Back up routine - what do you do?

Armistice

Armistice

Son of Yoda
So being relatively new to a PC-based system, I'm wondering exactly how others approach this...

Firstly, my PC has a 128 SSD and 1 TB spinny data drive. It can't be RAIDed.. don't go there... :)

I figure there are two things I need to cover:

1. 'Puter blows up! (encompassing any manner of problems but assuming a dead data drive is one of them..)
So I'm doing a weekly complete Windows back up on the whole system and all files on external hard drive #1.

1A. 'Puter blows up some time since last Windows back up and I've made changes to songs since!
On external hard drive #2 I keep a copy of every project file from my data drive. At the end of each session I just copy the project folder for whatever I've been working on over the old version on this drive.

2. 'Puter gets stolen!
No prob... buy new 'puter and restore from backup drives.

2. 'Puter and all external back up drives get stolen!
On external hard drive #3 I do a weekly Windows back up AND copy of every project file from data drive and store it here at work. So if this does happen I'll only lose what I've done since the last time I did this full back up.

Obviously I should store external hard drives #1 & #2 somewhere where potential thieves won't find them, but it would be silly to assume I can succeed at this. Plus #3 gives me some redundancy in case #1 or #2 die.

Am I overdoing it / underdoing it? Anything else you'd suggest?

Cheers
 
Easier to tell you what I do:

I have a PC and a hard disc recorder so the back up is a bit different.

Hard disc recorder, Each client has a separate drive (unless they are demos which share drives) the drives are all rack out in caddies. There is also a larger drive in a caddy that is a back up drive for all projects. As we record every time we have something we want to keep I back up a copy of the project from the clients separate drive to the common back up drive. At the end of the day I take the back up drive home with me. When the project is finally finished I used to burn a DVD(s) of all the files and keep them safe, however I have recently started saving the projects to USB sticks. Only real projects not the demo stuff.

PC, My PC has a software drive and 2 file drives, everything worked on is saved to both drives every save in the project, at some point soon I am installing a networked NAS box with 4 drives in it which will be hidden in the building and will have all backups on it. I also at the end of the day save everything I have worked on to an external drive which I take home. At the end of the project the files are saved to the same DVD(s) or USB sticks as the hard disk recorder files.

I also have a clone drive of the software drive so that if the computer crashes I can swap the drive and be up and running in 10 mins.

You may have gathered that I do not trust computers.

Cheers

Alan.
 
I have one complete backup of my system in a state that I know is stable, duplicated onto two separate drives.

Beyond that, I simply back up each individual project on two drives (which like Alan I sort by client) and keep a spreadsheet of which projects are on which drives.
That way I can rebuild the edit machine should I need to, and can easily access any project quickly to send to a client or run of new masters for etc. etc.

I figure if someone comes in and steals everything in the studio including computers and hard drive - I'm buggered anyway.
I can't really have on-site hidden storage like Alan because of the sheer volume of data that it would need a fairly chunky server.
Offsite backing up might be a good idea but it's pretty costly and time consuming.

Andrew
 
Move to a fortress? ;)
I don't backup anywhere near enough. Besides to an external drive, I burn project files to DVD-R. Time consuming, but the best 'secondary backup' I can do.
 
Armistice said:
Am I overdoing it / underdoing it?
Click to expand...

You are definitely not overdoing it. Unless you don't mind losing all your stuff in case of a disaster. IT guys have a saying: "Data doesn't exist unless it resides in three places." And your suggestion to store one drive off-site is right on. I have five backup drives, which I rotate. So today I'll back up to Drive 1, then tomorrow to Drive 2, and so forth. I also have two additional drives off-site with different friends. I've used computers since the Apple ][ and with this strategy I have never once lost anything.

--Ethan
 
TechGeek experts at work also add the third which is Online Storage. One mentioned was Crash Plan...$$$22 a month or so.

There was a guy on craigslist offering $5000 Reward for his stolen business computer back, no questions asked after it was stolen. He siad his biz was *&^ed if he doesnt get it back.
As some read my post, sons hardrive crashed - no backup- 4.5 yrs gone in a second. pictures, music, beats, videos, vacations, gig's...sucked.
 
I live in hurricane-prone Florida, so we take backups a bit serious.

If you can trust an online backup service, fine. Just remember that online companies go out all the time, so dont make it your only backup.

USB drive is the easiest. Get a waterproof/fireproof safe or go down to your bank and get a safety deposit box (they're not expensive).

CLONE your machine. This will get you back to a known working state with everything installed.
Clonezilla is easy and free and works on everything.

Take your really important installers and put them on a cd/dvd WITH a folder of your serial numbers in plain text files!
(especially all those programs you bought on the web)

If it's reallly really really important, burn your stuff to dvd and send it to your parents or grandparents out of town and ask them to put it in their safe or bankbox. You want distance between you and the copy. ....they'll want a copy of your photos anyway...

>>The more copies you have spread around the less likely that you'll lose all your stuff. <<
 
My SOP....

DAWs have multiple audio drives.
They are separated into two partitions (or you can do individual whole drives) as Work 1, Backup 1, Work 2, Backup 2...etc.
If a Work drive dies, the Backup is there. I make sure to copy new files over to the Backup after every session.

I have two smaller/portable USB drives for current session backups, and one of the HDs is with me when I leave the premises. That way, if a meteor hits the studio and wipes out everything....I still have my current audio work with me.

I also keep an external multi-drive mini-tower setup for extended/larger capacity "semi-archiving". I keep all my work file copies there. This is just an extra backup.

After completing a song project, I burn all files to a DVD(s), for more long term archiving. Been considering dropping some DVD copies into a safe-deposit box for absolutely anal redundancy....but haven't taken that step yet.

AFA the DAW system, I create an image after all major installations, and keep those image files in case of complete system failure, plus I also keep a already-imaged system HD ready to pop-in if it's just a system HD failure and not a total meltdown.

Yes, it seems a bit over-kill, but I've been in the IT world long enough to see grown men brought to panic-n-tears over system/HD crashes and complete data loss....so, I kinda got the whole backup/backup/backup mentality a long time ago.
 
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