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Backup Advice wanted



 
 
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  #21  
Old August 21st 14, 04:37 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
PeterN[_5_]
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Posts: 741
Default Backup Advice wanted

On 8/21/2014 11:05 AM, Mayayana wrote:
| Long exposure just after sunset.
| https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/nubble%203475.jpg
|
| sketch:
| https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/6Nubble%20%20impression.jpg
|
| Pemaquid at dawn: (Yes I know it's not Nubble. ;-)
| https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/pemaquid%20at%20dawn.jpg
|

Thanks for sharing those. The last looks picture
postcard perfect but somehow doesn't move me.
The first, though, is very atmospheric. I can almost
hear the timeless silence of transitional time of day.



Thanks. It's done well in competitions. The yellow in the windows is
reflectd sunlight, with a small boost in PS.

You are right about the last. It is rather commercialish. A local art
dealer inquired about marketing it for me. I am not sure I want to,
because then photography would become work.


--
PeterN
  #23  
Old August 21st 14, 05:10 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
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Posts: 24,165
Default Backup Advice wanted

In article , J. Clarke
wrote:

You really should treat yourself and get a Mac... (It's only money!)
Then just swap the Time Machine drive once in awhile (you need two
drives) with the one you store at your beerbudys mansion! :-)


I can do that with a PC too, the trouble is that neither forces you to
actually do it.


not without third party software.

time machine is built in and makes it braindead easy. plug in a new
drive and it asks do you want to use this for backup and all that's
needed is say yes. after that, it's automatic.
  #24  
Old August 21st 14, 05:10 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
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Posts: 24,165
Default Backup Advice wanted

In article , PeterN
wrote:

I know.A also know myself. If the BU is not automatic, it becomes a
round tuit process.


You really should treat yourself and get a Mac... (It's only money!)
Then just swap the Time Machine drive once in awhile (you need two
drives) with the one you store at your beerbudys mansion! :-)


I will not get into a Mac v PC discussion. ;-) My reasons for doing
Windows rather than MAC are the same. And, it's not because I'm anti
Mac. It's just that some of the progrms I like to play with are not
available for Mac.


they will run just fine on a mac.
  #25  
Old August 21st 14, 05:10 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
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Posts: 24,165
Default Backup Advice wanted

In article , HerHusband
wrote:

if you do need to recover how long would it take to get it all back?


A complete "bare metal" restore to a new hard drive would only take as
long as the hardware could copy the data from one drive to another. Maybe
an hour or two, depending on how much I have backed up. That's a lot
faster than having to format the drive, install the OS, reinstall all of
my programs, and reconfigure all my settings.


only if you copy everything back.

a clone can be swapped in minutes.

'easy' you have to restore the whole OS and all your data amounting to
100s of GB becausee you deleted one file.


No, I can "mount" the backup image as a virtual drive, and quickly
restore a single file or two. That only takes a minute or two, and I've
done it many times.

When was the last time you tried recovering as if you'd had an
incident or crash.


About three weeks ago. My main hard drive was developing bad sectors so
I replaced it with a new drive. Booted up the recovery CD, copied the
backup to the new drive, then restarted the system. About two hours
total.


that happened to me a few months back. i opened the case, dropped in a
clone of the drive and closed the case.

total time: about 5-10 minutes.

I thought all sectors contained data.


Macrium Reflect only backs up sectors with "used" data.

There is no reason to backup the "free" space on the drive.


that's an incredibly inefficient way of backing up.

a better way is copy only the changed files, which takes a few minutes
per run (other than the first run).




I don't understand the need to back everyone of them up everynight
is it because you don't trust your previous nights backup?


Primarily I like the simplicity of having my entire drive backed up to a
single file. I don't need to worry about having all the parts to
recombine an incremental backup.


then your method of making incrementals is broken.

the backup app should do the recombining for you.

a restore would put back whatever the state of the drive was at the
last time you made a backup (or older if you prefer).

It all takes place over night while I sleep, so two hours for a full
backup isn't any different to me than a 10 minute incremental backup.
Either way, the backup is finished when I start the next day.


it's a lot more wear on both drives.

Finally, I NEVER trust a backup. Redundancy is key. Backups can be
corrupted. Backup drives can fail. I just assume a single backup is never
reliable and keep multiple copies. Overkill, yes. But I can lose my main
hard drive and multiple backups and still stand a good chance of
recovering my data.


that is true.

