[blackwasp]

We all know we are supposed to backup our data, but a lot of us don't do that. It is especially important now that many of us are working from home. A backup is essential for one's peace of mind. A phone can be lost or get stolen, computers get infected or a natural disaster could strike. Not to mention, the components themselves could fail due to age.



A backup is nothing but an exact copy of your data / files. When you create a backup, it means data is saved in two or more places. Further, it is also important to ensure that backups are not on the same machine / drive. If you have a backup only on your PC, imagine the scenario if the PC fails. It is hence important to consider the backup method and medium.

Let's begin with backing up computers. A backup will always be cheaper and less cumbersome that getting your drive to a recovery expert - incase it has been damaged. Also remember that all hard drives eventually fail - it's not a question of if, but when.

For PC backups, there are 3 options:

1. Backup to an external drive-


As the name implies, you connect a drive to your PC and copy the data over to this. Now, this can be an automatic or a manual process. But this backup with only help if your main PC develops any issue. As most people tend to keep these backup drives beside their PCs, an event causing damage to your PC is likely to kill the drive as well. You can use an external drive to backup personal data like photos, important documents, etc.

Mac users can resort to the excellent Time Machine app that takes hourly backups for the last 24 hours, daily backups for the last 30 days and weekly backups for previous data.

Windows users can make use of free backup utilities bundled with portable drives. I have used the Seagate Backup Plus and it has been a satisfactory experience. Seagate also provides a 2-year data rescue and recovery service with new drives.

2. Cloud backup -


Here, you backup data to another location (usually 3rd party servers). This will protect against fire, theft or any other disaster. Cloud backups are also very easy to maintain. One downside could be the slow upload speeds especially for the initial upload.

Some of the popular online backup options are:
a. IDrive - Its a monthly subscription service that enables you to backup almost all your devices including PCs and other mobile devices like tabs and phones. It supports Mac OS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android and Windows Mobile.

b. OneDrive - Microsoft's OneDrive is one of the most economical online backup services. For as low as Rs. 125 per month, you can get upto 1 TB of storage. It also comes bundled with an Office 365 subscription, which takes care of your Office documents in the same folder. While this is not an automatic backup service, you can download their desktop client and sync select folders across your PC for automatic backup.

c. Backblaze - While its targeted more towards small businesses, it has no limits on capacity or bandwidth. There is only one service plan - an all inclusive one - making things easy for users. Backblaze has been known as a low-cost backup service provider for some years now. They also provide a physical drive for faster recovery and if you send back the drive, they give a full refund for the price of the drive.

d. Google Drive - Thanks to integration with Gmail and Android, Google drive is a popular alternative service. You can also backup your device photos automatically to Drive using the Photos app. A sync client makes things easy if you want to automate your backup - it keeps saving any new files to the drive automatically. However, despite offering 15 GB free, the space gets used up pretty fast, especially when used for photos and videos.

3. Bootable backup -


Also called as clone, it is a complete copy of your computer's main hard drive. If your computer dies, you can reboot your PC using the clone. Here, you not only save your data but all the configurations and setting are restored as well. Keep in mind that the clone is just as good as the data when the clone was made. Popular choices are SuperDuper!, Carbon Copy cloner for the Mac OS folks and Acronis for the Windows guys.

[blackwasp]

Backing up your phone -

Android phones come with a built-in backup tool with which you can backup data to your Google account. Some smartphone manufactures like Samsung also have their own backup apps. By default, the backup consists of your Contacts, Calendar events, Wifi networks and passwords, Gmail settings, App data, etc. By choosing what you sync, you can select what you want to backup automatically. Restoring is painless even if you change your phone.


iOS users can backup their devices using iTunes on a Windows system. On a Mac OS system they can backup their devices using Finder on Catalina or via iCloud. iTunes backup is stored locally and ensures fast recovery should you need it. But incase your PC dies, it will be lost. iCloud offers a backup anywhere as long as you have an internet connection. While the first 5 GB is free, subsequent data will cost you money.


I have synced my contacts across my email accounts, so its available on all my devices on a real time basis. I prefer Gmail for this. Even the Photos app is a boon for backing up videos and images shot on the phone. Backups also help you reduce phone memory usage if you have a low storage capacity phone.

[blackwasp]

Backup strategy -

I follow a 3-2-1 strategy - 3 copies, 2 on site and 1 off site.

I have a time machine backup that is running all the time. I also maintain a bootable drive when an important software is installed or the OS is upgraded. This ensures I can go back in case of any issues or bugs in the updates. The offsite backup is nothing but cloud backup (I use OneDrive).

