Make backups often

[bill5]

I know you know this. We all do. But like keeping more frequent tabs on our 401K or drinking less or eating more veggies, the thing we know makes total sense to do we don't always, so I'm reminding you. 

 

More specifically, I'm referring to backing up recordings/songs you're working on and do it in MORE than one place. This came to me because I do this and fortunately so because an external HD died on me (it was only about 5 yrs old, but turns out that's pretty old for a HD generally speaking. I also keep a modest amount of stuff (just the most critical, not everything) on "the cloud." 

 

How often? That's easy; ask yourself "if I lost this data now, how much of a loss would that be?" If that causes a queasy feeling, it's time to back up. 

[Anderton]

The first week of every month, I do a "back up your data" nag in my Twitter feed @craig_anderton. Some people follow the feed just for the backup nag, which consistently gets the most views of any of my tweets. I mean, eXes. 

 

As to when to back up, my rule is "whenever you have something you don't want to lose."

[David Emm]

Funny, but I did this just before I saw the thread. I'm close to buying a safari vest with 20 pockets. In case of disaster, I can fill them with my numerous SSDs and waddle for safety as fast as I can. My carbon footprint throbs a little from all of my CD backups, which weigh a ton. The technology has become so potent, I feel like the first neighbor who has an indoor toilet and a phone. People come from all around to marvel at the sight. I mean, I have a CS-80, a Memorymoog and a grand piano in a 2" x 4" plastic widget that's the size of about two condoms, three on a big weekend. Humblin'.

[RABid]

Learned my lesson at work the hard way. IBM installed a new tape backup for our system. For months the system reported that backups AND verifications were 100 percent positive. After a few months IBM installed a set of new hard drives in our array, then found out the tape backup they installed was installed incorrectly. The backup program was backing up to an incorrect address so nothing was backed up, yet it was reporting a fully correct backup. IBM could never explain why the system didn't tell us there was a problem but we lost half a million services and a few thousand clients. We had to pull all the paperwork and re-enter months of clinical services and information. From that point on I back up to two locations and two different mediums. One offsite in case of fire. 

 

At home my stuff is backed up to two different drives. Drive space is cheap. Apple Time Machine takes care of complete backup to an external 14TB drive. Photos and projects are copied to multiple drives and kept on multiple computers. Photos are my most prized possessions and I back them up to the cloud.

[Anderton]

I just want my stuff backed up for prosaic reasons, like my eBooks being updated regularly. I never know when something I wrote in the past would be a perfect addition, with a little updating, to a new book.

 

5 hours ago, JazzPiano88 said:

Do your heirs know where to find everything and also have all of your passwords to SSD and Cloud storage? 

 

Actually, they do. The material has some value and if they can exploit it, more power to them. And if not, it won't matter to me, I'll have moved on to whatever is next.

[o0Ampy0o]

What time is it? 
Now

 

What time is it now?

It is time to save what you are doing.

 

What time is it now that I have saved what I am doing?

It is time to save what you are doing.

 

 

[Notes_Norton]

I back up my data every day to an external drive. Anything sensitive also gets stored in the cloud.

 

I make a disk image at least once a week and as Craig pointed out, whenever there is something I don't want to lose.

 

Notes ♫

[analogika]

Basic maxim I'd hammer into every one of my customers, back in sales and support: 

If you don't have at least two copies of something on separate media, it wasn't important. 

 

Past tense. 

[mcgoo]

I backup daily to 2 ext drives and the cloud. I also charge clients an archive fee because it's pretty often that I have to restore an Old radio spot, jingle or whatever to update a tag or sounding similar. It's a pretty good profit center so I don't mind spending the time and money to do it right. 

[Sundown]

Good advice … 

 

After completing my update of a lifetime, I found that a few of my Cubase projects were pointing to audio files in unexpected locations (elsewhere on the drive). I did all of the proper precautions before updating, but I still got burned. It was a backup from 2019 that saved a few key projects from major re-work.

 

With the low cost of drives (and external USB drives), boy it makes sense to back your stuff up periodically.

 

Todd

 

 

[Anderton]

1 hour ago, Sundown said:

I found that a few of my Cubase projects were pointing to audio files in unexpected locations (elsewhere on the drive).

 

Always do backup to a new folder that consolidates all files on other parts of the hard drive, sample libraries, etc. Become friends with Cubase's Select Media > Prepare Archive function to make sure all your needed material is in the project folder. You'll have the option to copy stuff that's not in the project folder. Then, you can select File > Back up Project to create a shiny new project folder that has all the material for that project. I do this routinely with projects. A side benefit is that you can choose to "Minimize Files" which means the backup doesn't include anything in your project folder that's not actually part of the project. That can save a lot of storage space.

[KenElevenShadows]

I have two backups and cloud backup of my important stuff. I have over 14G backed up on the "cloud" right now. I have this automated so I don't have to think about it. I probably run a backup of my external HDs at least once a week, sometimes more.

[Notes_Norton]

I'm currently using Acronis to make backup disk images. Someone suggested Clonezilla, which is open source.

 

I use Windows by necessity for my business. Does anybody use Clonezilla? If so, is it easy to use?

 

If not, I'll keep upgrading Acronis.

 

Thanks,

Notes ♫