How would you set up a decent backup setup?

JustAnotherSaver

forgotmyname said:

Be careful where you store and possibly more so transferring backup files.  Used Windows backup and Acronis and others and transferred the backup
files onto newer media, although it scans as healthy some data did get corrupted. Luckily I have several backups with those files on but something
to think about.

Got bored of building backup systems and just bought a Synology now.  It just works.  Only issue these days is the size of the drives required and
how do you back large amounts of data without spending a fortune on drives?

Maybe its just me but I never delete anything.  Probably got images of windows 95 backups somewhere, I know there are several Win98 ones but
VM's are struggling running that older stuff now.

This is obviously a concern.

I remember backing up my iPhone years ago and came to then restore from that backup.

The backup was corrupt so it was a total problem.

Because of that I would then backup 3 times so each of the 3 backups were totally 'fresh' but at that point it was too late.

So it's a concern to backup a drive or a number of drives and then say backup in location #2 the backup that is stored in location #1 but #2 is basically copying a corrupt backup.

And I then don't find out until it's too late.

Jenni_D

IvanOpinion said:

I used to use MS SyncToy for just that, but it is no longer available.

FYI you can still get SyncToy2.1 (the last version) from other sources, like Cnet or Majorgeeks ... just not direct from MS.

I'm still using SyncToy, even on Windows 11.  

virgo17

victor2 said:

I used to use Cobian Backup. It's free but hasn't been updated since 2012, although you can still get it and documentation for it. As far as I remember it copies files either as they are or compresses them into a zip file.

I stopped using it in favour of Macrium because I had problems with scheduling it to wake up my PC in the night and run the backup to a NAS drive.

Sounds like it might meet your needs though, as you would only run it on demand.

Cobian Backup has been superseded by Cobian Reflector which is current and regularly updated. I have it scheduled to run every day. It has VSC (volume shadow copy) which means it will backup locked or active files)

https://www.cobiansoft.com/cobianbackup.html

[Deleted User]

Jenni_D said:

IvanOpinion said:

I used to use MS SyncToy for just that, but it is no longer available.

FYI you can still get SyncToy2.1 (the last version) from other sources, like Cnet or Majorgeeks ... just not direct from MS.

I'm still using SyncToy, even on Windows 11.  

Just want to remind people that a "sync" is not a backup for a variety of reasons.

Corrupt files get sync to both for example.

If ransomware mangles all you files then the sync copy gets mangled too.

Never rely on sync for backup please!

IvanOpinion

Deleted_User said:

Jenni_D said:

IvanOpinion said:

I used to use MS SyncToy for just that, but it is no longer available.

FYI you can still get SyncToy2.1 (the last version) from other sources, like Cnet or Majorgeeks ... just not direct from MS.

I'm still using SyncToy, even on Windows 11.  

Just want to remind people that a "sync" is not a backup for a variety of reasons.

Corrupt files get sync to both for example.

If ransomware mangles all you files then the sync copy gets mangled too.

Never rely on sync for backup please!

Agree and disagree.  If you only have local copies then backup may be better for you. I have come across many corrupt and unrecoverable backups in my time. The problem is that you only truly find out they are corrupt when you try to restore (despite various integrity checking utilities). In some instances the problem is people trying to do a restore for the first time (an unfamiliar operation) and end up destroying their backups.

I sync to a cloud service that has its own protection mechanisms (on top of mine) but also allows me to roll back all, or some, of my files to any point of time within the last 6 months so, arguably, backups might well offer less protection against ransomware attacks (unless you are chewing up your own diskspace with multiple copies).  

So, while backups may be the best answer in many scenarios, syncing and disk imaging are other perfectly valid strategies (for home users). In fact syncing to cloud storage may even be the better solution for many home users (albeit that it should never be the only backup).

JustAnotherSaver

Problem with cloud storage is everyone wants money being drip fed from you these days. Everything is moving the way of subscription based services & I absolutely hate that and will avoid it wherever possible.

Some things are obvious & they get a pass. Council tax, TV & broadband, mobile phone bill etc etc. These are 'supposed' to be monthly in my eyes or at least an ongoing payment.

But all this other stuff. Subscription to software. No I just want to buy the software. If you give me a 1 time fee and I agree with it then I'll pay for it but if it's ongoing then unless I ABSOLUTELY NEED it I'll be inclined to look for cheaper or free alternatives, even if they may require more legwork.

victor2

JustAnotherSaver said:

Problem with cloud storage is everyone wants money being drip fed from you these days. Everything is moving the way of subscription based services & I absolutely hate that and will avoid it wherever possible.

...

I used the free Google Drive (15GB) with two accounts for a number of years, but was hitting the limit and whilst I could have created a third free one, the thought of recovering from a major local data loss with 3 different accounts swung me towards paying for 100GB on one account.

JustAnotherSaver

victor2 said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

Problem with cloud storage is everyone wants money being drip fed from you these days. Everything is moving the way of subscription based services & I absolutely hate that and will avoid it wherever possible.

...

I used the free Google Drive (15GB) with two accounts for a number of years, but was hitting the limit and whilst I could have created a third free one, the thought of recovering from a major local data loss with 3 different accounts swung me towards paying for 100GB on one account.

I appreciate for some people it's just handy for the online storage & they don't mind paying.

It'd be handy for me too but I'm afraid that I DO mind paying.

Also had a look at Google's plans out of curiosity just now. As said, I'm talking about a good few TB of stuff. Not quite as much as tallmansix but more than your average guy I'd say.

IvanOpinion

JustAnotherSaver said:

Problem with cloud storage is everyone wants money being drip fed from you these days. Everything is moving the way of subscription based services & I absolutely hate that and will avoid it wherever possible.

Some things are obvious & they get a pass. Council tax, TV & broadband, mobile phone bill etc etc. These are 'supposed' to be monthly in my eyes or at least an ongoing payment.

But all this other stuff. Subscription to software. No I just want to buy the software. If you give me a 1 time fee and I agree with it then I'll pay for it but if it's ongoing then unless I ABSOLUTELY NEED it I'll be inclined to look for cheaper or free alternatives, even if they may require more legwork.

I am not a fan of subscriptions myself which is why I made a one off lifetime payment for my main cloud storage provider. I know that it could be argued that they may not be here tomorrow, but so far I have been with them for over 6 years so it has been very good value.

victor2

IvanOpinion said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

Problem with cloud storage is everyone wants money being drip fed from you these days. Everything is moving the way of subscription based services & I absolutely hate that and will avoid it wherever possible.

Some things are obvious & they get a pass. Council tax, TV & broadband, mobile phone bill etc etc. These are 'supposed' to be monthly in my eyes or at least an ongoing payment.

But all this other stuff. Subscription to software. No I just want to buy the software. If you give me a 1 time fee and I agree with it then I'll pay for it but if it's ongoing then unless I ABSOLUTELY NEED it I'll be inclined to look for cheaper or free alternatives, even if they may require more legwork.

I am not a fan of subscriptions myself which is why I made a one off lifetime payment for my main cloud storage provider. I know that it could be argued that they may not be here tomorrow, but so far I have been with them for over 6 years so it has been very good value.

Are you prepared to name the provider?