You know that you hard drive will die some day and all the data on it will be lost. Maybe you loose your data by mistake, a system crash or virus? But day X is coming and you should be prepared!
This is a LONG rant - so skip this if you are not interested.
The most important part of the backup system: you
Before I even continue I want to talk about the most important factor: you! Most backups can be automated more or less. But at some point you need to do something - and if you are a lazy ass person who forgets ‘flipping the switch’ then you deserve loosing your data. If you don’t care you won’t have any backups.
The three Elements of Backup
To find out the right kind of backup strategy we have to look at the following aspects of the Art of Backup. These are: your data, schedule and backup media.
Your data
It is a big difference to make a backup for a busy graphic artist who creates tons of data each day and someone who maybe reads his emails once a week. If you are a heavy user you create loads of data, like word files, bookmarks and emails. Maybe you are simply a heavy downloader and want to save all your big movie files and your splendid MP3 collection? So the amount of data and how much new data you create is important. The more data you have - the more often you need to make backup.
Just to give a feeling for size of your data:
10x Word Documents (without images) are under 1 MByte.
10x Photos from a consumer grade digital camera are between 15 and 35 MByte.
1x CD / Album ripped as high quality MP3 is around 150 to 350 MByte
1x Movie from the internet is usually around 700 to 1400 MByte (or 0,7 to 1,5 Gigabyte)
If you just do office work (writing mails, doing spreadsheets and maybe simple presentations) your amount of data is usually way under 1 Gigabyte per day - which means it can be done quickly and with a small backup media. If you are a heavy downloader, graphic artist or into video or photography you easily break the 1 Gigabyte barrier.
Schedule
What’s the point of a backup if you last one is a month old and all your recent stuff isn’t on it? So a smart schedule for making backups is essential. If you use your computer for work (at home) then a daily backup is the way to go. If you are just a casual user then once a week should be enough for you.
Heavy user: daily backup
Casual user: at least once a week
Most backup or synchronization programs allow you to run automated backups - so you don’t have to sit around a watch that boring process. BUT depending on your backup medium it might no be possible to run it fully automatic, because you have to connect your backup hard drive or insert a rewritable DVD.
Backup Media
Since we talk here about backups for mere mortals we won’t go into professional IT solutions like backup tapes or network storage devices. We want something simple and reliable. Let’s look at some consumer level solutions.
Burning your backup on CDs/DVDs?
Bad idea. First of all: CDs don’t last very long, are easily damaged, scratched or broken. Most of all you quickly loose track on which DVD which data ‘lives’. A DVD backup collection can grow pretty quickly and you end up with loads of discs you don’t know what’s on there and if you can throw them away.
DVDs are a great SECONDARY backup medium. You should always have THREE copies of important data: the original on your desktop / notebook, your normal backup and your secondary backup.
Saving your data to an online backup provider?
Nope. Usually when your computer decides to die you can get the data - because you need a computer to get online. You want your data locally, where you have easy access WITHOUT any passwords, WITHOUT any special programs and WITHOUT the need for Internet access. Online backup make only sense if you have a very fast Internet connection and only a small amount of data to send to the far away server. With a normal consumer DSL connection (the upstream is usually MUCH slower than the downloads) it can take DAYS to make the first backup run. Not good.
Using a USB-Stick to save your data?
This only works if you have very little data. To make a complete backup of your MP3 collection or photos an USB stick (with a normal capacity of 1 to 4 Gigabytes) is usually to small. And the really big ones (like 8 to 32 Gigabytes) are very expensive and not very fast.
Getting an external hard drive?
Bingo! We have a winner. The best backup medium for mere mortals is an external hard drive. Usually one with USB2 for speed. These drives are reliable, offer some decent speed and most of all SPACE to save ALL your precious data. And they offer the most gigabytes for your money.
Buying the right external hard drive
First check the size of your internal hard drive and check how much capacity you use. Most people have 100 to 400 Gigabyte drives in their desktop computers, while notebooks usually have smaller drives ranging from 40 to 120 Gigabytes. But not the maximum capacity of your drive is important - but how much you really use it.
If you are a normal user, you should buy an external drive with at least twice the size of your current data usage.
