Backing-up Files

[Zilant]

For the folks that work digitally, do you back-up your files in case of catastrophic computer meltdown?

If so, what meathod do you use, and why do you use that meathod?



My current back-up system is really just the fact I haven't completely weened myself off the sketchbook yet. Not very effective when your a fan of doing all the coloring digitally. So I've learned, and have been kicking myself for all week long. >:|

Friggin' lightning capital of the U.S.

[Snarfevs]

I backup onto dvds, mainly because I have not yet purchased an external HDD. Even then I don't really like the latter method because it relies on having 2 susceptible devices connected to a system simultaneously at least some of the time.

I make checkpoints in my calendar - once a month I do a critical backup (art (including my brush set!), uni work and so on - this fits onto 1 dvd if I limit it to the current uni semester), and once every 3 months I do a comprehensive backup, which is somewhat more, well, comprehensive.

These backups have saved me on one occasion so far - partition parameter corruption caused by cheap ram (this can happen!) The most I lost was a handful of custom brushes I had made in the 2 weeks prior. My work in progress at that time didn't even suffer as I had it on my USB stick for reasons of portability.

[tensai]

if you take your stuff seriously, or just like it - buy an external hard drive and back up regularly and often.

if you work professionally you better back up your back up and put it in a separate location, cause you never know when your house is on fire, flooded, earthquaked or burglarised...

take it from a guy who has lost his master thesis in architecture, a shit load of other design projects, two years of photos from japan including all but a few of my own wedding pics.

... i did get it all back after 2,5 years but i learned my lesson. (always back up and never give up hehe).

edit - didn't really answer the question did i? method: i have a couple of external firewire discs because it's the easiest way to store a lot of data (my project files are roughly 300 gb and my photo files are roughly 250 gb). it's easily accessible (you can work from the HD if necessary) and fast to back up and recover. dvd's take a shitload of time if you're backing up a lot of data and you have to split projects over separate discs. HD's are also the most fail-safe way to back up to, having a longer shelf time than dvd or cd. hard discs will degrade over time, just slower than dvd, so i transfer all the data to newer discs every couple of years (basically when they're getting full and i'm buying new discs anyway).

i leave my second copy in a different location.

[Zilant]

Ouch!
My loss is peanuts compared to losing a Master's Thesis and Wedding Photos. Glad to hear you eventually got them back.

An external hard drive does sound like the way to go (especially considering my terminal lack of DVD burner). Firewire is a good brand, you say? Guess I'm off to sniff around NewEgg.

Thanks for the advice, folks.:^^:

[tensai]

firewire is not a brand - it's a way of connecting your peripheral, like scsi, usb, etc. i work on a mac so i have firewire cards preinstalled so thats why i work with that. you have firewire 400 and 800 with 800 being faster. if you sometimes have to work from your external HD it's very nice. if you don't, then your back up will take a longer but for the rest you could also just use usb2.

if you want to get specifics - i have lacie d2 drives - they power on and off automatically when i mount them to my desktop. i have never had a problem with any of them, but i'm sure someday i will.

[Zilant]

Whoopsie.
My hardware ignorance is showing. :bashful:

Thanks for the correction, Tensai. I'm really glad you mentioned that, as I was a hair away from buying something I couldn't even use. :^^;:

[Farvus]

I back-up my files by burning them onto dvd. Not very regularly. Once maybe two months.
In future when working professionally I'm going to use some good external drive. Having secondary computer with tablet for emergency situations is also a good idea but I'm far from that right now :).

[dbclemons]

Funny you should mention this, as my system was recently fried by a power outage in the neighborhood. Other than the backup procedures already mentioned, it was useful to me to have a second computer available. I was lucky to be able to restore my drive eventually, but having the other system saved me from several days downtime, which could have been a very bad thing. If your current system boot drive fails, you have to reinstall everything, including the OS.