I suspect I may be a little over the top with backups

ArthurN

Hi all,
Sorry to drop in with a complicated question.
I wonder if I am a bit OCD about backing up, and whether other people spend too much on backup "solutions"?
I currently have a 3 PC and 5Tb backup package on what used to be called Acronis True Image. I save more or less the entire PC, split into different folders depending on how often I back up some things and I put it on their Cloud, and use their software to store a backup on my external hard drive storage as well. Then my wife and I have Dropbox, seperate accounts each, so that's another couple of hundred pounds a year. 
Then, I often just manually copy folders that seem important as well, to one or other backup drives.
I'm starting to think I need to simplify things!
And cut costs.
I had the 3 PC thing even though we only had 1 PC because it was the only way you could get 5TB but I don't use it all. I'm just about to take delivery of a laptop and then our family PC will become more like my wife's PC so she can concentrate on her Lightroom and Photoshop requirements.
It's mainly her photos I'm so paranoid about losing, because I will of course get the blame if anything ever happens to them ;-)
For many years, I just used SyncBack SE to back up to other hard drives, but I started to get uneasy that I wasn't doing enough to take care of everything. I'm careful with my PCs, not as knowledgable as I like to think I am sometimes, and willing to listen to good advice.
I feel as though I should get back to basics. But then what happens to all my backups I've left all over the place?
I'm sure computers were for making life easier!
Thank you for reading.
N

Neil_Jones

If something is important to you back it up, back it up and back it up again.

The more backups you do the less likely you will lose something.

Unfortunately most people learn about backups when its too late.  They drag a computer on its last legs into a computer repair shop, the hard drive has bad sectors that multiply like rabbits, none of the data is backed up and the stuff they care about is the photos of Uncle Fred who died six years ago from dementais, they were sent across by their nephew Brian who was himself run over by a bus two years previously, nobody else has a copy of the the photos, can't afford to lose them... there are no other copies...  Usually the next thing that gets sold is an external hard drive on top of the cost to replace the hard drive and get it back up and running.

ArthurN

I quite agree. That's what I've been trying to avoid. It's just a nagging feeling it's getting a little obsessive :-)

But thanks for your input.

N

GDB2222

You are spending £100s a year on Dropbox?

ArthurN

GDB2222 said:

You are spending £100s a year on Dropbox?

Technically and exactly, not quite. It's payable in dollars so I tend to round up to £100 each. It's actually between about £85 to £95, the last times I remember paying.

We've used them a long time, but are we using them cost effectively? Probably not :-)

N

googler

How much actual data have you got on this PC that needs to be backed up?

Username03725

As you've asked the question the answer is probably Yes you are overdoing it.

Backups are vital, but only for stuff that you can't replace so installer packages probably not, nor the OS, nor the updates etc data. Personally I find it easier to set the standard Documents, Images, Music & Desktop folders to a different drive (mine is E: fwiw) and then just back all that up, to another internal drive, a NAS and a USB that I connect up as & when. The USB normally lives elsewhere, in case the house burns down etc.

 A program called WinMerge makes it easy to repeat backups and highlight differences so once it's set up it's easy. I also save Browser bookmarks from time to time, and use LastPass to maintain easy access.

If the whole PC dies it's not the end of the world, and any excuse to reinstall Windows is welcome so I don't worry about that. It's the photos, docs & music rips & downloads that I don't want to lose.

Your approach does sound a tad overboard tbh. But you did ask.

ArthurN

googler said:

How much actual data have you got on this PC that needs to be backed up?

Probably between 1 and 2 Tb, so as the wife's photo collection is expanding (an FX DSLR so the photos are BIG!) I think it's growing quite a bit quicker than it should because she doesn't delete much :-)  
I'm just having a moan today about it, but there probably isn't much that we can comfortably reduce. Perhaps Dropbox could go if we learned how to access Acronis when away from home. Plus, I think I will be adding Microsoft 365 Family to the collection soon, and that has 1 Tb for each user so probably no need for Dropbox then.
I guess I'm answering my own questions as people as them, which is really useful to consolidate my thoughts.
So thank you everyone :-)  
N

Avoirdupois

I've just reviewed my data security needs and as a private (non business) user, I concluded that between the free versions of EverNote, DropBox and iCloud, I had more than enough capacity for backing up all the stuff I care about.  Waaaay more than enough.  In addition, the two household Apple computers, one MacBook and one Mac mini, back up daily to a Time Capsule...  just to be extra safe, my iTunes library goes onto a portable external usb drive and comes with me when I'm out.

ArthurN

Username03725 said:

As you've asked the question the answer is probably Yes you are overdoing it.

Backups are vital, but only for stuff that you can't replace so installer packages probably not, nor the OS, nor the updates etc data. Personally I find it easier to set the standard Documents, Images, Music & Desktop folders to a different drive (mine is E: fwiw) and then just back all that up, to another internal drive, a NAS and a USB that I connect up as & when. The USB normally lives elsewhere, in case the house burns down etc.

 A program called WinMerge makes it easy to repeat backups and highlight differences so once it's set up it's easy. I also save Browser bookmarks from time to time, and use LastPass to maintain easy access.

If the whole PC dies it's not the end of the world, and any excuse to reinstall Windows is welcome so I don't worry about that. It's the photos, docs & music rips & downloads that I don't want to lose.

Your approach does sound a tad overboard tbh. But you did ask.

Yep, I asked! 
Food for thought actually. I'm familiar with WinMerge, a good little program, although I'd never thought of using it to compare backups. Clever.
The off-site aspect of backing up was very important to me, far too many people would be stuffed if the house did burn down, however sad it is to think about. Making things easy was important to me as well.
As for reinstalling Windows often, yep, with you. However, as I once lost a bit of stuff while doing a reinstall, my wife has banned me from doing it; she doesn't understand the benefits, and only sees the potential drawbacks. 
I need a little think, but getting to see the problem written down and having a few people laugh, it actually does help so cheers!
N

ArthurN

Avoirdupois said:

I've just reviewed my data security needs and as a private (non business) user, I concluded that between the free versions of EverNote, DropBox and iCloud, I had more than enough capacity for backing up all the stuff I care about.  Waaaay more than enough.  In addition, the two household Apple computers, one MacBook and one Mac mini, back up daily to a Time Capsule...  just to be extra safe, my iTunes library goes onto a portable external usb drive and comes with me when I'm out.

Sounds a pretty good and safe set up to me :-)
The days when the free services provided enough capacity for me are long gone though. It's videos, photos, and music that's the bulk of my data, and of course, you can't replace the photos and videos.
Although my wife and I like to think we need away-from-home access to our stuff, we probably don't or if we do, not much of it!
A rethink is needed.
N