USB Hardrive and Backups

CoolCat

CoolCat

Well-known member
I got a win 7 32bit pc, new Touro 500gig portable usb HDrive, and did the Windows Backup thing for the first time. (much nicer than CD-rs) The process took a long time, not sure how long totally, as I left and came back the next day.

Anyway, the question is "does this standard Windows Backup process cover backing up all my Reaper work too?"

If "yes"
I want to learn how to implement the auto-backup plan the best way?

Windows shows my backup plan at 100gig with 33gig system image, on every 3rd day. Im hoping this rewrites over itself each time... and not taking 100gig each backup, or requiring me to delete old backups.

Any inputs are welcome?
 

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I distrust any Windows utilities! I manually drag everything to the USB drive. When I used a backup utility before it took over 14 hours, and I couldn't access anything in the backup file - it was some kind of 'image' file, could not do anything with it.
 
#1 always make a 'clone' of your boot drive so if it horks you can get working again with all your programs, tweaks and settings intact.
The free Clonezilla is excellent for this.

As for backing up my Reaper projects I have them all organized in project folders (if you don't you SHOULD)
and the best tool is the free one provided by the Reaper guys themselves: PathSync
It allows you to sync folders between drives and set up scripts you can automate or fire off manually.

Finally, even with a usb drive, ALWAYS take your vst plugin folder, and all your license files (like the Reaper license you were sent when you bought it)
and burn a 10-cent DVD. This will really save you down the road....
 
thanks for the great info.

so neither respones use the windows backup method... alrighty then..:thumbs up:
 
I do the Windows backup and manual file drag as well, to separate USB hard drives, and then do both onto a third USB hard drive that I keep at work and bring home Friday night.

And investing in a USB3 drive saves hours. Admittedly I don't have much on my PC yet, but the complete system back up takes only about 15 minutes or so... whereas on my laptop (which, truth be told, is much fuller...) it's about 8 hours
 
I didnt know there were so many ways to do this back-up procedure..

I was reading the Clonezilla and it looks like its faster than Windows Standard Backup, and uses less space, and free.

Armistice...15minutes form 8hrs...is noticeable..wow!...I didnt know it took so long, I know my Windows back up was so long I left and came back the next day.

I did some Reaper Drag and Drops per the Reaper gang, and the problem is I dont know what Im doing so confirming it was a good backup is unknown...

as some read my sons pc got hit with a hardrive crash etc...and no backup, so all pics and music for 4yrs was gone. the Data Repair guys want $1200 or so, in average.
I kept the drives until this repair recovery service industry gets cheaper.(hopefully gets cheaper). A guy said he invested $10,000 in his recovery equipment and charges abotu $3500 a HD and its almost always businesses. It takes a long time and reads slowly..idk..

so yeah Im gunshy now about the hardrives making that grinding noise. Took one apart and the bearings and all that make sense they will fail eventually, spinning at 7200rpm for years...and the little arm and all that going on.

so this BackUp procedure is a forced maintenance. Luckily I only have 3qty pc's to keep up with.
 
gecko zzed said:
Since I had a disaster with my USB hard drive a while back, I have put in a NAS backup system.
Click to expand...


what happened to the USB HD?

The data recovery guy said when the HD gets bumped or dropped while spinning its almost always the worst scenario.
Dropped and damaged while not spinning he said is lesser and often data can be recovered with more optimism.
if its just the board or some mechanical "stuck" arm sometimes they can get it going long enough to get the data off.

But my USB HD is handled gently, but like you mention sitting externally leaves more chances to be damaged or accidents to happen....makes me want to cough up the dough for a Cloud Backup again....I go around in circles.
 
The hard drive in my old HP started making noises about 30 days after the warranty expired. That's when I started backing up stuff more often. It lasted 4 more years before giving up the ghost. I assume that's what died - I threw a new power supply in, just to check, because I had one lying around, and it powered up briefly (I was able to grab some of the recent stuff I hadn't backed up), before it failed again. At least I had ALL my music files backed up, just lost some photos. :rolleyes:
 
CoolCat said:
what happened to the USB HD?

The data recovery guy said when the HD gets bumped or dropped while spinning its almost always the worst scenario.
Dropped and damaged while not spinning he said is lesser and often data can be recovered with more optimism.
if its just the board or some mechanical "stuck" arm sometimes they can get it going long enough to get the data off.

But my USB HD is handled gently, but like you mention sitting externally leaves more chances to be damaged or accidents to happen....makes me want to cough up the dough for a Cloud Backup again....I go around in circles.
Click to expand...

