Poser content over 15 years and no one is going to give that amount of storage. 15GB should be enough to store course work and a photos. One of the customers I had in the computer shop had dropped her laptop with almost a terms worth of course work, luckily we were able to remove the hard drive ad recover the data. She did have quite a worry for a day or so as she had no backup what so ever. Google Drive would have been ideal for her needs.

 

[Hornet3d]

I back up to an external hard drive just for backups.

That's what I used until I got the NAS, which is the same thing really. I purchased the NAS for CCTV recording but it has plenty of capacity so it made sense to use it for backups.

 

[Glitterati3D]

That's what I used until I got the NAS, which is the same thing really. I purchased the NAS for CCTV recording but it has plenty of capacity so it made sense to use it for backups.

I had a computer struck by lightening and the only thing that survived it was a 2 tb hard drive. That's now my backup drive.

I threw it in a case, attached an eSata cable and use it for backup.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

I've relied on external drives for a number of years. Unfortunately, when I lost my hard drive, it turned out the Seagate was corrupt, and the other had problems. They were able to get some data from my hard drive and from the externals. But, quite a bit of my 3d files were gone. Since I had a gallery at the time, I was able to download all my final images. But, I'm a bit of a hoarder, so the loss of the Poser and Photoshop files hurt. Redownloading several years of content was also rather painful That's when I created a spreadsheet of all my purchases so I could check off as I downloaded and installed. I still keep it up to date as it turned out to be rather useful.

I still use an external, but I also backup my files to Google Drive. Though, I pay for additional storage space. Poser and Photoshop files can be rather big, as well as my project files.

 

[Glitterati3D]

I've relied on external drives for a number of years. Unfortunately, when I lost my hard drive, it turned out the Seagate was corrupt, and the other had problems. They were able to get some data from my hard drive and from the externals. But, quite a bit of my 3d files were gone. Since I had a gallery at the time, I was able to download all my final images. But, I'm a bit of a hoarder, so the loss of the Poser and Photoshop files hurt. Redownloading several years of content was also rather painful That's when I created a spreadsheet of all my purchases so I could check off as I downloaded and installed. I still keep it up to date as it turned out to be rather useful.

I still use an external, but I also backup my files to Google Drive. Though, I pay for additional storage space. Poser and Photoshop files can be rather big, as well as my project files.

I have heard that about Seagate externals a lot - the corruption.

One of the things I do is never attach my backup drive unless I have a backup scheduled overnight.

Also, when I lost the computer, I replaced the board and chip on the hard drive just in case there was a lightening strike "side effect" that wasn't immediately visible.

 

[seachnasaigh]

[_] I tend to reserve C: drive for Windows7 and programs. A second hard drive D: has folders for

• purchased/downloaded content,
• software purchases, with invoices and key codes
• 3D projects (includes Silo geometry build scenes, Poser scenes)
• Poser library
• Vue Library
• Program Files External, for old programs which run afoul of User Account Control

That separation lessens the loss if a hard drive dies or gets infected. When I only have one workstation running, I'll copy current project files (Silo modeling files, Poser scenes, new texture images in raw layered UFO format) to a flash drive.

[_] I periodically copy those D: drive folders to an external drive which is *not* left connected

[_] I have four workstations; each maintains a copy of my Poser runtime, Vue library, and the other D: folders

[_] Each workstation has Acronis, and periodically I do a full system backup to an external hard drive. Acronis copies everything, including Windows, your programs, and even preferences and desktop setup, and Acronis compresses it onto the external HD. The HD is disconnected once the backup is finished. I switch to a different HD each time I do a round of workstation backups, in case one of those external HDs goes bad.

