'Backed up your mobile/PC data? It's useless unless…' blog discussion

BobbinAlong

As a professional database administrator I'm responsible for a goodly number of database servers at work. Database backups are copied to another server in another location as soon as they are taken and then both copies are copied to tape overnight.

More importantly backups are regularly restored to test systems and used to test the application software and any changes. I'm noted for being fussy about backups - usually by those who don't realise how much grief they'd get if the database was down.

As my favourite professional website says - they're not backups they're restores, as one's no good without the other.

At home I back up onto memory sticks and DVDs and also use BT digital vault and as I do a couple of web sites they are also backed up by the hosting company as well as by me.

Copied DVDs or sticks can be kept offsite in the locked office drawer. It's not rocket science, just common sense.

crittertog

Agree with what BobbinAlong said (same job as them, and same approach, actually!)

For my home PC, I back-up to a mirrored pair of hard disks (hardware RAID-1) in an external hard disk enclosure, using SyncToy or an equivalent to give a straightforward copy of the file system. This means I don't get versioning provided by some/most backup solutions (although Windows Shadow Copies can do this), but it's very easy to find and restore files (and can also easily be used to copy files to another PC). Strictly speaking I should have an off-site copy, but I have multiple terrabytes of data, and the local broadband is too slow to do this (and I don't want to go to the expense of buying another set of disks and juggling them round to friends'/relatives' houses).

The above is on top of the post-install image of Windows ...