Computer backups

[Astro Forever]

I'm happy to announce that I made a backup of my data yesterday!

... but I'm ashamed to admit I hadn't done it in years... :d oh: Silly me! I do not have anything that important in my computer (ie no business data or anything crucial like that), but there sure are a lot of things I would have missed if my computer had died...

For some reason I had this feeling lately that my hard drive might let me down... which raised a question: how often do you backup your data, and how? Do you use any software?

[CommanderEVE]

Well i have had this computer for 2 or 3 years now. and i havn't used a back up yet.

[fafner]

I do backups the paranoid and manual way irate: I do backups a few times each month, by compressing a given set of folders that contains everything important: configuration folders, data folders, etc. I use a simple ZIP archiver (kind of, it is in fact a bz2 compressor, but I won't pick on the details), so as to have 1 file per folder. Then, those files are put on 2 external USB drives (that's the "weak" paranoid part). I will usually backup a folder after significant changes (especially the development folder, which is by far my most precious data).
Once every month, I backup every folder, and send them encrypted with a 30-characters passphrase to various servers over the Internet, for cases of fire or robbery, or worse (that's the real paranoid part). AND each time I simulate a complete restore, so as to be sure I don't forget how to get back my data (or worse, in case the backup silently fails, it happened at least once). It is especially important in order not to forget the passphrase: of course, I can't back it up in clear, or there is no use to encrypt everything

Backups become important, very important, after one's first disk crash. Believe me...

[Astro Forever]

I do backups the paranoid and manual way irate: I do backups a few times each month, by compressing a given set of folders that contains everything important: configuration folders, data folders, etc. I use a simple ZIP archiver (kind of, it is in fact a bz2 compressor, but I won't pick on the details), so as to have 1 file per folder. Then, those files are put on 2 external USB drives (that's the "weak" paranoid part). I will usually backup a folder after significant changes (especially the development folder, which is by far my most precious data).

I hadn't though of this. I litterally put the "Documents and Settings" folder on a DVD (almost 2 Gb), but of course it would have been so much better to have a zip file for every folder. I also saved data that was elsewhere in the computer - that was actually the boring part, but I'm so glad I've done it now that I have so much more free room on my hard drive!

Maybe that's just me but there are quite a bit of files here and there that are not well organized, so everytime I wanted to make a backup, I would think "oh but I should put everything in order first"... and so I wouldn't do it and wouldn't backup anything either. It's not very logical, because after all, if I can find everything the way it is now, why should it suddenly matter if I need my backup?

Once every month, I backup every folder, and send them encrypted with a 30-characters passphrase to various servers over the Internet, for cases of fire or robbery, or worse (that's the real paranoid part). AND each time I simulate a complete restore, so as to be sure I don't forget how to get back my data (or worse, in case the backup silently fails, it happened at least once). It is especially important in order not to forget the passphrase: of course, I can't back it up in clear, or there is no use to encrypt everything

I admit I keep everything near my computer. I know, I know, not the most brilliant thing... I'm not sure my data are *that* important to me... but why not, after all, if I can avoid losing them all... I'll give it a thought.

Backups become important, very important, after one's first disk crash. Believe me...

I've yet to experience this in 11 years... knocking on wood! My current hard drive is 7 years old... I'm sure that if it had happened to me in the past, I'd make backups a lot more often. I'll try to do a lot better from now on.

Another question: is it better to leave computers running, or to shut them down at the end of each days? I've heard pro and cons for both and I didn't check to see if things had changed in the past years. However, I did notice that it was better to turn off the monitor!

[fafner]

[QUOTE=fafner;74451]Backups become important, very important, after one's first disk crash. Believe me...

I've yet to experience this in 11 years... knocking on wood! My current hard drive is 7 years old... I'm sure that if it had happened to me in the past, I'd make backups a lot more often. I'll try to do a lot better from now on. [/QUOTE]
I had 4 major disk failures, 3 of them were true disk crashes (the first one was a software bug in MS-DOS, thanks M$). Interestingly, the disks which crashed weren't the oldest ones. At least 2 of them were IBM deskstar (later nicknamed Deathstars).

Another question: is it better to leave computers running, or to shut them down at the end of each days? I've heard pro and cons for both and I didn't check to see if things had changed in the past years. However, I did notice that it was better to turn off the monitor!

The answer is simple: if you want to save energy, switch off everything. Otherwise, just know that switching on and off is bad for hardware, especially for hard drives. I have a server running without interruption since years, and it still has this old 10-Gb hard drive, which has seen many other newer hard disks die But don't hesitate to switch off the monitor (especially if it is an old CRT): it consumes a lot (more cost and heat), and if it breaks down, at least it doesn't hold any data

[Astro Forever]

I had 4 major disk failures, 3 of them were true disk crashes (the first one was a software bug in MS-DOS, thanks M$). Interestingly, the disks which crashed weren't the oldest ones. At least 2 of them were IBM deskstar (later nicknamed Deathstars).

I love those nicknames... Another one I saw recently, and old one that I had forgotten: "plug and pray"!

I suppose that if the disk has a malfunction, it will show up sooner rather than later.

The answer is simple: if you want to save energy, switch off everything. Otherwise, just know that switching on and off is bad for hardware, especially for hard drives. I have a server running without interruption since years, and it still has this old 10-Gb hard drive, which has seen many other newer hard disks die But don't hesitate to switch off the monitor (especially if it is an old CRT): it consumes a lot (more cost and heat), and if it breaks down, at least it doesn't hold any data

Do you know if a computer consumes a lot of energy?

Also, what about the dust inside, or the ventilator? I suppose that if the ventilator is broken, many parts of the computer could die...?

As for the monitor, mine looked like it was dying last week, but it has stop flashing since. It is indeed a CRT. I loved it but I can't wait to get a LCD, so I won't really mourn this one... It's so big! I do switch it off pretty often, at least for the night.

[Tilas]

Backing up your data is very important. I learned that the hard way once. I had 2 hard drives, and the master HD crashed. I couldn't recovere the data so I had to reformat. When I got it online, I remembered about the secondary HD.... it has all my music, games, movies and cartoons safe and sound on it.

But all my documents, artwork, and writing were ON THE MASTER! :d oh: *headdesk* Thankfully I had backups of most of my art/writing on my websites server.

So now I transfer everything onto the secondary external HD for safe keeping. ^_^;;;

[Astro Forever]

I do consider buying an external hard drive!

[fafner]

I love those nicknames... Another one I saw recently, and old one that I had forgotten: "plug and pray"!

"Plug and pray" is especially fitted for a friend of mine who were used to plug internal computer components on the motherboard "live" (with the system running). While some systems could live with that, others (such as Window 98), would instantly BSOD :d evil:

Do you know if a computer consumes a lot of energy?

It depends. Recent CPUs can consume more than 100 watts, while older ones consume far less. I would say that 350-400 watts for an mordern computer is a good average if there is no "extra hardware".

Also, what about the dust inside, or the ventilator? I suppose that if the ventilator is broken, many parts of the computer could die...?

Again it depends on the computer. Some old hardware doesn't really need fans, while recent hardware can't live without it. My 8-years old server is right on the limit: a few months ago, the fan broke down, and I noticed a few hours later. The case was rather hot, but I still could put my hand on it without being hurt. Several days like this might have done some damage though. A recent computer would have burnt down in a few hours, if not an hour or less (although some models have security devices that shut the system down before something bad happens).

[fafner]

I do consider buying an external hard drive!

It's worth buying an external hard drive: their price are very affordable now and they have decent storage. Even a USB key could do the trick: all your data at hand, whenever and wherever you want