It is also important to minimise chance of failure of hard drives. So my bootable drive and another frequently used external drive are both SSDs. While expensive, they offer better safety of data compared to hard drives. Since they tend to travel with my laptop, they undergo fair bit of jostling and have endured a fall or two.

With the increase in usage of laptops over desktops, we must also remember to keep connecting the backup drives everyday as its possible to forget it. That said, if you are just starting out with backups, I would suggest you first start with a cloud as that is the easiest to setup and use. Follow it up with a local bootable backup.

My backup flow is = TimeMachine + SuperDuper local backups and OneDrive cloud backup. I also use the Google Photos app to backup all images on my phone to the Google Drive.

Note - The idea behind this thread is to discuss different backup methods as well as answer any queries that you might have.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Shifting Gears Section. Thanks for sharing! Great thread & especially important in these data-heavy times.

Am proud to say that I've never lost my data since I got my first laptop 2 decades ago . My strategy is:

1. Instant Backup = Using Google Drive for all my files. Also helps getting old versions of files.

2. Weekly Backup = To an external hard-drive. I keep two external hard-drives for this and shuffle between them. Making this fortnightly now due to Google Drive & overall SSD reliability.

3. Monthly Backup = Acronis Disk Image on different hard-drives. @ Windows users: I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this. Acronis is simple to set up & use, and brings your computer back to the EXACT state you had backed up in (including whichever browser windows were open). My computer once went corrupt due to a Windows update gone bad, and it brought me back to where I was.

4. Bi-Annual Backup = To an offsite location. Frankly, this isn't needed anymore with Google Drive, Dropbox etc. It's a habit from the old days.

NOTE: All my backups are encrypted (including Acronis).

- My phone is backed up using the usual built-in tools. I don't spend any time on this as contacts + calendar are anyway on Google, while my photos are backed up instantly to Dropbox. There is nothing else on the phone to backup. The music is from my iTunes and I don't use too many apps.

- The Team-BHP website is backed up in two different cities .

- IMP: For noobs or those who like it simple, if you have to do just ONE thing, then keep all your data in a Google Drive / Dropbox folder. They are pretty much fail-safe.

[amsidhu]

Very useful thread Blackwasp. Thanks.

Learnt it the hard way. My three year stint on eastern borders near Nathula made me travel wide and far. Had a good collection of pics and exotic locations of East and all were lost due to the External HDD getting corrupt. It was WD passport. The top USB pin end of which wasn't removable. Tried to recover data but couldn't risk sending it to professionals for long without personal supervision.

Due to certain restrictions Google drive and such cannot be relied for storing data online.

The govt mail (email.gov.in) is quite reliable and can be used to store unclassified data.

Any pointers on the most secure online storage options. Is anyone using Protonmail ?

Regards

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by amsidhu

Any pointers on the most secure online storage options. Is anyone using Protonmail ?

2 reliable options that I can think of are iCloud and BackBlaze. Both are on the budget friendly side, but iCloud has more tiers. BackBlaze offers only one plan for personal users - unlimited storage at US$ 6 per month.

If you still want better security, you can make your own storage server with data redundancy. It will be accessible to local network as well as from anywhere in the world via secure connection. This might be a very pricey option considering the hardware cost, upkeep cost (redundant power supply and internet) etc.

Regarding Proton mail, I have heard positive reviews from couple of folks, its a no nonsense email service that is hosted by folks who can not access your data (its encrypted on client side). Do try it and let us know how it is.

[Gannu_1]

I don't have much data worth a backup on my personal laptop right now so no worries there. Back in the day, I had 14 TB of hard drives in the desktop with 7 TB of movies/serials and the other 7 TB as backup. With high speed internet available today, I can pretty much stream the content I want with no buffering and without the need of storing it so got rid of the physical drives and the desktop eventually.

As far as the snaps in the phone goes (which is the only data I highly value right now), I copy them to my laptop once in 6 months, use Faststone photo resizer (recommended by Rehaan; incredibly useful + no ads/spyware) to downsize the images from 12 MP to 6 MP and copy them to my Google Drive.





Create as many Google accounts as you want. They provide you 15 GB of free space. Google does not have issues with multiple accounts and you can sign into multiple accounts at once like I've done (link). No physical drives for me.