 

[Hornet3d]

[_] I tend to reserve C: drive for Windows7 and programs. A second hard drive D: has folders for

• purchased/downloaded content,
• software purchases, with invoices and key codes
• 3D projects (includes Silo geometry build scenes, Poser scenes)
• Poser library
• Vue Library
• Program Files External, for old programs which run afoul of User Account Control

That separation lessens the loss if a hard drive dies or gets infected. When I only have one workstation running, I'll copy current project files (Silo modeling files, Poser scenes, new texture images in raw layered UFO format) to a flash drive.

[_] I periodically copy those D: drive folders to an external drive which is *not* left connected

[_] I have four workstations; each maintains a copy of my Poser runtime, Vue library, and the other D: folders

[_] Each workstation has Acronis, and periodically I do a full system backup to an external hard drive. Acronis copies everything, including Windows, your programs, and even preferences and desktop setup, and Acronis compresses it onto the external HD. The HD is disconnected once the backup is finished. I switch to a different HD each time I do a round of workstation backups, in case one of those external HDs goes bad.

That seems comprehensive. I only have one main computer and and the old main that gets pressed into service on occasions. A little while ago I upgraded the 'C' drive SSD to a larger one as the costs had dropped since my computer build. I cloned the new drive and kept the old one so I have a bootable spare as far as Windows and the main programs is concerned. Like you I reserve the 'C' drive for Windows 7 and the main programs such as Poser, Vue, Silo and the like. All other programs are added to the 'D' drive so unless I upgrade one of my graphics programs the 'C' drive stays current and I have an image of that using Paragon hard disc manager.

My 'D' drive is also the home for any of the temp files in an attempt to reduce the writes to the SSD although they a lot less sensitive to this these days, or that is what I have been led to believe, certainly a lot of the warranties are five years these days.

 

[Hornet3d]

I had a computer struck by lightening and the only thing that survived it was a 2 tb hard drive. That's now my backup drive.

I threw it in a case, attached an eSata cable and use it for backup.

Well I can understand why you stuck with that drive, it had earned the right to be kept in service. I love eSata, I have an case that allows me to slide a hard drive in and connect either via eSata or USB and it has been used more than once to recover other peoples data and get around the odd virus that stops Windows loading.

 

[Hornet3d]

I've relied on external drives for a number of years. Unfortunately, when I lost my hard drive, it turned out the Seagate was corrupt, and the other had problems. They were able to get some data from my hard drive and from the externals. But, quite a bit of my 3d files were gone. Since I had a gallery at the time, I was able to download all my final images. But, I'm a bit of a hoarder, so the loss of the Poser and Photoshop files hurt. Redownloading several years of content was also rather painful That's when I created a spreadsheet of all my purchases so I could check off as I downloaded and installed. I still keep it up to date as it turned out to be rather useful.

I still use an external, but I also backup my files to Google Drive. Though, I pay for additional storage space. Poser and Photoshop files can be rather big, as well as my project files.

Yep another hoarder here. I think it is a human trait that you tend to think more of what you have lost than what you have retained so those lost Poser and Photoshop files really do hurt. Again working with computer you see a lot of failed drives, although in fairness a lot of the failures were down to abuse, but that is why I have multiple backups.

 

[Glitterati3D]

Well I can understand why you stuck with that drive, it had earned the right to be kept in service. I love eSata, I have an case that allows me to slide a hard drive in and connect either via eSata or USB and it has been used more than once to recover other peoples data and get around the odd virus that stops Windows loading.

Yeah, I have a hard drive docking station that I use for that purpose as well.
HDD Docking Station USB 3.0 /2.0 875U3 Sata& IDE 2.5 inch Hard Disk Drive Dock Station All in 1 HDD Enclosure-Newegg.com

It comes in very handy when you encounter a failing hard drive.

