Storage & backup of data - what's the best way?

[Sheza]

I have a very fragmented data structure right now - for example, if I start a Pages document on my iPad, I'll opt to save it in iCloud Drive. If I start it on my Mac, chances are I'll shove it in my OneDrive, or maybe even store it locally. But with my Office 365 subscription ending soon and having never really taken advantage of any of its features much, I am re-thinking everything.

I'm wondering what the best method is and also to ensure this stuff is all backed up nicely for redundancy. As such, I've set out below the categories of data I have, where I currently store them, and how important they are to me. I'm looking for some 'best practice' or other suggestions on how to deal with this data. To be honest, these days with everything in the cloud I don't actually have a lot of data that you can just 'store'. It's protecting the small bits of essential data that is important to me (I just realised you can't really back up your email account, and sometimes my emails have important stuff in them!).

In other words, how can I instigate a 3-2-1 backup solution for all my data, and where should I be storing it all?

Cloud-only data (self-contained, not easy to back-up externally)

• Passwords (1Password)
• E-mails (primarily Gmail)
• Drafts.app
• Notes.app

Cloud-stored data (iCloud Drive or OneDrive)

• iCloud Photo Library
• Old iPhone photos
• Random documents (word, excel, PDF, assets) from years ago
• Affinity Photo / Illustrator app folders
• Scanner Pro PDF scans

Offline data on Mac Internal Drive (+ backed up via Time Machine)

• Pages files
• Random screenshots and photos
• Wallpapers
• Projects data - that's anything from video production, photo editing, website design etc
• Assets
• Memes
• PDF Documents
• Downloaded movies and videos

You see what the problem is? I am not even sure if I should be holding on to random documents that I made when I was in school/university. I will probably never open them again, but they represent a lot of work. I am thinking of just archiving them to a USB stick and forgetting about them?

At what point does a document become an unimportant relic that I can safely offload or achieve somewhere? I don't need a Christmas list from 2013 taking up space in cloud storage, but should I take advantage of the generous storage allowances anyway? How do I make sure I have relevant documents at my fingertips and don't get bogged down with old data?

With so much more of my data being stored in the cloud or in app-specific containers (e.g. I do a lot of my writing in Drafts.app) is my data there safe or should I be backing it up? If so, how, since a lot of these apps don't seem to make it an easy, automated process?

Is Backblaze worth it for my usage scenario?

This stuff is really stressing me out lol.

 

[Fishrrman]

I keep things simple.

I don't use iCould... AT ALL.

I keep my files on my internal drive... ALL of them.

I keep numerous physical external backups... ALL created with CarbonCopyCloner, so they are always bootable and any data is in "plain old finder format" -- just plug in the drive and copy it back over.

Works for me.

 

[Sheza]

I keep things simple.

I don't use iCould... AT ALL.

I keep my files on my internal drive... ALL of them.

I keep numerous physical external backups... ALL created with CarbonCopyCloner, so they are always bootable and any data is in "plain old finder format" -- just plug in the drive and copy it back over.

Works for me.

Thanks for your input - and it sounds like a pretty good system for keeping things simple.

My problem (which is more psychological) is that I don't like clutter, so if I have random files from, say, 4 years ago that I haven't opened in years, I don't want them taking up space on my small internal SSD (512GB) where I also store a lot of apps and games. But I also can't bring myself to delete them permanently.

I thought it through some more and have come up with a system, breaking down the data into types. Appreciate it is very complex but it makes sense to me considering my usage. I realised that a lot of the old data I used to have is from a time when I was generating mass amounts of data in education. This is no longer happening and my full-time job doesn't involve creating data on my own systems. In order to achieve this system, I have removed everything from iCloud Drive as I decided it was just too rubbish to use. I have also decided to keep OneDrive because in actuality, 1TB of cloud storage that performs pretty well across devices, plus Office apps, is decent value for money. Dropbox is more expensive and Google Drive is less compatible.

• Most data will be stored in OneDrive, fully downloaded to the SSD. This allows for it to be backed up with Time Machine and possibly BackBlaze. I tag these folders in Blue on macOS.
• Key data, which I will always want immediate and far-reaching access to (passport scan, profile pictures, logging spreadsheets, etc), is tagged Red.
• Misc data such as wallpapers and system settings is tagged Grey.
• Project data, that's stuff like graphic design, web development, app design etc projects I have going on, are tagged Green and stored similarly to Blue data, but will be archived on a separate schedule.
• Consumption data (downloaded movies and TV) is solely stored on an external drive and not backed up (save for BackBlaze if I decide to), because I am not a collector and most of my consumption is from streaming services these days.
• Photos are solely managed by iCloud Photo Library with originals being stored on the Mac SSD.

At the end of every year, any Blue data will be swept into an annual archive and removed from the SSD. It remains in OneDrive (undownloaded), and is also archived to a year-specific USB key. Thanks to the large size of my TimeMachine drive it should also be accessible from there for quite some time until the weekly backup containing it is deleted.

For added redundancy, I anticipate there will be space for each yearly USB key to have the previous year's files on it as well.

That means I can keep the clutter down but also have some decent back-ups to access in case I need to grab anything, and I am able to separate it out by type of data which to be honest I store important for me now that I have graduated from education and won't need to be creating so many documents for studying on a massive scale.

 

[glenthompson]

I think the first thing you need to do is to decide on a filing system that works for you. Before I went paperless, I used a paper filing system that worked well for my needs. After scanning it all I used an electronic version of my paper system. It has worked fairly well for me. At present I keep all my records on my iMac which is synced to iCloud. This allows me access from my iPad and iPhone which has proved to be very convenient.

General suggestions:

1. Don’t use email as a filing system. Save every item you want to keep as a PDF. File it into your system.
2. Use the date as the start of the filename. Makes sorting easier
3. Save anything scanned as a searchable PDF.
4. Backup, backup, backup! This cannot be repeated too much. Test your backups.

About email - I have seen too many people with huge email stores that get corrupted and can't get to their emails. Not to mention the performance issues large email databases can haver. How often do you need an email from a year or two ago as an email? Any reason it couldn't be handled as an attachment to a new email?

Yes, Backblaze is a possible option if you don't already have an offsite backup solution.

 

[firedept]

I use a NAS. It allows me access to every file I have from any device I own. Allows me to upload or download my files. You will need to create your own filing system but that's easy. And seeing as I run a RAID configuration my files will always be safe. Not the cheapest way but once the initial cost is out of the way you will be setup for years to come.

 

[glenthompson]

I use a NAS. It allows me access to every file I have from any device I own. Allows me to upload or download my files. You will need to create your own filing system but that's easy. And seeing as I run a RAID configuration my files will always be safe. Not the cheapest way but once the initial cost is out of the way you will be setup for years to come.

RAID is for fault tolerance not a backup solution. Hardware failure, fire, theft can all take out your data. I use a NAS but all the data on it is backed up.