 Data Backup Suggestions |
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 Oct 1 2008, 07:17 AM
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New Member  Group: Members Posts: 5 Joined: 1-October 08 Member No.: 242,537  |
External: Western Digital MyBook 500GB USB2.0 Documents (R:) IcyDock eSata dock Internal: 3 x Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB SATAII Hard Drive 16MB Cache - OEM 1. Two partitions: Windows (C:) and My Documents (D:) 2. One partition: Programs Installables Games (E:) 3. One partition: My Backup (Y:) Just purchased two Samsung Spin Point F1 750GB Internal SATA Hard Drives and have a third on the way. The reason for the most recent purchases of the new hard drives is because I noticed that one of the original drives (all less than a year old) started making a 'ticking' noise. My first reaction was to backup all my important data onto two different hard drives. What I am looking to achive: I want to create a system which is almost completely fail safe. I shall use the R: drive to store my documents in a remote location every month or so, I may even upload everything using my Gmail drive. The IcyDock shall be used to make backups of everything (from C:, D:, E:) with another drive I have ordered: Samsung SpinPoint HD103UJ F1 1TB 7200RPM SATA 3GB/s 32MB Cache every week? Then, should the Windows installation become corrupt or the hard drive fails, I want to be able to restore the installation from a backup so that I do not have to reinstall the operating system and all my programs etc. Also, I want to know that if this hard drive does fail, I have the most recent copy of my documents (D:) available up to the point that the drive failed, so perhaps I should create a mirror drive with an exact copy of Windows and My Documents using RAID 1? Then we come to E:, should this be on the same drive as C: and D:? Then all three could be mirrored to another drive. I would then have a spare hard drive installed redundantly, unless anyone can think of a use for it? I should have mentioned previously also that I intend to replace the three 500GB hard drives, with the three 750GB drives. Then I will have three 500GB hard drives to play with, I suppose these could be used to make further copies of my data using the IcyDock. Assuming that one of these drives is failing because of the ticky noise, that would be two drives. Maybe one of them can be used at the start of the month and the other half way through? I have a program called SyncBack installed, but if you recommend any others please mention them. So there you have it, my initial plans. I'm really looking for any advice on how you would change this set up, technical support for integrating this set up but if you have anything else to say please do make your point. |
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Oct 1 2008, 07:41 AM
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 Hail Groovicus! Group: Site Admin Posts: 6,276 Joined: 5-June 04 From: Vermillion, SD Member No.: 689 |
Personally, I would just utilize a raid setup and let raid software handle all of the backups and restorations. I can't think that I have sen too many motherboards that do not have built in raid support.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_arr...dependent_disks -------------------- |
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Oct 1 2008, 02:03 PM
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 5 Joined: 1-October 08 Member No.: 242,537 |
QUOTE(groovicus @ Oct 1 2008, 01:41 PM)  Personally, I would just utilize a raid setup and let raid software handle all of the backups and restorations. I can't think that I have sen too many motherboards that do not have built in raid support. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_arr...dependent_disks Thank you very much for your thoughts, what does everyone else have to say? |
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Oct 1 2008, 02:09 PM
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 Forum Addict Group: HJT Junior Classmen Posts: 4,047 Joined: 7-January 07 From: UK Member No.: 105,123 |
Have you considered clonezilla http://www.clonezilla.org/
-------------------- Regards
Alan |
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Oct 2 2008, 01:15 AM
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#5
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 5 Joined: 1-October 08 Member No.: 242,537 |
QUOTE(nigglesnush85 @ Oct 1 2008, 08:09 PM) Have you considered clonezilla http://www.clonezilla.org/ Thank you, what are the benefits of this over SyncBack? |
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Oct 2 2008, 06:00 AM
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Forum Addict Group: HJT Junior Classmen Posts: 4,047 Joined: 7-January 07 From: UK Member No.: 105,123 |
I have never used SyncBack, so can't comment on its features. I like clonezilla as it is free and very fast.
-------------------- Regards
Alan |
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Oct 2 2008, 07:30 AM
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Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 6,842 Joined: 3-September 05 From: Killeen, TX Member No.: 33,068 |
Nice link, Alan...looks interesting, think I'll try it
 .Louis |
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Oct 2 2008, 08:07 AM
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 5 Joined: 1-October 08 Member No.: 242,537 |
Okay, so what does everyone else think?
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Oct 2 2008, 10:24 AM
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Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 6,842 Joined: 3-September 05 From: Killeen, TX Member No.: 33,068 |
Well...my unknowing opinion is...your strategy outlined is much too complex to work effectively.
Backing up procedures are difficult enough for some users to implement...without making them (what some might consider) overly complicated. I consider 3 basic strategies when I hear "backup": a. Cloning the partition. b. RAID c. Disk-imaging There are other strategies (e.g., incremental backups) but, again, I believe in making backing up as simple, easy, and all-embracing as possible. The problem that I have with incremental backups...is that I think it's a multi-step approach when a simpler one is available. I've never tried incremental backups so I don't really know, but that's my bias. Louis |
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Oct 3 2008, 11:25 AM
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 5 Joined: 1-October 08 Member No.: 242,537 |
QUOTE(hamluis @ Oct 2 2008, 04:24 PM) Well...my unknowing opinion is...your strategy outlined is much too complex to work effectively. Backing up procedures are difficult enough for some users to implement...without making them (what some might consider) overly complicated. I consider 3 basic strategies when I hear "backup": a. Cloning the partition. b. RAID c. Disk-imaging There are other strategies (e.g., incremental backups) but, again, I believe in making backing up as simple, easy, and all-embracing as possible. The problem that I have with incremental backups...is that I think it's a multi-step approach when a simpler one is available. I've never tried incremental backups so I don't really know, but that's my bias. Louis Thank you, I appreciate your thoughts! Sure, you may prefer simpler methods but those do have points at which a failure could be disastrous. Anyone else? |
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