 

[McGyver]

Around 2002 I had a Mac crash that lost a lot of data that I hadn't backed up yet.
To make matters worse, I was in the process of rearranging stuff and had transferred some items back to the computer to make things more efficient and rearrange.
So technically I un-backed up some data... Several hundred pictures of stuff I sold, that I could never get back.
Stupid.
After that, I redundantly back up stuff I really care for.
To me, content comes in second to photos, especially of my kids when they were little...
I use multiple hard drives, flash drives and DVDs (from multiple brands)... It's crazy, but so am I...
I get hard drives and flash drives when they are on super sales in stores (screw the Internet for good prices, I've never seen an online bargain that beats an in-store price... I'm positive there is some level of price fixing or price protection going on)...
But anyway, multiple media formats and multiple individual units gives me some level of peace of mind.
Assuming I have some level of mind still existing.
I also don't stick to one brand for any item...
In case one brand cheaps out or does something screwy, hopefully it's not being done by the competition too.
That Mac crash taught me something about brand loyalty...
They actually could have saved my data, but the techs at the help line and store lied to cover up a known defect and bug that was causing a problem and I ended up losing the data because they towed the company line.
I found out three years later, but I still keep in mind that no matter the reputation, no one is above cutting a corner or two and leaving you with the mess.

 

[Hornet3d]

Around 2002 I had a Mac crash that lost a lot of data that I hadn't backed up yet.
To make matters worse, I was in the process of rearranging stuff and had transferred some items back to the computer to make things more efficient and rearrange.
So technically I un-backed up some data... Several hundred pictures of stuff I sold, that I could never get back.
Stupid.
After that, I redundantly back up stuff I really care for.
To me, content comes in second to photos, especially of my kids when they were little...
I use multiple hard drives, flash drives and DVDs (from multiple brands)... It's crazy, but so am I...
I get hard drives and flash drives when they are on super sales in stores (screw the Internet for good prices, I've never seen an online bargain that beats an in-store price... I'm positive there is some level of price fixing or price protection going on)...
But anyway, multiple media formats and multiple individual units gives me some level of peace of mind.
Assuming I have some level of mind still existing.
I also don't stick to one brand for any item...
In case one brand cheaps out or does something screwy, hopefully it's not being done by the competition too.
That Mac crash taught me something about brand loyalty...
They actually could have saved my data, but the techs at the help line and store lied to cover up a known defect and bug that was causing a problem and I ended up losing the data because they towed the company line.
I found out three years later, but I still keep in mind that no matter the reputation, no one is above cutting a corner or two and leaving you with the mess.

I left more than one company in my career because I would not go along with the companies marketing strategy, well that is not exactly true, I did if it could be seen as hype but I drew the line at lying to customers. That is why I could never be a good salesman, I met more than one that would sell his soul to be the best and get that Mediterranean cruise for being king pin. Me, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

 

[Bonnie2001]

I have heard that about Seagate externals a lot - the corruption.

Oh isn't that just great. My backup drive is a Seagate 2TB! But no problems so far and I've had it a few months already.

 

[tparo]

I have a seagate had it for a couple of years and it's fine still.

 

[Glitterati3D]

The seagate internal drives work great - it's just the USB external drives I hear so much about.

 

[tparo]

Sorry I meant an external USB drive, I actually have 2 and luckily haven't had problems with either.

 

[Hornet3d]

Oh isn't that just great. My backup drive is a Seagate 2TB! But no problems so far and I've had it a few months already.

I think this is always the luck of the draw no matter what brand you use. It has always been my opinion that if you got 5 years out of a hard drive you then you have had good value for your money, which is why I am more than happy to use SSDs a lot more now that they have a 5 year warranty. Having said that I have seen drives that are anything up to 20 years old and are still running but they have been overtaking by time as many are IDE and have sizes of 20 - 40Gig and with USB drives surpassing that at low cost their use it very limited.

The one difference with SSDs and USB drives is that they can fail without warning, this can be true of the conventional drives as well but they would often show signs of impeding failure like becoming noisy and slow. Hearing a clicking sound as it hunts for data is a sure sign it's days are limited. I would, and still do use SSDs and USB drive for backup but I would not use these as the sole backup for any really important data.