The importance of backing up

[Downside Studio]

last week, worst case scenario in our studio...complete crash of the recording computer. We had a raid function for backup but because it was not a faulthy disk, but a faulty write action both disks were corrupted.

those drives contained multitrack files from all our open projects (even one that after 4,5 years is still not finished)

luckily we managed to get most of our recordings back with data rescue programs.

So just for those of you who are saying..well the chance of that happening is so small, i take the risk.....IT DOES HAPPEN!

Now we are backing up every night to several external disks.

 

[chessrock]

I looked up the word "importancy" in the dictionary, and there's actually a word for it, so you're off the hook.

Am I wrong in assuming one can use the words "importancy" and "importance" interchangeably? Fascinating.

 

[Downside Studio]

Being a dutch engineer who did a 14 hour session today, coming home and smoking a dutch 'cigarette' while trying to type english, yeah i can.
But it should have been importance.

btw, what does it mean?

 

[Pinachi]

Heh,thats nothing

I tried to format my HD and had both back up hard drive and original hard drive in my computer,so i accidently eraced all my back up hard drive



Its ok start fresh

 

[zed32]

yikes. i can't say that i've ever backed up any of my projects....
maybe it's time for me to start. how do you back em up? just save all the files to a CD-R or something?

 

[Autist]

yikes. i can't say that i've ever backed up any of my projects....
maybe it's time for me to start. how do you back em up? just save all the files to a CD-R or something?

NO NO NO NO

Most CD-Rs go bad after a while. I have some that went bad after only a few years. Something happens to the dye in them over time and they become unreadable. Some last longer than others. If you did use CD-R media to backup on then get something like UltraDisc (24K gold), but at $50.00 for 25 of them backing up could get expensive. You would also have to have some kind of filing system for the large quanities of CDs you would collect over time.

My advice: get a high capacity second hard drive (IDE, Firewire, USB, etc...) and just copy and paste everything over to that. There are also some good backup programs (Norton makes one) that I have heard work real well. You can use a compression program to reduce the size of all of your project files as well.

 

[Simman]

NO NO NO NO

Most CD-Rs go bad after a while. I have some that went bad after only a few years. Something happens to the dye in them over time and they become unreadable. Some last longer than others. If you did use CD-R media to backup on then get something like UltraDisc (24K gold), but at $50.00 for 25 of them backing up could get expensive. You would also have to have some kind of filing system for the large quanities of CDs you would collect over time.

My advice: get a high capacity second hard drive (IDE, Firewire, USB, etc...) and just copy and paste everything over to that. There are also some good backup programs (Norton makes one) that I have heard work real well. You can use a compression program to reduce the size of all of your project files as well.

Read about the dye used to make CD-Rs here http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_dye.shtml

"Lately cyanine formula has been altered which results in a much higher life span (20 to 50 years). The gold reflection layer has also been replaced by a silver reflection layer this make the color of the bottom appear blue."

I don't know about you but, in 50yrs....I'll be dead

 

[gullfo]

backup to several locations:

- a removable hard disk (current and older projects you might need access to later...)
- a DVD or CDROM (generally "completed" projects...)
- and an external disk (general backup... i keep one local and swap it every other month with another one kept "offsite" (mom's house...) - this way if my house burns I only lose the past 2 months of work instead of 10 years...) sync the external drives then do backup... eventually the external will get full and i'll get another pair...

A: yes, i work in the I.T. field and have seen what happens when you lose or corrupt data so i tend to be paranoid and keep backups in multiple places... with the cost of disk storage so low nowadays, use as many disks as you can on different machines and different locations... if i could afford it, i'd use one of the internet based "vital records" companies to store copies as well - basically stream your info to their site where they store it in bunkers on heavy redundant systems...