Backup time....2018

CoolCat

Well-known member
So reading a few similar threads I come to the conclusion/summary.

1) Carbonite $100 year works well per the old threads
Computer File Backup Software & Data Protection | Carbonite

2) USB Memory is common and works , is it the most common and cheapest?


3) misc others...

My USB HD is near full, my consumer HP BestBuy stock is getting cluttered.
Its easy doing Pictures & Documents and just drag and drop...copy...etc...

But the confusion and hesitance is the Reaper Tracks with all the FX and crap and time stamps and edits and basically making a backup of all this crap that seems could very easily be messed up and wont load again. Maybe its called "Project" in short.
The good news is none of it is that important but it would be great to know how to do it the right way.
Maybe this is more a REAPER backup section question?
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I have been using Google Drive for my business now for over 5 years...IT IS AMAZING! I can't see it corrupting your Reaper files, it has not messed with mine. Up until a month or so ago it was called Google Drive...They are now marketing the personal and business separately ...The personal version is called Back up and Sync.... When you change a file in the files you choose to "Back up" the file is changed in the cloud when it sync's which is dependent on how you are set up..

15 GB free $2 a month for 100 GB $10 a month for 1 TB and on...I don't ever need more than 100 GB for my business at any given time... I only keep what is required or REALLY important to me to have saved in the cloud. On the personal side I have multiple G-mail accounts where I keep my photos and stuff.

On the music side I don't have that much but if I did IMO there is no safer company to use for back up than Google.... and as per PC mag in 2018 Google comes out on top again this year.

Here's a link to the article where the image below came from

Google drive.jpg
 
I think Carbonite is unlimited.
My Harddrive is 500gig, and my backup USB HD is 500gig and its full.
Doing mirror images of the hardrive can get over 100gig easy these days.

I see BOX listed in the pic. Thats what the office uses, but Im not familiar with it as its all done by the IT dept, with Crashplan and now BOX is added.

I really hate adding more bills but.....theres some peace of mind backing up to a cloud.

Thanks for the suggestion. I use google for a browser so google back up might be easy too.
 
I was not familiar with Carbonite so I went to the site but didn't see anything for $99 $6 a month one computer = $72 ......One computer and one external hard drive $9.34 a month $112. It does appear to be unlimited BUT...I'd be wary of this company based upon what I read here It seems to be a decent set up except if you ever actually need to get the back up and then the fun begins..

With google you are dealing with the third largest manufacturer of servers in the world and they only make them for their self.....but I'm a huge google fan and use A LOT of their apps..

That said Carbonite was not in the top 10 of 2018 cloud storage companies.... neither in the PC mag I previously posted or the Tech Radar article Here Carbonite might work out fine for you...but I'd definitely do my due dilligence before signing up with another monthly bill...I'm doing my best to eliminate those suckers but they keep tricking me....:cursing:
 
I got Carbonite from this forum and older threads about backing up.

Interesting thanks for posting that...the fun begins when you need it. lol ...like a bad insurance plan that doesnt pay out?

for $150 yr Google has unlimited.

$65 for another USB 1T harddrive backup. I could do one a year, and at least not worry about being able to retrieve my data.

I have had harddrives fail, they just stop spinning or something and its show is over and everythings lost. My sons had two fail and 5yrs of pics and vacations and music wiped out.

Non moving parts is a given, his backup was a spinning hd and as luck would have it, it was accidentally yanked to the floor while spinning and he lost all the backup. So the CLOUD has its separate location far away attraction too.....if the house burnt down etc, the cloud would be untouched where spare drives not so much.

$150 yr Insurance? hmmm? decisions
 
...I'm doing my best to eliminate those suckers but they keep tricking me....:cursing:

I just noticed paying one of my many and a $37 late fee was charged on a account, but it was "delayed" they said while paying from my Online Bank pay to them.... well ? I clicked PAY NOW...adn they claim they didnt get it for a few days.
so scam away, imagine 150,000 customers x $37 getting a "delay online pay scam" charge for late fee!!
it was a credit card which I will be dropping or transferring soon.

Im not good with too many accounts and keeping up with every charge and fee. So I might just go buy another USB HD and think about this cloud.

15Gig is FREE on Google so I could test drive it for awhile.

Thanks for the Carbonite info...wow, 1 star and pissed off customers...
 
I would never backup to some online service...free or otherwise. :laughings:

I use small, portable, external hard drives...I have a few, some for audio and some for other "stuff", and I have at least 3 backups of each...and when I would leave the house for work, I would always take one of the backup sets (just 2, very thin, but large capacity HDs) with me, in my computer bag.
Same thing if I was going away for a few days.
That way I always had a set with me....if something ever happened to the ones I have at home...etc.

I'm going to be dropping off another set of backups into my bank safety deposit box...as soon as I get them up to date.

Considering the hacks and failures of many online providers...not to mention the PITA of file upload and download...I don't think I will ever use a service like that.
 
