How often do you back up?

sandra21_2

I did a full set of back up discs when I got my computer for Xmas 2011. Now the pc is going slower, we had a look and there is a disc FULL of backups going back to day 1 !!! I didn't set it up like that, but it is backing itself up.
Can I safely delete any/all of these files ??

Jivesinger

sandra21 wrote: »

I did a full set of back up discs when I got my computer for Xmas 2011. Now the pc is going slower, we had a look and there is a disc FULL of backups going back to day 1 !!! I didn't set it up like that, but it is backing itself up.
Can I safely delete any/all of these files ??

I think it depends. What backup software is creating the backups which you see?

If the backups are incremental (ie each one is just the changes from the last one) then you need them all together to restore a whole disk, because the files you'd need would be spread over lots of them. The incremental approach wouldn't fill a disk so fast though.

martin57

Tsujima wrote: »

I never ever back up; a waste of diskspace! And I have nothing special to back up in the first place ;D

Not the point really, saves hours if you ever have to restore windows and all the other programs that you had installed since you got the computer.

Martin57

Minas_Bryandor

I always use external HDD's to back up my stuff most come with auto back up facilities where you can choose what the drive backs up and when.

Best drive I have bought recently was a Seagate Backup Plus which you can get for £56.05 with a discount code PCWX5.

The drive is one of the few to work with both PC and MAC seemlessly and also the "Back Up Plus" software allows you to back up any photos and stuff that you have uploaded to facebook and other social media sites as well as what you have on your computer hard drive.

1TB equates to about 250,000 MP3's.

If you need more storage the is a 4TB desktop drive which is a bit of a monster for about £122 using the same code but I do not have 1,000,000 mp3's.

bustercollie

I try and backup everyday if I can.

I can recommend Backblaze for automated backups, plus its unlimited space!

kashkarena

There was once I backed up everything to my external hard disk, and then my laptop crashed so i had it repaired. Before I could transfer everything back, my external hard disk crashed! Talk about bad luck. Now I back up everything twice in two diff exteranl hard disks.

JamesK10

Welcome bustercollie and kashkarena Nice to see new members, Happy Easter

It's only when I change OS that I have a very large backup to do, after using a small pack of DVDs the last time round, from Vista to 7 and then just in case I went from 7 to 8 I spent a couple of days actually deleting all the duplicated downloads and ripped music and so that was 10 DVDs and a few CDs just for photos.

I still favour discs just because I've had trojans at least once installing themselves to other drives apart from C: and my AV software didn't detect them until it was too late - so the drives had to be blanked. USB keys are probably faster, I'll admit.

bmewsd

I backup hourly or in realtime as and when i save a document if needs be. Remember, the ONLY unique is your data. everything else is commodity. Cloud backup just works and i use excipere. based in the UK with UK datacentres it's not constrained by the US regulatory bodies (just look at the various transparency reports)

Hard drives have their place but in the scheme of things you ultimately have to place a value (financial OR emotional) on your data. if you lose it, it's gone. if it's backed up (not on the same system, not ideally in the same building) you then have the issue of synchronisation.

Hard drives can and do fail (they have the majority of moving bits in a computer). if your data is online it's typically replicated across datacentres. It's also accessible (try that from your home broadband, yes you can do it, but you're limited to the upload speed.)

hope this helps

bmewsd

kashkarena wrote: »

There was once I backed up everything to my external hard disk, and then my laptop crashed so i had it repaired. Before I could transfer everything back, my external hard disk crashed! Talk about bad luck. Now I back up everything twice in two diff exteranl hard disks.

where are your HD's located? what would you do if you had a fire. try and see if you can locate one elsewhere (it's a start but not the ideal solution).

You're very unlucky with the drive failure but proof positive that it does happen. They don't spin forever. Uploading your stuff to facebook isn't the answer nor is google.

If i can provide any pointers let me know.

good luck with everything.

Mighty_mouse

bmewsd wrote: »

I backup hourly or in realtime as and when i save a document if needs be. Remember, the ONLY unique is your data. everything else is commodity. Cloud backup just works and i use excipere. based in the UK with UK datacentres it's not constrained by the US regulatory bodies (just look at the various transparency reports)

Hard drives have their place but in the scheme of things you ultimately have to place a value (financial OR emotional) on your data. if you lose it, it's gone. if it's backed up (not on the same system, not ideally in the same building) you then have the issue of synchronisation.

Hard drives can and do fail (they have the majority of moving bits in a computer). if your data is online it's typically replicated across datacentres. It's also accessible (try that from your home broadband, yes you can do it, but you're limited to the upload speed.)

hope this helps

Hi all, I'm new here but have just been browsing the techie bit and thought I would share my recent story and upshot. I recently had an issue with backup, or rather a lack of it. My five year old pc decided to do some amazing screen colours changes (not just blue ... but an acid yellowy green and also a grey screen). I've been told the pc is on its last legs and I can expect it to clap out any day now. With that in mind, and the fact that all my data (the usual suspects: half a novel that may or may not ever get finished, thousands of holiday pics and various things I will regret losing if said pc goes battery side up), is backed up on two hard drives called Agatha and Bertie. The names are great but I've also been told that if Bertie or Agatha are connected to my pc, and the pc goes 'kaput', then they could possibly go 'kaput' too. I trawled the net (read as: asked hubby to) looking for somewhere cheap to literally 'backup' my 'backup' and came across this Excipere site that you mentioned. It was cheaper than everywhere else I looked, and so I (read as: hubby) purchased it and now everything is online and there in case pc hits its deathbed. Anyhow, I wanted to share the fact that I had a facebook post from them this morning, and they are offering unlimited backup for £2 for a year, plus some other deals on archiving/sharing. I've recommended it to my friends and family (as that's seriously cheap) and as the deal seems to be for today only, I'm recommending it to those who are interested. I don't normally post on forums (unless it involves food), but I know for a fact, I'd be hacked off and kicking myself where the sun doesn't shine (to say politely), if my stuff was lost forever because I couldn't be bothered to buy backup at a silly price.