I have lost a lot of data over the years for a variety of reasons. But, I
learned the weaknesses in my backup procedures with each incident. I'm
always learning and refining my backup methods.


there are many weaknesses in your backup procedures.
  #26  
Old August 21st 14, 05:10 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
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Posts: 24,165
Default Backup Advice wanted

In article , Mayayana
wrote:

My data files, other than images are minimal.


One other thing that hasn't been mentioned is important
files that are neither data nor photos. Many people don't care
if they lose their computer because they don't save files on
it and don't configure it. But if you do configure it there may
be things you want to keep that you might not think of.

I keep extra backups of various things that I'd like to
be sure to have even if I somehow lose my normal disk
image and data backups. I put those things on CDs
periodically and save them in several places.

Examples:

Hard-to-find or discontinued utilities.
Drivers for old hardware.
Firefox/Pale Moon bookmarks.
Mu customized HOSTS file.
Fonts I've collected over the years.
My favorite Desktop wallpaper.
And my prize possession: A small animation of the
Cape Neddick lighthouse in Maine, which I use as a
custom activity indicator in Firefox/Pale Moon.

Those are all things I could live without but which
I appreciate having and which would be difficult or
impossible to replace.


that's why cloning the whole drive rather than separating system & data
is a good idea. you get *everything*.
  #27  
Old August 21st 14, 05:10 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
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Posts: 24,165
Default Backup Advice wanted

In article ,
Whisky-dave wrote:


Macrium Reflect only backs up the sectors that contain data.


I thought all sectors contained data.


unused ones don't.

and since people on this newsgroup like to argue, there is technically
data on them but it doesn't matter since they're not used and can be
skipped.



Each backup gets saved to a new image file on the backup drive. Macrium
Reflect deletes the oldest backup before performing a new backup.


BEFORE that sounds rather dangerous.


it has to or the new one won't fit.

time machine does the same thing.
  #28  
Old August 21st 14, 05:10 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
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Posts: 24,165
Default Backup Advice wanted

In article , HerHusband
wrote:

I have it scheduled to make a complete image backup of the hard drive
every night.


That seems rather unnecessary to me but then I use a Mac.


I use my computer for business, so data changes daily. Backing up nightly
is a must.

I prefer full backups over incremental backups because I like having a
single file I can restore from. Just personal preference I suppose.


backing up is a must, but making a complete image is not. it's a waste
of time.

once you have the initial clone, subsequent backups need only copy
changed files. not the entire thing each time.

Do you do this using a new disc or do you overwrite the existing disc
from the previous night. How long does this process take (image
backup) ?


Macrium Reflect only backs up the sectors that contain data. I'm only using
about 188GB on my main drive. With compression, that works out to roughly
164GB for each image on my backup drive. It takes less than two hours to
perform a full image backup each night.


why are you copying everything every single night?

a smart clone copies only the changed files which takes about 5-10
minutes, typically.

the initial clone takes an hour or two though, but that's only done
once.

Each backup gets saved to a new image file on the backup drive. Macrium
Reflect deletes the oldest backup before performing a new backup. You can
choose how many backup images to keep on the drive, but I also synchronize
video data folders from another drive to my backup. So, two image backups
is adequate for my needs and still leave plenty of free space on the backup
drive (since I never know how much space the videos will consume).


that's a lot of wasted space.

I'd prefer not to keep backing up 100GBs every night as there's very
little change.


My backups run automatically every night while I am sleeping. So performing
a full backup isn't any more complicated than an incremental backup. In
theory it puts more wear and tear on the hard drives, but that's what they
are designed for. I usually buy new drives every 3-5 years anyway, more for
increased storage than failing drives.


my incrementals run every hour, copying only what's changed, which is a
minute or two, typically.

clones are done daily.

worst case, i restore from a clone from the day before simply by
swapping a drive and update what changed that day from the incremental.



That doesn;t sound too smart to me. A friends place got hit by
lightning a Mac TV, DVD player, cable modem/router all got destroyed.
Nothing was on at the time but everything was plugged in. I'd have
thought if a backup drive was connected that would have gone too.


Yes, a connected backup drive is vulnerable to lightning, fire, flood,
computer viruses, etc. That's why I rotate the backup drive with a second
backup drive in a safe deposit box.


mine is on a separate circuit and over the network.

fire/flood can affect it, however, and viruses are a non-issue.