I personally recommend buying a small 2,5″ USB hard drive - like the Western Digital Passport series pictured above. They are available in many sizes from 60 to 320 Gigabytes, very small, almost silent, they don’t need an extra power supply (less cables) and are VERY portable. Ideal for notebook and business users. Their price is around 100 to 200 Euros - a bit more expensive than bigger 3,5″ drives, but also more convenient.
Since the smaller drives are usually a bit slower the first backup can take some time (like over an hour).
If you are a heavy user, you want to buy a hard drive with some wiggle room and some extra space to move non-essential data (like all your pirated LOST episodes) off your computer. So you should buy a drive at least three times as big as your current data usage.
If you need a bigger drive (more than 400 Gigabyte) you need to buy a 3,5″ external hard drive. These need an extra power supply which is usually included. They are also louder, but faster than the smaller 2,5″ drives I just recommended. Most of all they are available with HUGE data capacity like 500 Gigabytes or even 1500 Gigabyte (1,5 Terrabyte). Prices range from 90 to 300 Euros for the really big ones. If you really have a LOT of data to save each day, please check if your computer maybe has a Firewire or SATA port for FAST transfer. So your backup is done quickly.
Once again I recommend a Western Digital product - the My Book series, but there are many similar products out there. I can recommend them, because I am using them myself and I have bought over 50 for clients and friends.
Using external hard drives
Pretty easy: unpack, put the power plug in and connect the drive to your computer. A few seconds later the new drive should be available to save your backup onto it.
Backup software - mirroring your data versus backup archives
The classic idea of backup software is to constantly save your data onto a backup medium. The result is an ever growing backup archive on some external media. Sounds cool, sounds smart, but is rubbish for most users.
This IT department approach is smart when you have an almost unlimited backup capacity on an expensive tape drive and you want to save and keep all versions of your document. Yep, the problem with the continues backup strategy is that your data archives includes all old versions of every file you ever created or lived on your hard drive.
Another problem with archive solutions is that they create special archive files - that can’t be used without the backup program itself. So if your computer dies you need to have that program handy / installed to get to your files. The backup archive also creates another headache. If the big backup archive file itself gets damaged - all your backups in it are lost.
The mirror / synching approach is simpler, more convenient - but less safe. Instead of creating an ever growing backup archive you simply copy all your data to your external drive. The big advantage is that you have the exact folder and directory structure on your mirror copy - and you find and access your files without an extra program on the external hard drive. Easier to understand and easier to handle for most people.
WARNING 1: If you really need to save and keep OLD VERSIONS of files you should go for a more professional solution than a simple mirroring of your files.
Warning 2: Mirroring your data or your whole hard drive will not allow you to restore a system after a crash (but your data is at least mirrored). But most backup solutions fail here too, because a system restore is more than just copying back your documents, programs and system files - because a lot of software needs to be properly installed and integrated into the system. If your system seriously fucks up it makes more sense to make a so called clean install (especially for windows users).
Free and good synching software
SyncBackSE is a free and excellent piece of software to sync your data to an external hard drive. It offers and easy and an expert mode - with more options normal users ever need - so stay in ‘easy’.
All you need to do is to tell SyncBackSE which source folder you want to copy to your external drive. You can even set an automatic schedule for the sync (but don’t forget to connect the external drive).
The first time you sync your data it will take some time. But later SyncBackSE will only copy the files that are new or changed, which is much less than a complete copy of your drive.
For Windows users: make a complete copy of your ‘Documents and Settings folder’ - this will make sure that you also mirror documents and settings NOT found on your usual ‘My Documents’ folders. Some programs like Firefox and Outlook (Express) save your bookmarks and mails in these system folders instead of ‘My Documents’.
Simply create a new ‘Documents and Settings folder’ on your external drive and tell SyncBackSE to mirror your original / local ‘Documents and Settings folder’ to your external drive. That’s all.
If you are smart you run an automated backup every night - so you have a copy of your data.
Final words
Real IT pros might find my synching suggestions a bit crude and unsafe, but in my experience this simple method with a small external drive and a program like SyncBachSE is much easier to use and understand for mere mortals. What’s the point of a backup solution if the user doesn’t understand how it works and can’t find / restore files he wants to restore.
Keep it simple - and keep it regular.