My Reaper files are organized in song folders, so all the associated files for each song are in that one folder. I drag and drop to 3 separate USB drives for backup. Never had to restore a Reaper song, so no idea if there will be any problems. I also regularly backup my plugin files to the same USB drives - I don't know if stored settings reside in Reaper or in the plugin folders, but either way I'm covered (knock on wood).
I have a 1T drive that has tons of room on it, so I back up to that drive first, then do the 2 500G drives next (usually need to deleted the largest (Reaper and video/photo) files from the previous backup first. WHen I'm done I delete the old backup from the 1T drive.
 
No matter what you decide, be sure you understand how versioning works and retention policies, especially if dealing with 3rd party internet solutions. ‘Unlimited’ space is a marketing ploy for most low dough and ‘free’ internet based storage. It doesn’t guarantee how many versions of your backups you will have at your disposal. This is commonly over looked until someone gets a crypto virus or otherwise loses data before they realize it’s gone or worse, corrupt, only then does the fine print make sense. Personally I trust only me with my data. Some juice-head has a bad day and decides to push the delete all button before he or she tells his or her boss to shove it, I don’t need that kind of liability. I use good old Windows backup and with enough space, it will keep several versions of a backup, a full system image (something the internet based storage won’t be able to help you with with out some computer expertise on your part) and it manages (prunes) the space for me (manages the number of ‘versions’ of a backup I have to choose should the occasion arise). If I’m really paranoid about a specific set of data, I ship it to yet another backup drive, computer or location, those are things each individual must assess for themselves.

I can tell from over 20 years in IT, you can ‘disaster recovery’ yourself into the poor house. So, find what makes you all giddy inside and pull the trigger. Having any kind of back up is a 100 percent better chance right off the bat that you will at least have a fighting chance to recover your data than having none. Always test a restore once in a while as well. Not going to do you any good to have the data and not remember how to restore it.

Just be sure you understand the ‘retention’ policy and versioning policy of a third party or home grown solution.

Best of luck
 
I would hope that your Reaper sessions have all the needed information stored inside one neat folder.
That's how ProTools and some other DAWs work.

If you want to be super safe, and you should, it's easy enough to test.
Copy a session, or a load of sessions, to some other drive then try to open them from the new location.
To 100% rule out references to other local files, you could do this on a different computer.

If the session opens and all is good, then all you really need to do is buy a new big ass drive in a USB caddy and clone your existing drive to it.


I tend to work where my system drive has minimal information on it. Mostly program installs and a few odds and ends.
A second drive has all my sessions and stored things on it.
That second drive just gets cloned to a 1TB USB drive every few months, or when I finish a big job or session.

The TB USB drive lives elsewhere in the house so if there's a break-in, power surge, fire, flood or something else, the chances of losing both together are lower.

I wouldn't be interested in cloud storage either, although I've got nothing in particular against it.
I just like having a hard drive sitting on a shelf, and knowing I can grab it if needed.

Tip : If Reaper session parts are all contained in one folder (and they should be), you can take a zip of that folder before beginning and major changes on a session.
Say the guy comes in and says, "right, I want to overhaul this whole thing; Lose the guitar and piano and we're going to record Djembe instead" and you're like, uh huh??.....
Take a zip first. :)

That way you've always got a another safety net.

I do the same with programming. I might have the current project, and then three or four zips of it which are dated and have some note to indicate the last big change.
That's saved my ass plenty of times.

I know I could use TimeMachine or something else to do that automatically but we're usually talking about a small handful of active sessions or projects. I don't need long-term rolling backups of everything else.
 
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Belay there lubbers! PC numpty about to opine!

I have had two external USB drive fail in 12 years one definitely got dropped, the other ?? So I bought a 2TB NAS drive and put it on copper to my router. Bit slow but back of a chair in another room so not vulnerable.

I too would be wary of a 3rd party 'cloud' but for another reason? AFAIK your UPload speed is about 1/10th the download speed and that is 0.8M for me so putting 20G on a cloud would take how long?

I now also have a 1TB USB 3.0 drive (on the floor!) under the main 'music' computer but since the musician is no longer here its existence is moot! (has got images of everything on it).

Dave.
 
+1 to that. A backup is only useful if it works. :p
I health check my drives periodically - Usually any time I do a big transfer.

I always recommend people get/find/buy a proper drive health-check program. None of this "drive is OK" S.M.A.R.T bullshit; Something with a proper detailed readout and life expectancy.

If you backup the whole shooting match semi-regularly and health check your drives at the same time, you're making it very hard to lose out.

Anyone working a business should really have 2X remote backup of their closed deals. I have a wedding photographer friend who learned that lesson the hard way although, thankfully, I was able to save his ass.
If you want to know what stress feels like, try backing up 2TB of data while the hard drive is clicking!!

Common sense goes a long way too. Treat a portable drive like a 4 grand valve amp.
The number of times I see people moving them, with heavy hand, whilst turned on or immediately after powering down.
Let the thing spin down!
Anyone who ever held a spinning bike wheel by its axle when they were a kid knows what I'm talking about. ;)

The vast majority of failed hard drive replacements that I do are spinning discs in laptops. Join the dots.
 
I'm not s fan of the cloud. I have a couple of 1 terabyte ssd drives. Storage space in todays world is cheap, and it all fits in a box the size of your phone. No one has it but you!
 
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