[ValarMorghulis]

My backup strategy is simple.
-All documents (property, car, bank, etc. related) are stored in G-cloud, local home computer and a 1TB external hard drive
-All photographs of different locations, holidays, graduation, etc. are stored in two external HDD and cloud across multiple accounts
-All my ID proofs, grad and undergrad degrees, account numbers, etc. are stored in an encrypted file in two different cloud storage accounts and in home computer+external HDD
-All the bill payments (Credit Card, electricity, GAIL, electronic purchases, etc.) also stored in the G-cloud

I learnt this the hard way when one of my old systems went kaput without an iota of hint.

[Rehaan]

Few add-ons:

1) A lot of people move their data to an external drive an call it a "BACKUP"! This is NOT a backup.

2) Be careful of relying on "instant / live" backup solutions that don't allow you a roll-back functionality. Simply put, if you accidentally delete or change a file, the same will be reflected in your backup instantly, and you won't be able to recover the earlier version.

3) Watch out for extremely long folder names / filenames (ie. total path length), as some softwares have trouble with that.

4) For Android to Google Drive, I've been using this app called AutoSync and it's pretty good! Only complaint is that you can't select multiple directories in one shot.

[kamilharis]

Due to some odd reasons ,i don't keep a backup of any of my data. Auto sync option is unchecked at first whenever i get myself any new gadget. May be because I never had a bad experience of losing any of my data till now, or I don't have too much of data that is to be stored in clouds. My 2 laptops and Mobile phones with added SD cards can accommodate all of my data. But yes, i have a scanned copy of my essential documents like all the ID proofs , Passport, Licenses, Academic documents etc and an updated CV in my G-drive. Hardly 5MB

[VVN]

I am from a marketing background and hence I know to what extent Google uses our data. I will never store my personal data there. Heck I have 2 emails IDs - One gmail for everything and the personal email which is on Protonmail. I moved to iOS 2 years ago. Unfortunately it was about choosing the lesser of 2 evils between Google and Apple once I knew how Google was selling the data, it was an easy choice to make.

Coming back to the topic - I currently use Time Machine to backup contents on the laptop and iCloud for my phone. The ecosystem makes it absolutely seamless but the paranoia of having things on the cloud (which will never be 100% safe imo) still exists. We just have to look at the 100s of leaked pics of celebs from iCloud 2-3 years ago as an example of how unsafe cloud services are.

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by VVN

We just have to look at the 100s of leaked pics of celebs from iCloud 2-3 years ago as an example of how unsafe cloud services are.

This was plain old brute force attack on accounts without any 2 factor authentication. Further, the hackers knew the emails associated with those accounts as well as the security questions required to reset the password.

Social engineering is more likely to be used these days rather than any security flaw. Case in point, I happened to see a password printed on a sheet and pinned to a soft board in my college system administrator's cabin. Just for fun, I tried it and found out that the same password was used almost everywhere. When I brought this to his notice, guess what he did? He changed the password, took a fresh print out and then pinned it at the same place.

And my friends used to wonder how I used to get the fastest WiFi in college

[AtheK]

After one of my backp Hard Disk crashed, i had to look at cloud based backp.

So i took the One drive sbscription, which is 460 rupees a month, but gives you 5 ID's which you can share with your family. All the ID's work independently governed by the Master subscriber. One drive syncs my data from laptop to my one drive account and i have app installed on my phone, and all data syncs from phone to the drive.

Onedrive comes with Office subscription as well, and phone and laptop have that installed as well. This is for me, similarly i have set it up on my wife phone and laptop, my parents laptop and my brother and his wife wife has set it up as well. It's a super VFM proposition, as in just 460 rupees everyone at home has 1TB of personal cloud space. I am basically using one drive as a Hard disk in my laptop, everything synced and safe.

Only drawback of this app on phone is that you have to open the app to sync, or you need to install a third party plugin which syncs immediately. Very funny that one plus in built cloud storage backs up immediately where as Software Giant like Microsoft does not have such a feature inbuilt. Hopefully it is launched soon.

[DudeWithaFiat]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Few add-ons:

1) A lot of people move their data to an external drive an call it a "BACKUP"! This is NOT a backup.

Just curious, why do you think it does not qualify as a backup? Is it because it is equally vulnerable to 'going bad' as your computer hard-drive?

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by DudeWithaFiat

Just curious, why do you think it does not qualify as a backup? Is it because it is equally vulnerable to 'going bad' as your computer hard-drive?

Absolutely, as i learnt the hard way, a hard disk which had my backup, failed to be detected after i plugged it in after few months. I am waiting for lockdown to get over to see if i can get data recovered, which will cost me quite a bit of money. If you have to keep an offline copy, i suggest to keep the backup in two hard disks atleast.