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How often do you back up?
- Thread starter Caitlyn
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I back up as I get new stuff.
Just kind of keep a big book of DVD's all with data burned on em, like iTunes music and whatever else.
I don't have a regular back up time, but I keep track of new stuff with smart folders, and smart playlists, and back up as needed.
Just kind of keep a big book of DVD's all with data burned on em, like iTunes music and whatever else.
I don't have a regular back up time, but I keep track of new stuff with smart folders, and smart playlists, and back up as needed.
I make a complete bootable clone once a week. I make DVD/CD backups of important stuff whenever I get it.
I have a lot of partial backups (everyday for somethings, once a week for others) but for a whole system backup, usually only once every 4 to 6 months. I work off of approximately 5 computers plus my iPod, so I have files all over the place, plus all the minor backups, if I lose one computer, no biggie.
Weekly. I have a FW HDD that only gets used to clone my system drive. It's kept unplugged and discounted the rest of the time.
Lethal
Lethal
Caitlyn said:
You should ask yourself this:
yourself said:
If the answer is yes, then a month is safe enough.
If the answer is no, adjust accordingly.
Music: Once I have 700 MB worth of new music (therefore a CD)
Photos: Once a week
My uni work: everyday to iDisk, once a week to harddrive, end of semester to disc.
Photos: Once a week
My uni work: everyday to iDisk, once a week to harddrive, end of semester to disc.
Well, my main concern here is pictures. I lost over 800 pictures the other day after my hard drive crash that I can never retrieve again. Some where very important to me. So, pictures are VERY important to me. That is why my question was if a month was good enough. I'd say I add about 200 pictures to my library a month give or take a few.
yellow pretty much sums up the rule for backups. How much can you afford to loose?
Right now, I make sure to have everything really important on my boot partition, and keep less frequently changed or vital files (for example, old video projects or scratch-disk-stuff when I'm doing video or audio work) on another partition or drive. This less vital stuff gets backed up to a firewire drive or DVD-R whenever I do something significant--finish a project, or do enough work on one that I wouldn't want to lose it.
As for the important stuff on the boot partition (mostly writing): It gets cloned to a partition of a second internal drive at 11am every day, so I have a bootable backup with no more than 24 hours data loss in the event of a catastrophic failue. I additionally back it up to a firewire drive every month or two (or more frequently,depending on what I'm doing), which lives in a watertight bag in my firesafe in case my house burns down.
Further, the REALLY important, irreplaceable text files (writing for my website, and time-consuming creative writing) are cloned to my webhost hundreds of miles away, which also has its own versioned backup system, so even in the event my house were obliterated or everything got stolen, I'd still have the most time-consuming and irreplaceable work backed up. Thanks to Archive.org, there's even an offsite backup of the public stuff there.
Yes, I'm pretty careful. I figure if I've put literally hundreds of hours into writing the stuff, I'd better make sure it doesn't go poof.
Right now, I make sure to have everything really important on my boot partition, and keep less frequently changed or vital files (for example, old video projects or scratch-disk-stuff when I'm doing video or audio work) on another partition or drive. This less vital stuff gets backed up to a firewire drive or DVD-R whenever I do something significant--finish a project, or do enough work on one that I wouldn't want to lose it.
As for the important stuff on the boot partition (mostly writing): It gets cloned to a partition of a second internal drive at 11am every day, so I have a bootable backup with no more than 24 hours data loss in the event of a catastrophic failue. I additionally back it up to a firewire drive every month or two (or more frequently,depending on what I'm doing), which lives in a watertight bag in my firesafe in case my house burns down.
Further, the REALLY important, irreplaceable text files (writing for my website, and time-consuming creative writing) are cloned to my webhost hundreds of miles away, which also has its own versioned backup system, so even in the event my house were obliterated or everything got stolen, I'd still have the most time-consuming and irreplaceable work backed up. Thanks to Archive.org, there's even an offsite backup of the public stuff there.
Yes, I'm pretty careful. I figure if I've put literally hundreds of hours into writing the stuff, I'd better make sure it doesn't go poof.
Now that we've established how often we back up, can I ask the people who do it regularly whether it's an automated process or whether it's done manually. I'm just wondering because when it comes to backups I trust myself more than an app in most circumstances.
Every Friday at 7:00 AM sharp it clones my home folder and a few larger programs onto my external FW HDD.
I've set SuperDuper to do a Smart Update of a bootable clone onto my external FW drive, onto a dedicated partition the same size as my HD, every night at 9.30. I should probably reduce the scope, but what the heck.mad jew said:
mad jew said:
I do it automatically using Apple's own Backup software. It has earned my trust and it gives me peace of mind because I know I will not remember to back up every week.
EDIT: I think that after reading this thread, I am just going to have it do a full bootable clone of my hard drive. It will really save a lot of setup time if my hard drive fails or if I decide to upgrade my internal hard disk.
I used to use Backup, but I find SD more confidence-inspiring, especially for restoring. I like the idea of having a complete, bootable clone.CoMpX said:
I have a lot of design work (houses and furniture), specifications, invoices, estimates, contracts, essays, music and photos, which are added to daily. I've already managed to trash my Home folder once, and I'm not about to lose my work again.Caitlyn said:
Why wouldn't you back up daily?
I'm with mj on this one. I use SuperDuper's smart backup about once a week, but I do it manually when I think about it. Sometimes its more or less than a week, but thats about average.mad jew said:
I back up dynamically and manually. As new files are created, I upload them to my other two machines and, depending on what they are and whether they'll fit, my iDisk. Most of the files that need backing up for me are uni assignments and therefore they're relatively small Word files. They're easily managed.
As far as I'm aware, no. SD can be used on a Demo basis. I've had a paid copy for years.CoMpX said:Can Backup do a complete bootable clone? If not, is SD free?
SuperDuper will make a complete clone for free, but you have to pay if you want smart backups, which only takes about 5% of the time a full clone takes for the same result.