However, the vast majority of recovery needs are for user errors.
Accidentally deleting a file or something similar. It's more important to
have a recent backup in that case than worry about major disasters.


that's why incrementals are useful.

you only have two copies, so anything beyond that is gone.

my incrementals go back well over a year for multiple machines.

Also, keeping a backup drive connected all the time, and automating the
process ensures that I backup every night. If I have to remember to plug in
a drive and manually start a backup, it's not likely to occur as often.


that works for desktops. not so much laptops. who wants a drive
attached all the time to a laptop?

my backup drives are on the network and auto-mounted as needed.

The local hard drive lets me quickly recover from common errors like
accidentally deleting a file or something.

I don't think I've done that this millenium fingers crossed.


True, that's not a common scenario. Most of the time, I just go to the
recycle bin to recover deleted files.


you never empty it??

Another common error is accidentally overwriting an existing file. For
example, if I open a text file I'm using as a template and make changes,
then click "Save" instead of "Save As". The recycle bin won't help with
that, but it's easy to recover the original file from a backup.


only if you catch it within 2 days in your case.

A good idea for off site but I'll stick to parents and work locations
as that means less traveling cost and hassle.


I work from home and don't have any family nearby. The safe deposit box is
the most convenient for me.

The location for the second backup isn't critical. The only thing you might
want to watch for are the risks at each location. For example, if you live
in a flood prone area and your parents do too, both drives could be lost in
the same disaster. Try to choose locations that don't share the same risks
if you can.


it's somewhat critical in that if it's nearby, a disaster could wipe it
out too.

for example, look at the towns that were devastated by a tornado.
there's literally nothing left.


Not had to worry about virus for some time so I don't consider that
a problem and copying a file from drive to drive checks for sector or
other disc related errors so I don't feel the need for yet more
software.


Years ago I discovered some photo files had been damaged. I have no idea
what corrupted them, but they were irreplaceable and were no longer
viewable. I didn't know they were damaged, so I just kept backing up the
files as usual. Of course, this meant I no longer had a usable copy of
those photos I could recover.


if you had incrementals going back more than 2 days you could have
recovered a valid copy.

With many thousands of digital photos and many gigabytes of home movies, I
am not able to review each file invidually to ensure they are still intact.
A program like MD5 file hasher performs these checks for me and alerts me
if a file changes. This lets me recover the damaged file before it is lost
for good.

It's all a matter of risk management. I can't risk losing those valuable
photos and movies, so it's worth it to me to go overboard ensuring they
remain unchanged. It's entirely possible that they will never be damaged,
but I can't take that one in a million chance.


that's why there should be several copies in many places.
  #29  
Old August 21st 14, 05:22 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
android
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Posts: 3,854
Default Backup Advice wanted

In article ,
nospam wrote:

In article , Mayayana
wrote:

My data files, other than images are minimal.


One other thing that hasn't been mentioned is important
files that are neither data nor photos. Many people don't care
if they lose their computer because they don't save files on
it and don't configure it. But if you do configure it there may
be things you want to keep that you might not think of.

I keep extra backups of various things that I'd like to
be sure to have even if I somehow lose my normal disk
image and data backups. I put those things on CDs
periodically and save them in several places.

Examples:

Hard-to-find or discontinued utilities.
Drivers for old hardware.
Firefox/Pale Moon bookmarks.
Mu customized HOSTS file.
Fonts I've collected over the years.
My favorite Desktop wallpaper.
And my prize possession: A small animation of the
Cape Neddick lighthouse in Maine, which I use as a
custom activity indicator in Firefox/Pale Moon.

Those are all things I could live without but which
I appreciate having and which would be difficult or
impossible to replace.


that's why cloning the whole drive rather than separating system & data
is a good idea. you get *everything*.


And you can boot from it...
--
teleportation kills
http://tinyurl.com/androidphotography
  #30  
Old August 21st 14, 05:25 PM posted to rec.photo.digital
nospam
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Posts: 24,165
Default Backup Advice wanted

In article , android
wrote:


Those are all things I could live without but which
I appreciate having and which would be difficult or
impossible to replace.


that's why cloning the whole drive rather than separating system & data
is a good idea. you get *everything*.


And you can boot from it...


exactly.

if something happens, you swap the drives and continue working.

no hours long restoration needed.
 




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