The 'worst scenario' is what happened. It was knocked off the desk while doing its thing. Nearly a full terrabyte of work vanished.

Fortunately, my son was able to recover most of the data.

But I realised that I had been leaving myself very exposed, having no back-up system. Now I have a NAS, and my main data hard drive sits on the floor behind my desk, well out of harm's way.
 
I back all my stuff up on separate external drives and DVD's. Never used a Back Up Utility. The only thing I'd lose is my operating system and that can be replaced. I've lost a lot of stuff before and learned the hard way.
 
Just remember the aim of backing up is to cover all contingencies. Crashing hardware is just one thing that can happen. Theft and/or total destruction is another, which is the reason I keep an offsite back up.
 
Heres the short version of the last post..
( "HomeRecording Aborted post due to TimeOut and being kicked off the site.....thats getting really old to have to log in every frkn 5 minutes..)

Am I capturing all the Reaper info if I do this manually?

1. CDrive > Program Files> REAPER (lame_enc, license, install..etc..)
2. CDrive> Libraries> REAPER MEDIA (has a bunch of files with the reaper icon and others)
3. CDrive > Libraries> My Reaper Save folder (a bunch of wave files and peak files..I assume tracks?)

all the other standard MP3 and Waves music audio I get , no problem there. Just the REAPER is my concern, that I'm copying all the needed folders to the USB Portable Backup HardDrive.

thanks for the inputs...

Tim, I tried Clonezilla and for my novice exp, it was really confusing and was downloading a bunch of games and 7 ZIP and I aborted it, and never did get the Clonezilla Live to load? I dont think.

I think for my small amount of folders, Manual Drag and Drop will work.
 
well, I bit it, and bought a new pc tower only,

the USB hard drive backup (ran via Windows Backup), seemed to have worked kind of; the pictures and documents aren't there, or are hidden deeply. idk? I cant find any pictures or any documents.

This purchase is forced due to the old pc becoming too old to put more money in it.

the new one is a standard Windows 8 x64, and so far no issues.

+ Line 6 stuff loaded up flawlessly and monitoring and audio playbacks seem fine, the Audio tracks off the USB backup are fine.

Reaper will be downloaded as x64 version and have read some articles on this, and then will see how this goes, I don't expect it to be smooth....more likely painful with uploading the projects with effects. Hopefully Im wrong again.

EDIT>
From Reaper Site-
32 bit? 64 bit?

Most users will likely want to download a 32-bit version of REAPER. All versions of REAPER have a full-resolution 64-bit internal audio signal path from end to end, on all operating systems.
Your decision of which installer to download depends primarily on the plug-ins you wish to use with REAPER and your operating system, and not on any audio quality considerations.

I think I'll download the 32 bit version. And see if I can retrieve this Backed-Up REAPER data.....
 
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If you can't find your photo and document file,s it may be tha the backup software you used did the same thing as what I had used - created an 'image' file. I don't know if the original software used (you would have to install it on your new computer obviously) will open it up for you - I never had any luck.
 
my back up has been a joke kind of...

with the new pc I wound up reloading the Line6UX2 and it was great...but the backup wasnt used.

then the Reaper, I re-loaded a new version from ReapersCokos site and it downloaded great.

then I started recording and lost track of all this backup stuff while I actually had fun.

the Reaper files from the Backup seem to be difficult to bring into the new pc from my USB HD.

the infamous Lame.dll thing is still as difficult as it was when I started Reaper in 2009 or 2010....it doesnt work well.

so like djaa vu I did the Audacity thing and it required Lame too, but somehow Audacity has a very fast easy method, becuase it worked with Lame the first try and it took seconds.

I know its me thats the Novice... but this backup stuff is still elusive to me.
Ive saved pictures and music to jump drives etc...

but the Windows Backup utility thing seems to have been a waste of time, as I eneded up reloading everything ...

reconnecting the Reaper files will probably take some time too, if it happens. Maybe its the 32bit back into a 64bit windows thats the issue?

anyway... thanks for the inputs. Anyone used DRIVEIMAGE...supposedly free and makes a mirror of the whole pc drive?
 
Got REAPER Lame to work.

Used old notes from Geckozzed thanks again!

even though this is a Win864bit...my Reaper was loaded 32bit. So my Lame I had downloaded the 64 version, Lame-enc64.dll didn't work.
deleted and downloaded the Lame-enc.dll and it worked by
1. Download
2. Cut and Paste it to the Reaper Folder on my drive C (which by the way is C>Program Filesx86>Reaper

cool..
 
I learned the hard way! Call up a mix on the new computer and you get error messages about not being able to find the plug-in. :facepalm:
 
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