The importance of backups
 

I got it into my head to install XP on a SSD that I'd gotten for my dad so I could play with it before giving it to him. Doing so corrupted my existing Windows install and bootloader.

Fortunately I'd just done a full hard drive backup in my attempts to clone the hard drive and had been making regular online backups. No data loss!

As an added bonus, I have appropriated the SSD. It's about 10GB less storage but SO MUCH FASTER. It's like my four year old Thinkpad is new!

Remember to back up!

I learned my lesson years ago.

However, I've found that most online companies 'pack up' after a few years. To that end, I keep backups on a 2nd HDD in my PC and a separate external HDD. Yeah, they could all go in a fire, but that's about the only situation where I'd lose it all.

I have always said people who use computers fall mostly into two categories

1) those who needed a backup and did not have one and now do

2) those who do not have backups but will one day need one

In my experience it's like this:

There are two kinds of data, backed up and lost.

1TB external USB drive. Saved my life a couple of times. Backed up weekly without fail. Learn't the hard way first time round.

I would add:

3) Those who had a backup and it didn't work and now keep multiple backups on different media in different locations.

My current approach is RAID 1 on main system + Nightly backup to two separate disks (NAS + USB) + critical/current files on Drop Box.

Drop Box has the additional advantage that I have access to files from my desktop and laptop at all times, plus they are stored in the cloud if everything breaks.

I'm similar, I run RAID 1 on my home pc, which in turn is backed up to a NAS also RAID1.

Probably overkill but literally everything I have is on those drives, old photos, music, videos, etc. One of the PC drives failed a few weeks back which re-enforces my experience that drives seem to start dropping at 24 month mark.

WHS box with 14TB and some of it sent to Amazon Cloud backup for double protection. All machines in the house are backed up nightly.

Got me thinking about our remote office. Currently just backed up to server in same office. Installed DeltaCopy (GUI app based on Rysnc) that syncs to remote NAS server. Nice thing it only copies blocks that have changed, so WAN traffic is kept to a minimum for large (>100MB) files.
^

I don't know... after my own "hard way" lesson, I wonder if there is such a thing as overkill. I haven't come around to RAID or NAS solutions yet, but at least I have taken to backing up regularly to separate drives: two separate internal, two separate external, and two cloud.

My routine: I have two 150 GB drives in a RAID 0. I do an image backup nightly to an internal 2 TB drive, takes about 1/2 hour. I set the software to keep 10 copies, it rolls off the oldest. Weekly backup to an NAS. The wife's computer follows the same routine, except that she backs up an 80 GB single drive to a 500 GB internal nightly, then the weekly backup to the same NAS.

I have restored my machine twice from image backups. ^

new to PC backup
 

Does anyone know of any wireless back up systems for PC. I'm used to mac, and the time machine, but now have a new pc notebook that I'd like to (conveniently) backup. Thanks in advance!

Is DropBox, Carbonite and Jungledisk overkill :D

I backup wirelessly to my NAS, I just use the standard software that came with it (Netgear Nas Duo). It takes a bit longer than cabled but if you do it daily it just takes the updates so about 15 minutes.

On a separate note does anyone ever test a restore? I haven't but I guess I could be deluding myself with my backup without doing that right? Something to ponder..

I back up with time machine and my documents/email/cal are all up in the cloud as well.

What exactly does that mean?